Federal agency decisions, searchable in plain English.
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Noble Drilling, Inc.
OSHA jurisdiction upheld, citations vacated
Noble Drilling was converting an offshore drilling unit at a Mississippi shipyard after surrendering its Coast Guard certificate of inspection. An electronics technician died after attempting to descend structural supports inside a disabled elevator shaft, and OSHA cited fixed-ladder, illumination…
American Airlines, Inc.
FAA ground-operations manual does not preempt OSHA guardrail and hazard-communication citations after a fatal fall
American Airlines ran an aircraft maintenance and repair facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After a worker fell from the third story of a roughly 27-foot mobile "tail stand" work platform through unguarded floor openings to the ground and died, OSHA inspected and issued citations across two dockets…
Daniel Construction Company
General duty citation vacated because MSHA authority preempted OSHA
Daniel Construction was building a secondary crusher structure on the surface of a mine when OSHA cited it under the general duty clause. The Commission adopted the judge's conclusion that section 4(b)(1) precluded OSHA jurisdiction because MSHA had statutory authority and had promulgated standards…
Navajo Forest Products Industries
Tribal enterprise not subject to the OSH Act under Navajo treaty rights
Navajo Forest Products Industries was created and operated by the Navajo tribe on the reservation to develop timber resources, provide employment, and support tribal services. OSHA cited the enterprise after workplace inspections, and the parties agreed that it fit the Act's literal definition of…
Seaboard Coastline Railroad
Railroad-wide OSHA exemption rejected
Seaboard Coastline stipulated that cited workplace conditions violated OSHA standards and that the proposed penalty was appropriate. It argued, however, that railroads were exempt from the OSH Act under 29 U.S.C. § 653(b)(1) because the Department of Transportation regulates the industry. The…
Chicago and Northwestern Transportation Company
Commission rejects a blanket railroad-industry exemption from the OSH Act
Chicago and Northwestern Transportation Company argued that the railroad industry was exempt from the Occupational Safety and Health Act under 29 U.S.C. § 653(b)(1). The Commission held that the statute creates an exemption only when another federal agency actually exercises authority over the…
Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Unguarded bus service pits violated open-pit rule
Greyhound maintained 15 bus service pits that were 42 feet long, four feet wide, and four feet six inches deep. The pits lacked covers or guardrails when buses were not being serviced, and employees regularly worked in the surrounding area. The Commission rejected Greyhound's claim that federal…
American Airlines, Inc.
Foot-protection citation affirmed without a penalty
American Airlines employed cargo, freight, and maintenance workers at Bradley International Airport. OSHA cited the airline because those employees handled heavy items and equipment but were not required to wear safety shoes or other toe protection. The Commission found that the work exposed…
American Airlines, Inc.
Radiation-safety citation preempted and vacated
American Airlines admitted that employees at its LaGuardia cargo facility were not receiving the radiation surveys, personal monitoring, caution signs, and exposure records required by OSHA's radiation standards. The airline argued that Federal Aviation Agency rules governing radioactive materials…
Southern Railway Company
Locomotive-derailer violation and $200 penalty affirmed
Southern Railway employees worked in maintenance pits where moving locomotives could strike locomotives under repair, and the company relied on its industry-standard blue-flag or blue-light rule rather than installing derailers. The Commission held that industry custom helped establish recognition…
Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation, Texas Eastern Cryogenics Corporation, and Sinapp Co-Staten Island, Inc.
Owners dismissed, contractor case remanded
Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation and Texas Eastern Cryogenics Corporation operated a liquefied-natural-gas facility on Staten Island, and Sinapp performed repair work there. A February 1973 tank fire killed three employees of the facility companies and 37 Sinapp employees. OSHA cited the…
Belt Railway Co. of Chicago, et al.
Railroad industry exemption rejected
This consolidated decision covers 19 dockets involving 11 railroad employers cited for workplace-safety violations. The violations were generally undisputed, but the railroads argued that Department of Transportation safety regulation created an industry-wide exemption from the OSH Act. The…
Idaho Travertine Corporation
Mine-safety jurisdiction dismissal reversed and case remanded
Idaho Travertine quarried large stone blocks at remote sites and transported them to an Idaho Falls plant for cutting, honing, polishing, and finishing. OSHA issued one serious citation and 12 nonserious citations with $1,290 in proposed penalties, but the judge vacated them because he placed the…
Phoenix, Inc., Legore Quarries Division
Quarry citations vacated for lack of OSHA jurisdiction
Phoenix operated a limestone-pulverizing facility at its Legore Quarries Division. OSHA issued serious and non-serious citations after an employee's leg was caught in an auger and amputated above the knee, and proposed a $750 serious penalty. The judge approved withdrawal of the contest but…
What these documents are
- Commission decisions: Rulings by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission itself, the highest level of agency review. These are citable as Commission precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by OSHRC Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.
- Why finality matters: Every page here says which kind of decision you are reading, so you know whether it is precedent you can cite or a final order that only shows how one judge ruled on one set of facts.
- Where they come from: Every page links the official OSHRC public release, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.