Federal Agency Decisions
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board, each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Cannelton Industries, Incorporated
Contractor training and truck-condition citations affirmed
Cannelton Industries operated the Lady Dunn Preparation Plant and used a contractor to haul coal when a haulage accident resulted in a miner's death. Judge David F. Barbour found that the contractor's employees had not received required experienced-miner and task training, and that a haul truck had…
S & M Construction, Inc.
Training orders modified and affirmed
S & M Construction operated an open-pit surface coal mine. MSHA issued withdrawal orders after finding that nine employees lacked required newly employed experienced miner training and two employees lacked required new miner training. Judge George A. Koutras found that the Secretary did not prove…
James Fork Mining Company
Mine Act jurisdiction found and citations affirmed
James Fork Mining worked on a 20-acre Arkansas site containing a sealed underground coal mine. The operator said its grading, reclamation, and related work were intended to remove hazards and prepare the property for sale, not to prepare a mine. Judge Avram Weisberger found that the work, combined…
Anderson Equipment Company
Training citation affirmed without S&S finding
Anderson Equipment Company was cited after employee Timothy Drake worked at a mine site without comprehensive training under an MSHA-approved plan. Judge Roy J. Maurer found that Drake was a maintenance worker who worked frequently and for extended periods around mine hazards, so 30 C.F.R. §…
Westwood Energy Properties
MSHA jurisdiction and contested violations affirmed
Westwood Energy Properties operated a culm bank and processed refuse from a former anthracite coal mine into fuel for electrical power generation. The judge held that the facility was a mine and that its work preparing coal brought it within MSHA jurisdiction, even though Westwood did not extract…
Patch Coal Company
Miner-training violations affirmed with $375 in penalties
Patch Coal Company operated the Welch Mine and was cited after five newly employed experienced miners had not received required training. Judge George A. Koutras found that the training violations were serious but not significant and substantial, and that the company's negligence was moderate. The…
What these documents are
- The agencies: Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), and environmental permit and penalty appeals from the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB). Each decision page names its agency.
- Commission and Board decisions: Rulings by the agency's highest review level (the Commission at OSHRC and FMSHRC, the Environmental Appeals Board at EPA). These are citable as precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by the agency's Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order that binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent: under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j) at OSHRC, and after the 40-day window of 30 U.S.C. § 823(d)(1) at FMSHRC.
- 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 public release from the deciding agency, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.