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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Secretary of Labor v. Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services
Secretary of Labor v. Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services (FMSHRC SE 2016-302): Scaffold-collapse citation vacated
A scaffold erected by Brand Energy inside a cement-plant calciner collapsed while another contractor, K&G, performed refractory removal. Judge Thomas P. McCarthy found that K&G had substantially and unreasonably overloaded the scaffold with debris. The Secretary did not prove that Brand's Cuplok…
Secretary of Labor v. Conveyor Belt Services, Inc.
Secretary of Labor v. Conveyor Belt Services, Inc. (FMSHRC LAKE 2014-255, et al.): Conveyor belt used for splicing was a working platform
Conveyor Belt Services employees spliced a belt at U.S. Steel's Minntac Mine while standing or kneeling on the belt and a temporary ladder, toolbox, and plywood structure about 51 to 55 inches above the floor. Neither surface had handrails, and the employees used no fall protection during work…
Secretary of Labor v. Northern Illinois Service Co.
Secretary of Labor v. Northern Illinois Service Co. (FMSHRC LAKE 2012-746-M et al.): Seven citations affirmed and brake-light citation vacated
Northern Illinois Service Company contested eight citations issued after MSHA inspections at two portable mines. Judge L. Zane Gill found seven violations involving an opening at an elevated work platform, missing fuel-line shutoff valves on several pieces of equipment, an unset parking brake, and…
Secretary of Labor v. Northern Aggregate, Inc.
Secretary of Labor v. Northern Aggregate, Inc. (FMSHRC LAKE 2014-110-M, et al.): Thirteen citations resolved for $19,070
MSHA litigated 13 citations and orders from Northern Aggregate's portable crusher and two processing plants, involving flying rock, compressed-gas storage, platforms, guards, electrical cables and grounding, equipment defects, brakes, and warning horns. Judge Priscilla M. Rae upheld seven…
Secretary of Labor v. Delta Concrete Products, Inc.
Secretary of Labor v. Delta Concrete Products, Inc. (FMSHRC WEST 2014-0117): Eight violations upheld and scale-road citation vacated
MSHA contested nine conditions at Delta Concrete Products' small Alaska gravel operation, including electrical wiring and grounding, a damaged handrail, an unstable ramp wall, and missed workplace examinations. Judge David P. Simonton upheld eight violations, including all five electrical citations…
Boart Longyear Company v. Secretary of Labor
Boart Longyear Company v. Secretary of Labor (FMSHRC WEST 2012-248-RM et al.): Alternative platform charge rejected before trial
MSHA had cited Boart Longyear for a foreman's failure to use fall protection while working on a truck bed and proposed a $70,000 penalty. Shortly before trial, the Secretary sought to add an alternative charge that the truck bed was an unsafe work platform without handrails. Judge David Barbour…
Boart Longyear Company
Boart Longyear Company (FMSHRC WEST 2011-1252-M): Brake-light order reduced while drill-platform violations upheld
Boart Longyear faced three enforcement actions involving a contractor's drilling operation at a Nevada gold mine. Judge Margaret A. Miller upheld a brake-light violation on a flatbed truck but removed the unwarrantable-failure designation and changed it to a section 104(a) citation because repeated…
Thueson Construction Co., and/or Thueson Construction, Inc.
Thueson Construction Co., and/or Thueson Construction, Inc. (FMSHRC WEST 2010-396-M): Nineteen violations affirmed with penalties reduced to $25,028
Thueson Construction operated a portable sand and gravel crusher and stipulated to nineteen safety violations, including eleven guarding violations. Eight violations were designated significant and substantial, twelve involved high negligence, and the company accepted the stated gravity…
Highland Enterprises, LLC
Highland Enterprises, LLC (FMSHRC WEST 2009-1213-M, et al.): Handrail and guarding violations affirmed with two negligence reductions
Highland Enterprises operated a portable crushed-stone plant at the Mt. Solo Pit and contested five citations involving a work platform, conveyor pulleys, a bulldozer fan, and missing rear lights. Judge Thomas P. McCarthy affirmed an S&S handrail violation because tying off did not replace the…
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.