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.
No decisions match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Titan Constructors, Inc.
Shared batch-plant shop fell within Mine Act jurisdiction
Titan Constructors operated a portable crusher and a concrete batch plant on the same property, with both operations using parts of a shared shop. Titan argued that OSHA, not MSHA, controlled the shop because it was built for the batch plant. Judge Richard W. Manning held that the shop areas…
Granite Mountain Crushing, LLC
Twenty-three citations affirmed with $4,820 penalty
Granite Mountain Crushing contested 23 citations from an MSHA inspection of its granite-crushing operation. The company stipulated that it committed the cited violations but argued that its financial condition made the proposed $11,578 penalty inappropriate after it had ceased operations and…
Virginia Slate Company
Guarding and access violations modified with $4,400 penalty
Virginia Slate operated an open-pit slate operation where an MSHA inspector identified unguarded machinery, unsafe access, missing berms, missing impeding devices, defective horns, and other equipment and workplace conditions. Judge Avram Weisberger found violations of several mandatory safety…
Owyhee Calcium Products, Incorporated
Citations affirmed, modified, and vacated
Owyhee Calcium Products operated a one-person agricultural limestone quarry in Idaho. MSHA alleged 14 mandatory-standard violations and sought $6,580 in penalties. Judge August F. Cetti affirmed most of the citations, vacated the citation for an unused electrical box and the duplicate…
Tide Creek Rock, Inc.
Mixed result on 33 mine-safety violations
Tide Creek Rock operated a very small crushed-stone mine in Oregon with a pit and crusher and usually three employees. MSHA alleged 33 violations involving electrical equipment, guarding, fire hazards, housekeeping, berms, quarry-wall conditions, reporting, and inspection requirements. Judge…
Riverton Corporation
Mobile-equipment guarding citations split
Riverton operated an old limestone quarry and plant that produced material for masonry products, agricultural lime, and premix cement products. The ALJ considered 34 alleged violations involving two dockets, including unguarded V-belts on three haul trucks and a front-end loader. The judge held…
Brown Brothers Sand Co.
One citation vacated, eight affirmed or modified, and $1,036 assessed
Brown Brothers Sand Company received nine citations during inspections of its sand operation in Georgia. The ALJ vacated and dismissed the citation for insufficient illumination, affirmed eight other citations, and modified two of those by increasing the negligence finding from moderate to high…
W. A. Schemmer Limestone Quarry Incorporated
Three settlements approved, two brake violations affirmed, and $2,100 assessed
W. A. Schemmer Limestone Quarry operated a limestone quarry in Iowa. The ALJ approved settlements reducing three penalties to $50 each, for violations involving an unsecured compressed-gas cylinder, a missing safety cap, and an unclean shop floor. The ALJ also affirmed two brake violations…
Materials Delivery
Seven citations affirmed
Materials Delivery operated a sand and gravel pit that had not notified MSHA that operations had begun. Judge Arthur J. Amchan also found violations involving inoperative loader horns and a reverse alarm, unsecured compressed-gas cylinders, missing toilet facilities, and a raised loader bucket. He…
Laurel Sand and Gravel, Inc.
Cylinder citation affirmed and settlement approved
Laurel Sand and Gravel was cited after inspectors found six unsecured compressed gas cylinders outside its maintenance shop. Judge Avram Weisberger held that the regulation applies even when cylinders are empty or have no residual pressure, affirmed the citation, and assessed a $50 penalty. He also…
W. J. Bokus Industries, Inc.
Mixed results on mine jurisdiction and citations
W. J. Bokus Industries operated a sand and gravel mine and related asphalt and materials operations in New York. Judge Avram Weisberger held that MSHA jurisdiction depended on whether the cited equipment and areas were used in extraction, milling, or preparation of minerals. He vacated and…
A. H. Smith Stone Company
Mixed citation results and $2,937 penalty
A. H. Smith Stone Company faced civil penalties in two dockets involving machinery guards, electrical equipment, protective equipment, and other mine conditions. Judge Paul Merlin affirmed a guard violation but vacated its significant-and-substantial finding and assessed a $175 penalty. He affirmed…
Valdez Creek Mining Company
One citation vacated and 16 affirmed with a $990 penalty
Valdez Creek Mining Company operated a placer gold mine in Alaska with about 100 employees when MSHA issued 17 citations during July and August 1985. The company admitted that the violations occurred but disputed the penalty amounts. Judge Michael A. Lasher, Jr. found that the operator's negligence…
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.