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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Darwin Stratton & Son Inc.
Citations and orders affirmed after nonappearance
Darwin Stratton operated a small sand and gravel pit that MSHA discovered while investigating a fatal accident. The operator contested numerous citations and orders but did not appear at the hearing. Judge Richard W. Manning found the alleged violations established, including guarding, workplace…
Bob Bak Construction
Mine safety violations affirmed with penalties reduced
Bob Bak Construction operated a sand and gravel mine in South Dakota. After three inspections, MSHA issued 24 citations and orders involving defective mobile equipment, missing guards and electrical protections, inadequate emergency facilities, and violations of closure and imminent-danger orders…
John Cullen Rock Crushing and Gravel
27 citations resolved with $912 in penalties
John Cullen Rock Crushing and Gravel operated the small Grant Pit sand and gravel operation in Colorado, along with an integrated silica plant. Judge Richard W. Manning found that MSHA had jurisdiction over the mine, the silica plant, and the shared equipment and workers. The decision addressed 27…
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…
Higman Sand & Gravel, Inc.
Default order vacated and case remanded
This civil penalty proceeding involved Higman Sand & Gravel's failure to answer a complaint proposing a $292 penalty for an alleged violation involving toilet facilities at a surface metal and nonmetal mine. An administrative law judge entered a default order after Higman did not answer 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.