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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Rohloff Sand & Gravel Company
Five citations resolved with one vacatur and reduced penalties
Rohloff Sand & Gravel operated a surface sand and gravel pit in Michigan and faced five citations involving noise exposure, missing handrails, first-aid training, grounding-system testing, and first-aid supplies. Judge David F. Barbour found violations for excessive dragline noise, the missing…
Contractors Sand & Gravel Supply, Incorporated
Settlement approved for $1,950
Contractors Sand & Gravel Supply faced consolidated civil-penalty proceedings involving alleged safety violations at its Scott River and Montague plants. After earlier default proceedings were reopened and remanded, the parties proposed a settlement covering the remaining citations. Judge August F…
Konitz Contracting, Inc.
Citations affirmed with $510 penalty
Konitz Contracting operated a portable crusher, a rip-rap operation, and other mining worksites in Montana. The ALJ found that the rip-rap operation was a mine under the Mine Act because it extracted and sized rock, and that MSHA therefore had jurisdiction. The judge affirmed citations involving…
Wallace Brothers, Inc.
Portable-crusher citations affirmed
Wallace Brothers operated a portable rock crusher at changing pit locations. The judge held that the crusher was covered by the Mine Act because crushing rock is mineral preparation. The judge affirmed citations involving missing examination records, failure to notify MSHA about operations, missing…
Explosives Technologies International, Inc.
Noise violation affirmed, equipment-defect violation vacated
Explosives Technologies International performed drilling and explosives work at a crushed granite surface mine in Oklahoma. An MSHA inspection found that a drill operator's noise exposure exceeded the permissible limit and that the operator was not using feasible engineering or administrative…
Duininck Brothers, Inc.
Noise citations affirmed
Duininck Brothers operated sand and gravel crushing units where a tractor operator and a bulldozer operator were exposed to noise above the regulatory limit. The judge found that personal hearing protection did not remove the need to use feasible engineering or administrative controls, and that…
M.M. Sundt Construction Company
Noise citation affirmed and sampling citation vacated
M.M. Sundt Construction was cited after a crusher laborer was exposed to noise above the permissible limit and after a separate air-sampling citation. Judge John J. Morris found that the operator violated 30 C.F.R. § 56.5050(b), even though the employee was wearing earplugs, because feasible…
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.