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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Mize Granite Quarries, Inc, and Robert W. Mize, III and Clayborn Lewis
Mize Granite Quarries, Inc. (FMSHRC SE 2009-401-M, et al.): Nine company violations and agent liability findings
MSHA cited Mize Granite Quarries for unsafe access, missing fall protection, an excessive grinder-tool-rest gap, an uncapped oxygen cylinder, a worn crane hook, exposed metal in a blasting-cap magazine, missing handrails, unsecured high-pressure hose connections, and an untested grounding system…
Nelson Quarries, Inc.
Mixed rulings on 100 citations produced a corrected $10,650 penalty
Nelson Quarries operated five portable limestone quarries in Kansas, and MSHA issued 100 citations and orders after a former employee filed a hazard complaint. Judge Richard W. Manning affirmed, modified, and vacated citations involving explosives, guarding, mobile equipment, electrical systems…
Austin Powder Company
Detonator magazine-storage citations affirmed
Austin Powder stored non-mass-detonating detonators in a metal freight container whose ceiling had a sparking surface and whose vents were covered. The Commission majority held that the plain language of MSHA's rules requires all detonators, not only mass-detonating types, to be stored in compliant…
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.