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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Appalachian Leasing, Inc. and Double Bonus Coal Company
Haulage operator status required a hearing
MSHA cited Double Bonus after a contract truck driver was fatally run over during coal haulage from Mine No. 65 to a preparation plant. Double Bonus sought summary decision, arguing that the haul road was not a mine and that it was not an operator responsible for the cited training, inspection, and…
Ames Construction, Inc.
Contractor liability affirmed for unsafe pipe unloading
Ames Construction supervised deliveries of large pipes at a mine construction project, where a truck driver removed the load restraints before Ames employees returned with a forklift and was fatally injured when a pipe rolled from the trailer. The Commission held that Ames was a Mine Act operator…
Secretary of Labor v. Ames Construction, Inc.
Contractor liable for unsafe pipe unloading
A truck driver delivered nine plastic pipes, each about 50 feet long and weighing about 3,000 pounds, to a tailings facility where Ames Construction supervised unloading. Two Ames crew members left to retrieve a forklift, while a third remained nearby without giving the driver the safety…
Lattimore Materials Company, LP
Three safety violations affirmed after shaker-deck accident
Three miners were seriously injured when a 4,200-pound replacement shaker deck slid into place while they worked in its path. Judge Gary Melick found that the deck remained a suspended load and that the plant manager rejected a miner's proposal to use a come-along as a brake. He affirmed the…
Ambrose Brothers, Incorporated
Fatality-related settlement rejected pending information
Ambrose Brothers faced a citation after an unsecured concrete and steel barrier struck and fatally injured the company's former president during relocation of a portable crushing plant. The parties proposed reducing the penalty from $3,000 to $2,000, attributing the violation to employee misconduct…
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.