Federal agency decisions, searchable in plain English.
Workplace-safety cases from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) and mine-safety cases from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC), each with a plain-English summary, the standards it cites, and whether it counts as precedent. More agencies are coming.
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Metric Constructors, Inc.
General contractor held liable for subcontractor hazards
Metric Constructors was the general contractor for a 29-building federal prison project covering about 200 acres in Estill, South Carolina. OSHA cited scaffold, trench, hazard-communication, fire-extinguisher, compressed-gas-cylinder, and trench-access conditions created by subcontractors whose…
Ray Sumlin Construction Co., Inc.
Unprotected excavation results in $4,000 penalty
OSHA observed a Ray Sumlin Construction employee working in a six-foot-deep excavation with vertical walls and no cave-in protection at a county jail project in Alabama. The superintendent initially requested a warrant but later invited the compliance officer to examine the excavation and helped…
PDC, Inc.
Trench-exit item affirmed, cave-in item vacated
PDC employees installed a gas line in a trench beside a Georgia highway that ranged from four and a half to eight and a half feet deep. The trench had no ladder or other safe means of egress, and workers exited by placing their hands on the ground and jumping from the shallow end. The judge…
Piping of Ohio, Inc.
Trenching violations affirmed, willful item reclassified as repeated
Piping of Ohio was replacing a water line in two excavations at an Ohio steel plant. The judge found that employees lacked adequate trench-safety instruction, did not have a safe means of exit, and were not protected by inspections from a qualified competent person. The judge also found that the…
Vogel Brothers
Four serious construction violations affirmed, two vacated
Vogel Brothers Building Company was the general contractor on a wastewater administration building project in Tampa, Florida. The judge affirmed serious violations involving an unavailable fire extinguisher at a diesel fueling area, unguarded floor edges, an unbarricaded crane swing radius, and…
Baker Masonry, Inc.
Stairway and balcony guardrail citations vacated for unproven employee exposure
Baker Masonry, Inc. was a masonry subcontractor at the construction of the Radisson Hotel in Savannah, Georgia. A fatal fall in the hotel's atrium triggered an OSHA investigation, and the compliance officer expanded the inspection to the subcontractors. OSHA cited Baker for a serious violation, for…
What these documents are
- Commission decisions: Rulings by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission itself, the highest level of agency review. These are citable as Commission precedent, though a decision may have been appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals after issuance.
- ALJ decisions: Rulings by OSHRC Administrative Law Judges after a hearing. When no Commissioner directs review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.
- 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 OSHRC public release, and the full text on the page is that release. The plain-English summaries are written by Ezel.