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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Jan Five Corp. d/b/a Alexandra Construction
Three willful steel-erection violations affirmed
Alexandra Construction was the general contractor on a high school project where a 55-foot steel column fell after its modified anchor bolts pulled out. Before steel erection began, Alexandra failed to give the erector written notice that the concrete had adequate strength and that anchor-bolt…
Epernay Design and Construction, LLC
Willful anchor-bolt violation affirmed after column collapse
Epernay was the concrete and foundation subcontractor on a high school project where a 55-foot steel column fell shortly after being detached from a crane. Epernay's crew had cut off and replaced anchor bolts without first obtaining the project structural engineer's approval, and all four modified…
Genesis HealthCare Corp. d/b/a Cooper River East Center
Needle-safety violations affirmed and sharps item vacated
Genesis operated a nursing home where an employee sustained a needlestick from a prefilled syringe that lacked a built-in guard. The judge found that nurses had used prefilled syringes without the required add-on needle guards and that Genesis could not show reliable annual training or records…
Prime Roofing Corp.
Late notice of contest dismissed
Prime Roofing filed its notice contesting an OSHA citation after the 15-working-day deadline. The company explained that the departure of a key employee had severely disrupted its small business and required its president to focus on rebuilding sales. The judge found that the president knew of the…
Tradesmen Group, Inc.
Two fall-protection violations affirmed
Tradesmen Group performed renovation, remodeling, and historical restoration work at a site in Peninsula, Ohio. OSHA cited the company after two employees worked from an aerial lift and on a working surface without required fall protection. After a hearing, the judge issued a bench decision finding…
Thomann Asphalt Paving Corp.
Roller rollover citation vacated
A Thomann Asphalt Paving employee died when a roller without a rollover protective structure slid from an embankment and overturned at a New York school construction site. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause, alleging that a rollover protective structure was a feasible way to…
Schimenti Construction Co.
Citations affirmed after contest abandoned
OSHA cited Schimenti Construction after inspecting a Hartsdale, New York worksite. The company did not appear for a telephone prehearing conference or respond to requests from the Secretary or the Commission. The judge found that Schimenti abandoned its contest and affirmed two serious electrical…
McWane, Inc. Dba Atlantic States Cast Iron & Pipe
Abatement petitions resolved
McWane filed two petitions seeking modification of OSHA abatement requirements. After negotiations, the company withdrew its requests concerning several citation items in both dockets. The judge granted the remaining request in docket 03-1450, adjusting the abatement date for Citation 2, Item 2 to…
MJP Construction Co., Inc.
Citations affirmed after case abandoned
OSHA cited MJP Construction after inspecting a Hoboken, New Jersey worksite. MJP's counsel reported that the company had gone out of business and would no longer defend the case. The judge treated the complaint's allegations as admitted and affirmed a serious stairway violation with a $2,000…
E.J. Sciaba Construction Co., Inc.
Case dismissed for lack of a notice of contest
OSHA cited E.J. Sciaba Construction after a Massachusetts worksite inspection and proposed $9,000 in penalties. Sciaba then signed an informal settlement reducing the penalties but did not make the agreed payment. More than two months after receiving the citations, the company sent a letter asking…
Nutone, Inc.
Crane and scissor-lift citations vacated
Two Nutone maintenance employees were injured when an overhead bridge crane struck and knocked over the elevated scissor lift from which they were working. The crane operator had disabled the crane's automatic audible and flashing warning system without the company's knowledge. The Secretary…
Diaz Corporation
Settlement approved with $7,950 in penalties
OSHA cited Diaz Corporation for eight alleged serious violations after inspecting a worksite in Waterville, Maine. During the hearing, the parties reached a settlement that the judge approved. The agreement withdrew one item, reclassified two items as other-than-serious, combined two…
Pico Industries
Two construction items affirmed with $650 in penalties
Following an OSHA inspection in June 2002, Pico Industries contested a citation alleging two serious construction-safety violations and $4,200 in proposed penalties. After an E-Z Trial hearing, the judge issued a bench decision. The written order affirmed item 1 as serious with a $500 penalty and…
Cason Roofing, LLC
Late contest accepted after faulty service advice
OSHA's original certified mailing was returned, and the judge found that the agency had not proved its compliance officer later hand-delivered the citation. Cason Roofing did receive the citation by fax, which provided actual notice and completed service. OSHA personnel then incorrectly told the…
Icarus Industrial Painting & Contracting Co., Inc.
Eight serious health-protection violations affirmed
Icarus removed paint and repainted an Ohio bridge using an enclosed abrasive-blasting operation. OSHA alleged numerous violations involving lead, inorganic arsenic, respirators, protective clothing, medical monitoring, and hazard communication. The judge vacated most items because air-sampling…
Atlantic Bowling Installation Service
Failure to answer show-cause order led to $1,500 penalty
Atlantic Bowling Installation Service did not respond to an August 2, 2002 order to show cause. The judge found that this failure alone justified dismissing the company's notice of contest. He affirmed both serious citation items and assessed a total penalty of $1,500. The decision does not…
Classic Hosiery, Inc.
Discovery violations resulted in default judgment
Classic Hosiery did not respond to or attempt to comply with orders compelling discovery. The judge found that this disobedience constituted extreme misconduct. He granted the Secretary's motion for default judgment. The citations, failure-to-abate notification, and proposed penalties were…
D.R.B. Boring and Drilling Construction Co., Inc.
Four excavation violations affirmed
D.R.B. Boring and Drilling used an excavation approximately 10 feet wide, 32 feet long, and nearly 10 feet deep. The judge found that the ladder and loose-earth ramp did not provide safe access, water had accumulated without adequate precautions, employees lacked protection from falling or rolling…
J-Lenco, Inc.
Lockout and machine-guarding violations resulted in $6,250 in penalties
J-Lenco manufactured sand molds using machines with electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic energy. An operator's arm was crushed when he tried to push a drifting machine component back into place. The judge affirmed serious violations involving excess flammable-liquid storage, inadequate…
LTV Steel Company, Inc., United Steel Workers of America, District 1, Local Union 188, Authorized Employee Representative
First-aid coverage citation vacated
LTV reduced one of its two steel-mill infirmaries to daytime hours after constructing a bridge connecting the mill's east and west sides. OSHA alleged that west-side employees lacked a nearby medical facility and adequately trained first-aid personnel during evening hours. The judge found that the…
LTV Steel Company, Inc.
Fatality-reporting citation vacated
An LTV Steel millwright suffered a fatal heart attack while working outdoors at the company's Cleveland mill. OSHA cited LTV under the then-current rule requiring an employer to report a death from a work-related incident within eight hours. The judge found no evidence that work activity or a…
D.C. Pagers, Inc., d/b/a Superior Service
$5,224.47 fee award granted
D.C. Pagers prevailed in an earlier case after two electrical-safety items were vacated and a third item citing a nonexistent standard was dismissed. It sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found that the Secretary was not substantially justified in…
Ricop Construction Company
One-day-late contest dismissed
Ricop received an OSHA citation and was twice told that its 15-working-day contest period ended on May 17, 2001. During settlement discussions, company representatives believed the OSHA area director would call again before the deadline about possible additional amendments. Ricop did not sign the…
M.P. Dory Co.
Settlement approved, training citation affirmed and two others vacated
M.P. Dory Co., a stucco construction employer in Columbus, Ohio, was inspected by OSHA and issued a citation for three serious violations of construction safety standards. The company contested all of them, but before the hearing concluded the parties reached a settlement, which they placed on the…
Fieldbrook Farms, Inc.
Willful hearing-conservation violations affirmed
Fieldbrook produced ice cream and frozen desserts at a New York plant where employees were exposed to occupational noise. The company stopped the plant's annual audiometric testing program despite prior test records, consultant communications, an insurer's warning, and managers who knew OSHA's…
D.C. Pagers, Inc., d/b/a Superior Services
Electrical-training and eye-protection items vacated
D.C. Pagers performed electrical contracting work at a site in St. Clairsville, Ohio. OSHA alleged that employees lacked safety training for live electrical work and did not use appropriate eye protection while checking an electrical panel or cutting PVC pipe. The judge found that OSHA had not…
Darcon Construction, Inc.
Settlement reduces penalties to $30,000
OSHA cited Darcon Construction after inspecting its stucco worksite in New Rochelle, New York. The citations alleged willful, repeated, and serious construction-safety violations with $108,100 in proposed penalties. Under the settlement, two Citation 2 items were reclassified as serious and the…
RWS Building Company
Citation vacated after the government failed to appear at the hearing
OSHA inspected an RWS Building Company construction site in Columbus, Ohio, and issued a four-item citation for alleged construction safety violations. RWS contested and a hearing was set for June 4, 2001. The employer's counsel appeared, but no one from the Secretary of Labor's side showed up…
North Atlantic Fish Company, Inc.
Broad fish-plant safety violations affirmed
OSHA's safety and health inspections of North Atlantic's Massachusetts fish-processing plant identified extensive fire, machine, electrical, chemical, respiratory, noise, storage, and powered-industrial-truck hazards. The judge affirmed most of the serious items, including general duty violations…
Talon Erectors, Inc.
Serious construction citation affirmed after employer failed to attend hearing
OSHA inspected Talon Erectors' construction site in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, and issued a citation alleging a violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.704(a). The order does not describe the cited physical condition. Talon timely contested the citation but did not attend the hearing despite certified…
D.T. Construction Company, Inc.
Three willful trench violations affirmed, most other items upheld, $119,750 penalty
D.T. Construction is a Pennsylvania contractor that installs underground water and sewer lines. After OSHA inspected several of its dig sites in 1998, the agency issued three citations covering willful, serious, and other-than-serious violations. The heart of the case was three willful cave-in…
Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc.
Willful trench citation vacated, backhoe-bucket general duty violation affirmed
Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc. is a Washington, D.C. area utility contractor that was excavating and installing sewer lines during a hospital expansion. After an OSHA inspection it was cited for one willful and two serious violations. Administrative Law Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld reached a split result…
Cranberry Realty/Parsippany Office Plaza
Trench items affirmed with penalties reduced to $2,000
Cranberry Realty's owner acted as his own general contractor and hired workers to dig a sewer-connection trench on company property. OSHA found the trench was more than five feet deep in soil requiring cave-in protection, lacked that protection, and had not been inspected by a competent person. The…
Mid City Motors
Settlement affirms four serious items with a $750 total penalty
OSHA inspected Mid City Motors and issued a citation alleging three serious violations with proposed penalties totaling $2,850. When the hearing opened, the parties reached an agreement resolving every issue. Their stipulation, incorporated into the order by reference, treated the third item as two…
Stevedoring Services of America
Container fall-protection citation vacated
Two Stevedoring Services of America employees worked on top of cargo containers about 16 feet above a ship's deck after their usual fall-protection system malfunctioned. Their hatch boss knew the system had failed and allowed the work to continue. Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld applied Fourth Circuit…
Venango Environmental, Inc.
Willful loader hazards affirmed after fatal overturn
Venango Environmental used a front-end loader with defective brakes and steering at a wastewater-treatment construction project. A foreman operating the loader died from injuries sustained when it overturned. Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld vacated the brake-performance item because the Secretary did…
AFO, Inc.
Settlement approved with $17,000 penalty
AFO contested citations alleging willful and serious violations at a Pennsylvania worksite. The parties reached a written settlement under the Commission's settlement rule. The agreement changed Citation 2 items from willful violations to violations under section 17 of the Act while leaving the…
Scafar Contracting, Inc.
Two trench violations affirmed and three vacated
Scafar Contracting replaced an underground sewer line through a series of excavations in Newark, New Jersey. Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld found that employees building a manhole worked beside an inadequately protected excavation wall and that another trench used timber shoring that did not meet the…
Carmen Paliotta Contracting Co.
Settlement approved after hearing
Carmen Paliotta Contracting Co. performed construction and demolition work. OSHA issued one citation alleging three serious violations and another alleging three willful violations, with $158,900 in proposed penalties. After a three-day hearing, the parties reported that they had reached a written…
Weight Watchers Gourmet Food Co., Inc.
Amended order approves settlement
Weight Watchers Gourmet Food Co., Inc. operated a food preparation, packaging, and sales business. OSHA issued one citation alleging four serious violations with $5,625 in proposed penalties. The parties reached a written settlement at the hearing, and the judge approved it under the Commission's…
Prospect Waterproofing Company
Roof-edge citation vacated for employee misconduct
OSHA cited Prospect Waterproofing Company after employees were observed near the edge of a multi-story roof without the required warning system. The judge found that the Secretary established an initial case but that the employer proved unpreventable employee misconduct. Prospect had an established…
Design Decorators, Inc.
Aerial-lift violations affirmed as willful, penalties reduced
Design Decorators, Inc. is a small, highly seasonal Pennsylvania company that installs and maintains public Christmas decorations using a truck-mounted aerial lift. In November 1995 a 22-year-old employee riding in the raised bucket was fatally injured when the truck drove under an underpass with…
Esprit Constructors, Inc., C. T. Taylor Company, Inc.
Roller-compactor violations affirmed
Esprit Constructors and C. T. Taylor worked together at a construction site where an Esprit employee was fatally struck by a roller-compactor operated by Taylor's project manager. The judge did not decide whether the manager's lack of qualification caused the death, but found him unqualified…
Dr. Dione Williams
Hepatitis B vaccination citation vacated
OSHA cited Dr. Dione Williams for allegedly failing to make hepatitis B vaccination available to an employee who requested it after initially declining it. The doctor told the employee that the vaccination was free at a nearby hospital. The employee knew the hospital's location, had transportation…
Anchor Hocking Glass Company, Inc.
Forklift aisle items vacated, horn/slow-down item affirmed serious, penalty cut to $2,100
Anchor Hocking makes consumer glassware at a plant in Lancaster, Ohio. After a reported fatality, an OSHA compliance officer inspected the plant's large pack-and- ship department, where forklifts move up to 4,000 pallets a day through a wide main aisle, and issued a citation with three serious…
Columbia Gas of Ohio, Inc.
Four trench items vacated, cave-in protection violation affirmed for $3,750
Columbia Gas of Ohio, Inc. sent an employee to weld a leaking gas line in an L-shaped excavation dug by an independent contractor in Columbus, Ohio. The Secretary withdrew one citation item before the hearing. Administrative Law Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld vacated the competent-person item because…
Central Operating Co.-Philip Sporn
First-aid crew bloodborne-pathogen items affirmed as nonserious
Central Operating Company designated 82 employees at its Philip Sporn plant as members of a first-aid crew. The company argued that rendering aid was voluntary, so the crew members were good samaritans rather than employees with occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens. The judge rejected that…
Thor Construction
Fall-protection and tagline violations affirmed
Thor Construction was cited for nine serious violations during a structural-steel construction project. Before the hearing, the parties settled seven items by vacating three, reclassifying four as other than serious, and agreeing to $3,000 in penalties. The judge found that several employees worked…
L. R. Willson and Sons, Inc.
Steel-erection tag-line violation affirmed serious, $4,000
L. R. Willson and Sons, a structural steel erector, was cited after a September 1992 OSHA inspection of a steel-erection job in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. The Secretary issued a serious citation with two items but withdrew the first, leaving a single item: failure to use tag lines to control loads…
Elmont Glass Company, Inc.
Settlement approved, aerial-lift items affirmed at $1,200
Elmont Glass Company, a glazing contractor based on Staten Island, New York, was inspected by OSHA and issued two citations in September 1993. The serious citation alleged failure to conduct regular worksite inspections and two aerial-lift hazards (workers not standing firmly on the basket floor…
Island ADC, Inc.
Four conceded serious violations affirmed, full $3,125 penalty upheld
Island ADC was a construction subcontractor working at a New York City job site. After OSHA inspections in early 1993, the company received one citation with four serious items: an ungrounded electric cutter, a five-foot scaffold without guardrails, unlocked scaffold casters, and a stairway missing…
Pan Building Corporation
Settlement affirms nine violations and reduces the penalty
OSHA cited Pan Building Corporation for six serious and three other-than-serious violations and proposed $8,700 in penalties. The Secretary moved to dismiss the company's notice of contest as late, while Pan argued that OSHA personnel had misled it or that procedural relief was warranted. When the…
Novinger's Inc.
Scaffold access item modified and guardrail item affirmed
Novinger's was an interior-finishes subcontractor working inside an air shaft at a building project in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Employees reached a tube-and-coupler scaffold by stepping over a two-inch lip and across a 9.5-inch gap from the third-floor slab. The judge held that the safe-access…
Thomas Lindstrom Company, Inc.
Tag-line citation vacated as infeasible
Thomas Lindstrom was the structural-steel-erection subcontractor for a new Philadelphia medical examiner building. OSHA alleged that the company failed to use tag lines to control steel loads, and the judge held that the standard normally makes tag-line use mandatory. Lindstrom proved that using…
Seifert Construction Co., Inc.
Floor-opening citation reduced to other-than-serious
Seifert Construction conceded that floor depressions at its worksite violated the cited floor-opening standard. The only remaining dispute was whether the violation was serious. The stipulated facts described depressions about eight inches deep, some containing four five-inch bolts, and competing…
Otis Elevator Company
Missing access-records rule classified as de minimis
Otis Elevator was installing three elevators at a construction site when an OSHA inspector asked for a copy of the employee medical and exposure records access rule. Otis had material safety data sheets at the site but did not have the rule or its appendices, and it did not create or maintain…
A A Quality Construction Materials
Settlement approved after hearing conferences
A.A. Quality Construction Material manufactured and sold construction materials. OSHA cited the company for three alleged willful, ten serious, and four other-than-serious violations, with proposed penalties totaling $24,700. The company contested the citations, and the case proceeded to a…
Triangle Engineering Corp.
Mixed construction ruling carries $1,350 in penalties
Triangle Engineering was the general contractor building a prison in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. The ALJ affirmed serious violations involving site-specific safety instruction, missing edge guardrails, an accessible crane swing radius, and an unprotected excavation. She also affirmed other-than-serious…
E. Smalis Painting Co., Inc.
Bridge-painting citations settled for $50,000
E. Smalis Painting was repainting the Tarentum Bridge in Pennsylvania when OSHA inspected the worksite. OSHA issued three citations alleging one willful, nine serious, and two other-than-serious violations, with proposed penalties totaling $75,000. The parties agreed that the company would withdraw…
Rog's Inc.
Two personnel-platform defects affirmed as nonserious
Rog's Inc., a crane rigging and erection company, used a crane-suspended seat while removing an unused smokestack. The ALJ treated the device as a personnel platform under the cited crane standards. He vacated the crane-equipment items because OSHA inspected and photographed a different crane from…
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.