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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U.S. Postal Service, dba Kenton Station
Four asbestos-related violations affirmed with reduced penalties
The Postal Service operated Kenton Station in Portland, Oregon, where asbestos-containing flooring was present in work and custodial areas. OSHA alleged repeat violations for missing annual asbestos training, deficient asbestos housekeeping, an incomplete hazardous-chemical list, and the absence of…
Packers Sanitation Services, Inc., Ltd., dba PSSI
Conveyor lockout violation affirmed
PSSI provided overnight sanitation services at an automated sandwich plant in Bolingbrook, Illinois. A sanitation worker wedged a conveyor's foot pedal so the belt would run continuously while he dried it with an air hose, and his clothing became caught in the conveyor sprockets. The judge found…
595 Construction LLC
Late contests dismissed and penalties affirmed
OSHA inspected three 595 Construction worksites in Elburn, Illinois, under its fall-hazard emphasis program and issued three sets of citations. The company received the citations in early November 2024 but did not file notices of contest by the November 27 deadline, instead filing about two months…
Schindler Elevator Corporation
General-industry citations vacated for construction work
Schindler Elevator was replacing and upgrading 49 elevators at a Houston office tower under a project valued at more than $24 million. OSHA cited three serious violations under general-industry personal protective equipment and lockout-tagout standards, with $26,787 in proposed penalties. Schindler…
Elite Builders, Inc.
Willful residential fall violation affirmed
Elite Builders' owner and four workers were framing the owner's two-story house in Gretna, Nebraska. OSHA found workers without eye protection, on an unsecured forklift-supported platform without fall protection, using an unguarded stairway, and framing on a roof without fall protection. The judge…
RJCL Corporation, d/b/a RNV Construction
Mixed ruling on scaffold and electrical citations
OSHA inspected RNV Construction at a residence and a commercial building in Saipan and issued scaffold and electrical citations carrying $44,754 in proposed penalties. The judge found that RNV Construction employed the residence workers and rejected its challenges to both inspections. Most items…
Palacios Marine & Industrial Coating, Inc.
Six scaffold-related citation items vacated
Palacios Marine employees were erecting a scaffold-based shelter at a Texas petrochemical plant when a wooden plank broke and a scaffold builder fell seven feet, suffering broken bones that required reconstructive surgery. OSHA cited the company for alleged failures involving employer-provided and…
A-1 Sewer and Water Contractors, Inc.
Trench citation vacated for unreliable depth proof
A-1 Sewer and Water Contractors was installing a water line in a trench at a residential worksite in Illinois. OSHA alleged that an employee worked in a trench approximately 5.6 feet deep without a cave-in protective system and proposed a $1,985 penalty. The judge found that OSHA did not reliably…
UHS of Centennial Peaks LLC, dba Centennial Peaks Hospital
Psychiatric-hospital workplace violence citation affirmed
UHS of Centennial Peaks operated an inpatient psychiatric hospital where direct-care employees faced threats and assaults by patients. The judge found that the hospital recognized workplace violence as an endemic hazard but relied too heavily on clinical patient care rather than a comprehensive…
JRA Construction Corporation
Five-month-late contest dismissed
OSHA issued JRA Construction one repeat-serious citation after inspecting a worksite in Aurora, Colorado. The company received the citation on June 19, 2021, making its written notice of contest due July 9, but it did not submit a contest until December 12. The late filing gave no reason for the…
Frontera Construction, LLC
Electrical-proximity citation vacated
Frontera Construction was the general contractor at a medical-facility project in Laredo, Texas. Its superintendent directed a ductwork subcontractor's employees to work only in a hallway because adjoining rooms contained energized electrical equipment. After the superintendent left to assist…
84 Lumber Company, dba 84 Lumber Company, a Limited Partnership
Suspended-load citation vacated
An 84 Lumber forklift operator was repositioning a suspended bundle of wood when a contract truck driver unexpectedly ran beneath it. The bundle became unstable, fell, and killed the driver. OSHA cited 84 Lumber under a standard stating that no person may be allowed to stand or pass beneath the…
Quick Roofing LLC
Late contest dismissed and citation affirmed
OSHA issued Quick Roofing one citation containing two serious items and proposed penalties totaling $4,681. The citation was delivered by certified mail to the business address provided during the inspection, but the company filed its notice of contest 83 days late. Quick Roofing argued that it had…
Destiny Builders Construction Services, Inc.
Five citation items affirmed by default
OSHA issued Destiny Builders three serious and two other-than-serious citation items after inspecting a Chicago construction site. The company filed a notice of contest and eventually answered the complaint after an initial show-cause order. It then failed to register for electronic filing, respond…
Patterson-UTI Drilling Company, LLC
Well-control general duty item vacated and settlement terms approved
A blowout and explosion at Patterson-UTI's Oklahoma natural-gas drilling rig killed five people, including three Patterson-UTI employees. OSHA alleged under the general duty clause that Patterson-UTI failed to maintain well control and exposed employees to recognized fire and explosion hazards. The…
H-E-B, LP
Meat-saw hand-tool citation vacated under plain text of standard
An H-E-B employee suffered a substantial hand laceration while cutting a shoulder roast on a meat-cutting band saw. OSHA issued a willful citation alleging that H-E-B failed to provide a special hand tool that would keep employees' hands outside the danger zone. On cross-motions for summary…
Brady SoCal, Inc.
One scaffold guardrail violation affirmed and two allegations vacated
Brady SoCal supplied a scaffold for its framing and drywall work at a casino renovation where an employee of another subcontractor later fell from the roof and died. OSHA cited Brady for an inadequate scaffold inspection and for missing guardrails at two locations. The judge declined to apply…
D.R.T.G. Builders, LLC
Late contest dismissed for lack of excusable neglect
OSHA issued D.R.T.G. Builders a two-item serious citation with a proposed $10,608 penalty after inspecting a Houston worksite. Certified mail was unclaimed, so OSHA sent the citation by UPS to the same supplied business address, where it was delivered to the front door. D.R.T.G. later learned of…
Rieber Contracting, Inc.
Late contest dismissed because mail neglect was not excusable
Rieber Contracting, a commercial construction contractor, received a serious citation under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.416(a)(1) with a proposed $9,282 penalty. The citation was delivered by certified mail to the company's address, but its mail practice was to leave documents in a mixed household and…
DeNucci Constructors, LLC
Cave-in protection violation affirmed after training item withdrawn
Two DeNucci Constructors employees entered an eight-to-nine-foot-deep trench to hand dig around existing pipes. The Type B soil trench had vertical side walls, inadequate partial benching at one end, no benching at the other, and no trench box. The superintendent and foreman saw the employees…
JW Powerline, LLC
Four electrical safety violations affirmed after fatal line repair
A JW Powerline crew responded at night to restore power at a rural drilling site after a thunderstorm. The crew foreman misidentified a utility-owned line as the customer's line and began a splice without an adequate job briefing, proper isolation and tagging, or grounding. The utility restored…
Tessier's, Inc.
Roof-hole fall protection violation affirmed
Tessier's employees were installing HVAC roof curbs when they decided to trim a wooden cover that protected a roof opening. The employees assumed the cover was attached to the building, but it was a friction-fit cover and was not fastened to the structure. As an employee leaned on the cover while…
Master Construction Co., Inc.
Roadwork traffic citation affirmed, training citation vacated
Master Construction managed a road-expansion project where concrete trucks repeatedly entered and left an active paving area. An employee walking through the truck operating area to retrieve material was run over by a concrete mixer and sustained two broken legs. The judge found a recognized…
Gavilon Grain, LLC
Machine-guarding citation vacated, dust-housekeeping citation affirmed
OSHA inspected Gavilon's corn mill and cited an unguarded rotating shaft bushing and grain-dust accumulations near an outdoor grain leg. The judge vacated the machine-guarding item because employees performing maintenance used a hatch about five feet away while the equipment was locked out, and…
URS Federal Services, Inc.
Grinder compatibility citation affirmed
URS Federal Services employees repaired military vehicles using grinders and grinding stones supplied through a Department of Defense tool counter. A worker used a stone rated for 9,070 revolutions per minute on a grinder rated for 12,000 revolutions per minute, and the stone broke apart, causing a…
Northpac Corporation d/b/a Northpac Construction
Contest dismissed after discovery defaults
OSHA cited Northpac Construction after inspecting a worksite in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. The employer timely contested one serious and two repeat violations carrying $12,197 in proposed penalties. During the case, Northpac repeatedly provided incomplete discovery responses, failed to…
TNT Crane & Rigging, Inc.
Crane ground-support violation affirmed
TNT Crane & Rigging used a mobile crane to replace rooftop air-conditioning units at a Texas retail store. During setup, the operator swung the fully counterweighted crane while its outriggers were only half extended and two rear outriggers lacked steel support mats. An outrigger broke through…
Wrangler Pumping, Inc. dba Garbage Gators
Settlement reopening request dismissed
OSHA cited Wrangler Pumping for twenty alleged violations and proposed penalties totaling $64,868. After initially contesting the citations, the company negotiated and signed an informal settlement agreement with the assistance of an attorney and a safety consultant. The agreement became a final…
Magnum Contracting, Inc.
Unsecured forklift platform violation affirmed
Two Magnum Contracting foremen used a rough-terrain forklift to raise an employee on a work platform for welding. They did not secure the platform with the provided chain and moved the occupied forklift horizontally, causing the platform to slide off the forks and fall about 12 feet. The judge held…
North Dakota Innovations, Inc.
Grain-elevator penalties reduced
North Dakota Innovations operated a five-employee flax grain elevator where OSHA found fall, machine-guarding, combustible-dust, electrical, confined-space, training, and maintenance-record violations. The company withdrew its contest to all seven serious and three other-than-serious violations…
K&E Builders, LLC
Contest dismissed by default
OSHA issued K&E Builders one serious citation with a proposed $3,880 penalty after inspecting a Texas construction worksite. The company filed a notice of contest but then failed to attend a pretrial conference, answer interrogatories, comply with a discovery order, respond to the Secretary’s…
Mansfield Industrial, Inc.
Chemical training and respirator items vacated
Six Mansfield Industrial employees were hospitalized after a chlorine release at a plastics facility. OSHA cited the company for allegedly inadequate hazardous-chemical training and for failing to provide one employee an annual respirator fit test. The judge found that OSHA did not identify how…
Auchly Roofing, Inc.
Roof and ladder fall items affirmed
Five Auchly Roofing employees worked on a steep residential roof 11 to 18 feet above the ground without an approved fall-protection system. The company relied on toe boards, pick boards, ladder jacks, and kneepads, but did not prove that compliant systems created a greater hazard or that it…
Wymac Ent., Inc., dba Work Shop Denver
Secretary’s withdrawal closes case
OSHA cited Wymac Enterprises for an alleged construction-safety violation and proposed a $1,630 penalty. The Secretary withdrew the citation one day before the initial pretrial conference. Wymac then filed motions seeking sanctions, compliance with prior orders, and a stay of the withdrawal. The…
Truston Technologies, Inc.
Access item affirmed and sling item vacated
Truston Technologies supervised Navy mooring-maintenance work in Pearl Harbor where an 11,500-pound buoy detached during a crane lift, killing two subcontractor employees and seriously injuring two others. The judge vacated a sling shock-loading item because the backup sling did not establish the…
Midwest Steel, Inc.
Scaffold items affirmed after fatal fall
A Midwest Steel ironworker fell 33 feet from a temporary platform while welding steel columns at a hospital construction project and died. The judge vacated allegations concerning the worker’s synthetic lanyard because OSHA did not prove the cited heat-related hazard under the general duty clause…
Elite Builders, Inc.
Fall and forklift violations partly affirmed
Elite Builders was a residential roofing contractor inspected at two Nebraska worksites where employees worked on elevated roofs without conventional fall protection. At the second site, employees were lifted on an oversized, unguarded personnel platform attached to a rough-terrain forklift…
Stephen M. Rhim
Employee abatement-date contest dismissed as moot
OSHA cited the U.S. Postal Service for allowing untrained employees to operate powered hand jacks at an Indianapolis facility and set an abatement date less than a month after citation issuance. Affected employee Stephen M. Rhim contested only the abatement date, arguing that corrective action…
BML Construction
Contest dismissed after company abandoned case
OSHA cited BML Construction for two serious violations at a Missouri construction site and proposed penalties totaling $4,320. After filing a notice of contest, BML did not communicate with the Secretary, attend the pretrial conference, respond to a sanctions motion, or answer the judge's order to…
Brower Dental Health, P.C.
Exposure-control-plan violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Brower Dental Health operated dental offices where employees encountered blood and other potentially infectious material in their daily work. During OSHA's inspection, employees could not locate or identify the required written exposure control plan, and the owner did not produce one until about…
3 Dimension Construction Management, Inc.
General contractor held responsible for asbestos demolition controls
3 Dimension Construction Management served as general contractor for converting a building into a self-storage facility and hired KIPI to perform interior demolition before asbestos abatement. OSHA cited the company for failing to ensure that the demolition contractor complied with the asbestos…
RG Design Express Inc.
Saw-guard violations affirmed and fall item vacated
RG Design Express was building a home where workers used two table saws without adjustable hood guards or anti-kickback fingers. The judge found that the workers were employees, not independent contractors, and that the foreman's cooperation gave OSHA consent to inspect. Both saw-guard instances…
All Steel, Inc.
Late contest dismissed for lack of excusable neglect
OSHA issued All Steel two citations containing four items and proposed $2,800 in penalties. The company filed its notice of contest 53 days after the statutory deadline, explaining that family illness and the demands of keeping the business operating caused the delay. The judge found those general…
Pan Oceanic Engineering Co., Inc.
Willful trench violation affirmed and other items vacated
Pan Oceanic Engineering performed underground sewer repair work in Chicago. An employee entered an approximately 8-foot-10-inch trench without cave-in protection even though hydraulic shoring was beside the trench, and the company had five prior final citations involving the same cave-in protection…
Affordable Roofing and Exteriors, Inc.
Ladder and repeat roofing violations affirmed by default
OSHA observed eleven Affordable Roofing and Exteriors employees working on a steep gas-station roof in Trenton, Illinois without conventional fall protection. The access ladder did not extend three feet above the roof, the company had stopped conducting required safety inspections, and a one-foot…
International Shipbreaking Limited, LLC
Electrical citations vacated under equitable estoppel
International Shipbreaking operated at the Port of Brownsville, Texas. In a written settlement resolving earlier cases, OSHA withdrew the prior citations and gave the company sixty days to implement a comprehensive electrical safety and assured-equipment-grounding program. About two weeks after…
Mountain States Contractors, LLC
Willful crane wire-rope violation affirmed
Mountain States Contractors used a crawler crane while building bridges over the Cumberland River in Gallatin, Tennessee. The crane's boom cable snapped on May 21, 2013, causing the boom to collapse onto a highway. Daily and annual inspection records had documented damaged cables, broken wires, and…
Furmanite America, Inc.
Facility work-rule violation affirmed, training items vacated
Furmanite America installed an isolation plug in a pipeline at a process facility. An employee who was not trained or assigned to that service line attempted to remove the plug, which was forced from the pipe by built-up pressure and caused a serious head injury. The judge vacated the training item…
American Phoenix, Inc.
Combustible-dust citation partly affirmed
American Phoenix manufactured custom rubber compounds using mixers, hoppers, and multiple dust-collection systems. OSHA alleged that combustible dust in the collectors created fire and explosion hazards under the general duty clause. The judge found fire hazards in the Rotoclone, Pre-Weigh, and…
Western World, Inc.
Theme-park firearms safety citation affirmed
Western World operated Wild West City, a New Jersey theme park where employees used firearms in staged gunfights. An employee was seriously injured when he was shot during a performance after live ammunition had been brought to the worksite. Although the company prohibited live ammunition, it…
Basic Grain Products, Inc.
Lockout violations affirmed with one item reduced to serious
Basic Grain Products made snack foods using conveyors, augers, drums, ovens, and packaging equipment at its Ohio facility. Production employees cleaned moving or improperly locked-out machinery without receiving the lockout/tagout training or tools required for employees who perform servicing work…
Performance Contracting, Inc., dba PCI
Three scaffold items affirmed as other-than-serious
Performance Contracting installed exterior insulation from a multilevel scaffold at a casino construction project. An opening below the scaffold was not barricaded, and the scaffold lacked interior toe boards in an area where smaller tools and materials could fall. The judge found employee exposure…
Safway Scaffolding d/b/a Safway Services, LP
Untrained scaffold dismantler item affirmed after fall
Safway erected and dismantled extensive scaffolding inside an aircraft hangar. A ground-crew laborer without scaffold-dismantling training was allowed by his crew leader to join the dismantling work, then fell about 21 feet after tying off to a horizontal bar that dislodged. The judge found the…
C & C Roofing
Late contest dismissed and $2,000 citation affirmed
OSHA issued C & C Roofing one serious citation with a proposed $2,000 penalty after inspecting a Colorado Springs worksite. The company filed its notice of contest 48 days late. It did not respond to the Secretary's dismissal motion or the judge's order to show cause, and it offered no basis for…
Duraframe Dipnet
Contest dismissed after repeated procedural defaults
OSHA cited Duraframe Dipnet for sixteen serious, three repeat, and one other-than-serious violation, with proposed penalties totaling $71,400. The employer timely contested but then failed to answer discovery, comply with multiple orders, attend the final pretrial conference, respond to a sanctions…
AIC Marianas, Inc.
Raised bucket and worn tire items affirmed
AIC Marianas replaced a water line beside a roadway in Saipan. A parked backhoe had its rear bucket suspended above the ground without adequate blocking, leaving nearby workers exposed if the hydraulic system failed. A dump truck also had an outer rear tire with no tread and visible cracking, and…
AR Medical LLC d/b/a San Pablo Medical Clinic
Late contest dismissed
OSHA cited San Pablo Medical Clinic for three serious violations and one other-than-serious violation after inspecting its Dalton, Georgia facility. The clinic received the citations on April 27, 2012, but did not file its notice of contest until September 6, 2012. In response to an order to show…
D & A Construction
Soap item vacated, paint safety-data item affirmed
D & A Construction employees performed touch-up painting during airport renovations in Saipan. OSHA cited the company because the nearest restroom's soap dispenser was empty and the worksite lacked the correct material safety data sheet for the industrial enamel paint in use. The judge vacated the…
LHC, Inc.
Late contest denied after citation remained in company inbox
OSHA issued LHC four serious citation items carrying $10,780 in proposed penalties. The company's president received and signed for the citation, but it remained in his inbox while he tried to gather information from employees working elsewhere in Montana. LHC notified OSHA of its intent to contest…
Lakeside Construction, L.L.C.
Framing safety violations affirmed
Lakeside Construction had three employees framing an Idaho residence without a supervisor present. One employee worked below roof-framing activity without a protective helmet, while other employees worked about 9 feet above the ground without fall protection. The employees also lacked training to…
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.