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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Metro Ports, d/b/a Southeast Crescent Shipping
Five lead and cadmium items vacated
Metro Ports operated a marine terminal at the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina, where it handled sealed bulk containers of Waelz oxide containing trace lead and cadmium. OSHA cited five serious violations involving respiratory-hazard evaluation, housekeeping, hazard communication, and…
Avalos Home Improvements WI LLC
Contest dismissed after signed settlement
OSHA cited Avalos Home Improvements for four serious construction violations after employees were observed roofing without fall protection in New Berlin, Wisconsin. The company signed an expedited informal settlement agreement that reduced the proposed penalties from $13,828 to $9,679.60 and…
Greg Beeche Logistics
Suspension-scaffold support-line violation affirmed
Greg Beeche Logistics designed and supplied two-point suspension scaffolds for a high-rise curtain-wall replacement project in Boston. The scaffolds used automatic locking devices on the suspension ropes but lacked the separate independent support lines required when workers attach their…
Johnson Brass & Machine Foundry, Inc.
Fall and lockout violations affirmed
Johnson Brass operated pit-mounted centrifugal casting machines at its Wisconsin foundry. An employee was seriously injured when his clothing caught on a rotating die while he cleaned it from inside a spinner pit. OSHA cited fall protection, lockout-tagout, training, and machine-guarding violations…
Elmer W. Davis, Inc.
Hoist-area and ladder violations affirmed
An Elmer W. Davis crew was replacing roofs on a four-story municipal building in Newark, New York. One employee stepped through modular guardrails and stood near the roof edge without personal fall protection while signaling a crane operator, and three employees used a ladder that extended less…
C & S Technical Resources, Inc.
Forklift certification violation affirmed
C & S Technical Resources used a telehandler and a spotter to stack heavy cut steel transmission-pole segments on a flatbed trailer in Liverpool, New York. Two stacks collapsed during loading, and pole segments knocked the spotter from the trailer and killed him. OSHA alleged a General Duty Clause…
JK Proctor, LLC
Roofing violations affirmed but willful classifications rejected
A nine-person JK Proctor crew replaced shingles on a one-story house in Canandaigua, New York. The crew worked more than nine feet above the ground without compliant fall protection and used a ladder whose rails extended less than three feet above the roof. A foreman incorrectly measured the roof…
Elmer W. Davis, Inc.
Roof structural-integrity citation affirmed
Elmer W. Davis was replacing a warehouse roof when its crew discovered an unsafe depression in the roof deck and covered it with an unsecured, unmarked sheet of plywood. After someone moved the plywood, an employee stepped on the exposed depression, fell 14 feet through the roof, and suffered…
Elmer W. Davis, Inc.
Roofing fall-protection citation vacated for employee misconduct
Elmer W. Davis assigned two employees to repair a low-slope commercial roof where a safety-monitoring system was permitted as the sole form of fall protection. OSHA observed both employees performing roofing work near an unprotected edge after the designated monitor stopped monitoring and joined…
Nemeckay's Roofing and Home Improvement Company
Four roofing citations vacated for lack of employee proof
OSHA cited a sole-proprietor roofing business for alleged head, eye, fall, and ladder protection violations observed at a two-story house. The judge rejected the proprietor's claim that OSHA's observations and brief entry onto the property violated the Fourth Amendment. OSHA still had to prove that…
Sentinel Systems, LLC
Utility-vehicle training citation vacated
A Sentinel Systems employee died when the utility vehicle he was driving struck an empty flatbed trailer at the American Dream Mall construction project in New Jersey. OSHA cited Sentinel for allegedly failing to instruct operators about driving the vehicle on pavement with tires designed for…
Juan G. Quevedo-Garcia
Corporate veil pierced for OSHA penalties
Five consolidated cases involved 33 construction violations issued to BB Frame LLC and its owner, Juan G. Quevedo-Garcia, including serious, repeat, and willful violations involving fall protection, eye and head protection, and stairways and ladders. BB Frame withdrew its contests, leaving only…
Petrongolo Contractors, Inc.
Repeat cave-in protection item affirmed
Petrongolo Contractors excavated a roughly 10-foot-deep street trench to replace a sewer manhole. OSHA cited the company for allegedly failing to classify the soil when designing timber shoring and for allowing employees to work in the trench before an adequate protective system was installed. The…
U.S. Postal Service d/b/a Lehigh Valley Processing & Distribution Center
Lockout violation reduced to other-than-serious
The U.S. Postal Service repaired a broken conveyor belt within its Automated Package Processing System at a Pennsylvania mail facility. Management directed mechanics to lock out only the affected induction lane so the rest of the system could continue processing mail, despite employee objections…
Tom Kubricky Company, Inc.
Trench egress and cave-in violations affirmed
Tom Kubricky Company excavated more than 20 feet below a residential street to repair a broken sewer force main. Two employees worked in a lower trench without a stairway, ladder, or other reliably safe emergency exit. The judge found the earthen end slopes unsafe because they were soft, irregular…
Outfront Media, Inc.
Three billboard fall-protection items vacated
An OSHA compliance officer observed four Outfront Media employees working more than four feet above ground on a billboard without fall protection. OSHA cited fall protection, fall-hazard training, and workplace hazard-assessment requirements, with a proposed grouped penalty of $12,675. The judge…
Tony Watson, d/b/a Countryside Tree Service
Willful woodchipper and PPE violations affirmed
Countryside Tree Service used a five-person crew at three residential tree-removal sites. A 23-year-old employee with no tree-service experience was killed after becoming ensnared in a woodchipper on his first day of work. The judge found that the owner allowed two inexperienced employees to feed…
Red Lake Nation Fisheries, Inc.
Tribal-enterprise citations dismissed
Red Lake Nation Fisheries was a commercial fishing and fish-processing enterprise owned and operated by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians on its Minnesota reservation. After two employees drowned while harvesting fish, OSHA cited the enterprise for not requiring personal flotation devices and…
Kimble Company, d/b/a Kimble Sanitary Landfill
Landfill struck-by citation vacated
Kimble operated a sanitary landfill where a front-loader struck and killed an employee who was on foot. OSHA alleged that employees were permitted to walk through vehicle-operating areas and cited the general duty clause. The judge rejected Kimble's arguments that the Mine Act or construction…
Appleton Grp LLC, dba Appleton Group
All citation items vacated
Appleton Group manufactured and tested heating cable systems at its Connecticut facility. OSHA alleged hazards involving extruding-line emergency stops, electrical-panel access, cable-testing work practices and protective equipment, an exit sign, and a portable propane cylinder. The judge found…
Arctic Glacier U.S.A., Inc.
Partial settlement approved and penalties set
Arctic Glacier operated an ice-manufacturing facility that received seven serious citation items and one repeat item with $67,000 in proposed penalties. The parties reached a partial settlement that vacated five serious items, accepted the repeat item and two other items, and reclassified one…
Richard Carrier Trucking, Inc.
Pressurized diesel citation vacated
Richard Carrier Trucking drivers used pressurized canisters to spray diesel fuel inside timber trailers so wood chips would not freeze to the surfaces. OSHA alleged that the canisters were repurposed fire extinguishers and that the practice exposed employees to fire and burn hazards. The compliance…
LM Sanderson Construction, Inc.
Three residential fall violations affirmed
LM Sanderson Construction employees framed townhomes while working about 20 feet above lower levels. Employees stood on stacked roof sheathing supported by an elevated telehandler fork, a foreman worked from the top plate of an exterior wall, and other employees installed sheathing on a steep roof…
Matsu Ohio, Inc.
Lockout and power-press citation items vacated
Matsu Ohio manufactured stamped automotive parts using partial-revolution mechanical power presses. OSHA alleged several lockout/tagout and power-press violations involving servicing procedures, employee training, lock identification, die-setting procedures, and operating-mode selectors. The judge…
Triumph Construction Corp.
Repeat cave-in violation affirmed and loose-soil item vacated
Triumph Construction replaced a water main in lower Manhattan using an excavation without a cave-in protective system. An employee was injured when part of the excavation collapsed. The judge found that the excavation was at least five feet deep where the employee worked, so the shallow-excavation…
Thomas G. Gallagher, Inc.
Crane rigging violations affirmed with reduced penalties
A pipefitter suffered a serious hand injury when a weld broke during a crane lift of a 5,000-pound pipe assembly. The load was improperly rigged, and the employee placed his hand directly on the suspended assembly. The judge found constructive knowledge because Gallagher had not adequately…
Moorhead Brothers, Inc.
Backup-alarm citation vacated on evenly balanced evidence
Moorhead Brothers was clearing a utility right-of-way in Ohio when a company truck backed over and killed an employee who was on foot. OSHA cited the site-clearing contractor under the construction vehicle standard that requires either an audible reverse alarm or an observer when the driver's rear…
Meadows Construction Company LLC
Roof-anchor and unattended-telehandler violations affirmed
Meadows Construction was replacing shingles on a two-story police station in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Six employees worked on a steep roof about 25 feet above the ground, and one employee connected his fall-arrest system to a reusable roof anchor secured by only one of its two flanges. The…
Lammon Brothers, LLC
Reverse-alarm citation vacated for lack of audibility proof
Lammon Brothers delivered concrete to an Ohio freeway-repaving project where one of its backing dump trucks struck and killed an employee of the general contractor. The truck's reverse alarm was operating and sounding at the time. OSHA later measured traffic noise and the alarm at different…
Risa Management Corp.
Default entered after repeated failures to participate
Risa Management contested ten serious and one other-than-serious citation carrying $34,300 in proposed penalties, then entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The judge ruled that the safety-enforcement proceeding was not automatically stayed, although payment of any penalty would remain under the…
MB Consultants, Ltd. d/b/a Murray's Chicken
Lockout, guarding, and chemical-training items largely affirmed
Separate safety and health inspections at Murray's Chicken produced lockout, machine-guarding, hazard-communication, and injury-recording citations. The judge affirmed serious lockout items for inadequate machine-specific procedures, deficient periodic inspections, and insufficient…
Schmitt Tree Experts
Crane-inspection recordkeeping failure affirmed
Schmitt Tree Experts did not contest an earlier citation alleging that required monthly crane-inspection certification records were unavailable. OSHA later issued a failure-to-abate notification after the company still could not produce records of subsequent inspections. The judge found that the…
R&S Roofing, LLC
Fall-protection citation affirmed for workers treated as employees
R&S Roofing used a crew to replace a rubber roof on a one-story commercial building in Ohio. Although the company called the roofers independent contractors, the judge found they were employees because R&S controlled the workplace and the manner and timing of their work, paid them hourly, provided…
Delta Elevator Service Corp., d/b/a Delta Beckwith Elevator Co.
Electrical PPE citation vacated because construction standards applied
Delta Elevator Service was hired by a demolition project's general contractor to operate a building elevator so workers and materials could move between floors. OSHA cited Delta under a general-industry electrical PPE standard after mechanics performed diagnostic and operating work on the elevator…
Arc Erecting, Inc.
Access, crane, and welding citations affirmed
Arc Erecting was the structural steel subcontractor on a Maine arena project. Employees climbed to the top of steel joists about 10 feet above the ground without a ladder, and a crane operated near a power line without the required marked work-zone boundary and elevated warning line. A welder also…
Bellco Glass, Inc.
Late contests dismissed in consolidated cases
OSHA issued separate health and safety citations to Bellco Glass after inspecting its New Jersey facility. The company did not submit a written notice of contest within 15 working days and filed its request for a hearing eleven weeks after the deadline. Despite several extensions and opportunities…
Barlament Erection Crane Rentals
Crane tag, latch, and inspection items affirmed
Barlament used a truck-mounted crane to hoist bundled wooden roof trusses at a residential construction site. Its fabricated chain sling lacked the required capacity and manufacturer tag, the hoist hook's self-closing latch had been intentionally removed, and its monthly and annual inspection…
Hubbard Construction
Repeat trench cave-in item affirmed
Hubbard Construction installed storm-water pipe in a trench beside a heavily traveled highway. After the crew encountered a utility line, the foreman removed the trench box and directed two employees to work for several minutes in a six-foot-deep Type C excavation with slopes steeper than…
TMD Contracting
Workload did not excuse late contest
OSHA issued TMD Contracting two serious items after inspecting a commercial construction project in Albion, New York, and proposed $2,850 in penalties. The company filed its first contest letter two weeks after the deadline. TMD said it was managing two large commercial projects, was unfamiliar…
JLD Custom Carpentry
Business pressures did not excuse late contest
OSHA issued JLD Custom Carpentry five serious items after inspecting residential re-roofing work in Pennsylvania and proposed $18,000 in penalties. The owner's wife received the citation and scheduled an informal conference, but miscommunicated the date and the company missed the conference and…
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.