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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
CSA Equipment Company, LLC
Forklift struck-by citation affirmed
CSA Equipment handled steel coils at the Port of Mobile, where a forklift struck and killed a clerk checking a coil. The Commission found that separating clerks from forklifts until coil checks were complete was a feasible way to materially reduce the struck-by hazard. CSA had successfully used…
HCI Industrial & Marine Coatings, Inc.
Barge fall-protection items partly affirmed
HCI employees were sandblasting and painting inside a barge storage tank when an employee fell from staging and was hospitalized. The judge vacated the general fall-protection item because the Secretary did not prove that HCI knew or should have known the employee was working without fall…
Packers Sanitation Services, Inc.
Drain, machine-guarding, and recordkeeping items partly affirmed
Packers Sanitation cleaned equipment at a poultry processing plant where an employee's hand was caught in an operating quill puller, causing a fingertip amputation. The judge affirmed one walking-surface instance because managers stepped over inadequately covered drains in the normal route to the…
Integra Health Management, Inc.
Workplace violence citation affirmed
Integra sent service coordinators to meet clients in homes, vehicles, shelters, and other community settings, including clients with mental illness and histories of violence. A service coordinator was killed during a meeting with a client who had a violent history. The Commission held that…
A.H. Sturgill Roofing, Inc.
Roofing heat citations vacated
A temporary employee collapsed while working on a commercial roof and later died from complications of heat stroke. The Commission found that the Secretary did not prove the worksite conditions presented a significant excessive-heat hazard, noting that the heat index reached only the lowest warning…
HRI Hospital, Inc., d/b/a Arbour-HRI Hospital
Patient-violence citation vacated
Arbour-HRI operated an inpatient behavioral health hospital where employees experienced assaults and other aggressive acts by patients. The judge found that patient-on-staff violence was a recognized hazard at the facility and could cause serious injury. HRI already used violence-prevention…
BHC Northwest Psychiatric Hospital LLC d/b/a Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital
Patient-violence citation affirmed
Brooke Glen operated an inpatient psychiatric hospital where OSHA identified numerous incidents of patients assaulting staff. The judge found that patient-on-staff violence was a recognized hazard capable of causing serious injury or death. Existing controls were inadequate because communication…
Florida Gas Contractors, Inc.
Three excavation violations affirmed
Florida Gas employees dug a trench beneath an adjacent concrete structure while installing a gas line. The Commission held that the structure was appurtenant to the sidewalk and that undermining it without support violated the standard without separate proof that collapse was likely. The Commission…
Mid South Waffles, Inc., d/b/a Waffle House #1283
Grease-fire item vacated and cleaner PPE items affirmed
A fire occurred beneath a restaurant griddle after grease and waste accumulated in its removable drawer. The Commission vacated the general duty clause item because the Secretary did not identify the specific inspection or cleaning steps Waffle House needed beyond its existing once-per-shift rule…
Houston Aquarium, Inc.
Commercial-diving violations affirmed
Houston Aquarium divers regularly entered exhibit tanks to feed animals, clean surfaces, and perform public event dives. The company conceded that event dives were commercial, but argued that feeding and cleaning qualified for the scientific-diving exception. The Commission held that these routine…
Michael Deuso v. Shelburne Limestone Corp.
Michael Deuso v. Shelburne Limestone Corp. (FMSHRC YORK 2019-0015-DM): Miner ordered to address late discrimination filing
Michael Deuso alleged that Shelburne Limestone fired him after he adjusted a stone-feeder control and requested a conveyor-belt speed sensor. He filed his Commission discrimination case almost 19 months after an MSHA supervisor had told him that MSHA could not help with his original report, which…
SJ Louis Construction of Texas LTD
Trench egress and cave-in violations affirmed
SJ Louis employees worked in a deep utility trench without a ladder, stairway, ramp, or other safe means of exit. The judge found that the improvised path required employees to climb multiple surfaces near an excavator parked at the trench edge and did not qualify as safe egress. The trench also…
Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc.
Controlling-employer scaffold citation vacated
A contractor employee fell about 25 feet from an unguarded scaffold platform inside a refinery heater while not using personal fall protection. Suncor was the controlling employer but had no employees performing the work inside the confined space. The Commission found that the violative condition…
Hensel Phelps Construction Co.
Case remanded after Fifth Circuit reversal
An administrative law judge had vacated a willful citation against Hensel Phelps Construction Co. The Fifth Circuit reversed that decision and returned the case to the Commission. The Commission remanded the case to the judge for further proceedings consistent with the court's opinion.
Swisslog Logistics, Inc., and Wal-Mart Stores East, L.P. d/b/a Distribution Center 7019
Lockout citations vacated
A Swisslog employee sustained a serious leg injury when an automated trolley moved while he was working inside Wal-Mart's monorail system. OSHA cited both companies for willfully failing to use documented lockout procedures. The judge found that the lockout standard did not apply because the…
Coastal Drilling East, LLC
Unsecured rig-brake citation affirmed
A drilling employee's finger was amputated when suspended pipe drifted downward after a supervisor left the rig controls without securing the drawworks brake. Coastal and the industry recognized the crushing hazard and the practice of tying down or locking the brake before leaving the controls. The…
Lake Building Products, Inc.
Repeat steel-erection fall violation affirmed
Two employees landed decking bundles about 28 feet above the ground without using fall protection. The judge held that landing and unhooking decking did not make them “connectors,” because connectors must be placing and connecting structural members or components. The connector exception and…
Jacobs Field Services, North America
Electrical PPE violation affirmed
An apprentice electrician suffered an arc flash while terminating wiring in a 480-volt disconnect after removing protective gloves, a face shield, and a hood under the employer’s work practice. The load side was de-energized, but energized line-side components remained inches away and the arc…
Ontario Exteriors, Inc.
Roof fall citation affirmed with lower penalty
Ontario Exteriors directed employees to cross a steep second-story roof without fall protection when moving between the eave and peak at the start and end of each workday. The judge held that the residential construction fall-protection rule applied during those brief movements and that the company…
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…
Ovation Plumbing, Inc.
Case remanded for settlement review
An administrative law judge had affirmed a fall-protection violation and assessed a $1,000 penalty, and that decision became a final Commission order. Ovation Plumbing petitioned the Tenth Circuit for review. The court granted the parties’ joint request for a limited remand so their settlement…
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…
J.D. Eckman, Inc
Highway traffic-control citations vacated
A motorist entered J.D. Eckman’s highway construction work zone and struck the company’s superintendent. OSHA cited the company for allegedly excessive spacing between traffic cones, failure to position a truck-mounted attenuator to protect workers, and an allegedly short transition taper. The…
Excel Modular Scaffold & Leasing Company dba Excel Scaffold & Leasing
Skiff violation affirmed, anchorage item vacated
Excel employees erected hanging scaffolds a few inches above Galveston Bay, and one employee drowned after a scaffold component collapsed and pulled him underwater. The company stipulated that it lacked an immediately available lifesaving skiff, and the judge held that the violation was serious…
Black Tie Moving Services, LLC
Incomplete settlement remanded
An administrative law judge approved the parties’ settlement, but they later discovered that the agreement inadvertently omitted one of the two citations identified in the complaint. The Secretary filed an unopposed motion to submit an amended settlement covering the missing citation. The…
Mulch ‘n More, Inc.
Willful injury-recording violation affirmed
A Mulch ‘n More employee suffered a chainsaw laceration at a jobsite, received stitches and an immobilizing wrap, and was sent home the next day because of the injury. The company’s owner knew the injury occurred at work, arranged transportation to the hospital, and had prior experience with OSHA…
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…
Terrance McKitrrick d/b/a Great White Construction
Repeat roof fall violation affirmed
Four Great White Construction employees installed shingles on a residential roof about 11 feet above the ground without using available fall protection. The judge found actual and constructive knowledge based on the owner’s repeated prior fall citations, inadequate follow-up, and the foreman’s…
Adam Ham Construction, LLC
Roof fall citation affirmed after default
An Adam Ham Construction supervisor worked for three to four hours on a snow- and ice-covered residential roof about 33 to 35 feet above the ground without fall protection. The judge found the company could have discovered the condition through reasonable diligence, and the supervisor’s own…
Pharmasol Corporation
Warehouse storage violations affirmed, forklift items split
Pharmasol manufactured pharmaceutical and personal-care products and used powered industrial trucks in its warehouse. The judge vacated a general duty clause item because OSHA did not prove that the trucks could pass beneath rack beams and expose operators to the alleged crushing hazard. He…
Manua’s, Inc., dba Manua’s Discount Store
Crane power-line violations affirmed
Manua’s hired a crane contractor to unload structural steel near an energized power line, and three Manua’s employees were fatally electrocuted when the crane contacted the line. The Commission affirmed summary judgment on four serious violations involving the crane work zone, the 20-foot…
Kiewit Power Constructors Co.
Construction quick-drenching citation vacated
OSHA cited Kiewit under the construction quick-drenching rule, which requires immediate eye or body flushing facilities where employees may encounter corrosive materials. The rule originated under the Walsh-Healey Act and applied to federal supply contractors, not construction employers. In a…
BP Products North America, Inc., and BP-Husky Refining, LLC
Most refinery PSM items vacated
OSHA alleged 65 willful process safety management violations at BP’s Ohio refinery and proposed $2.87 million in penalties. Fifty-six items concerning pressure-relief equipment, cross-connections, and facility siting reached the Commission. The Commission vacated the pressure-relief items because…
Norman W. Fries, Inc. d/b/a Claxton Poultry Farms
Conveyor guarding citation vacated
A poultry-processing employee suffered a compound forearm fracture when his glove and arm were pulled into the underside of a seasoning-line conveyor. OSHA cited Claxton Poultry for failing to guard the conveyor’s ingoing nip-point. The judge found that the accident alone did not establish that…
Pro-Spec Corporation dba Pro-Spec Painting
Two worksite citation sets affirmed
Pro-Spec performed abrasive blasting and painting at water-tank projects in Easton and Quakertown, Pennsylvania. OSHA cited respiratory-protection, scaffold, fall-protection, ladder, electrical-wiring, confined-space, and recordkeeping violations after a suspended scaffold collapsed at the Easton…
O’Harra’s Complete Plumbing Service, LLC
Settlement approval set aside for late-contest review
A judge approved an informal settlement between OSHA and O’Harra’s Complete Plumbing Service. O’Harra’s later sent a letter claiming that it had no employees and had felt pressured to sign the agreement. The Commission treated the letter as both a late notice of contest and a request for relief…
Insulation-N-Coatings d/b/a Force Enterprises
Spoil-pile violation affirmed, duplicate item vacated
Force Enterprises installed sewer pipe in a roughly 10-foot-deep trench while a spoil pile sat at the trench edge instead of at least two feet back. Based on inspection video, photographs, tools and footprints in the trench, and the foreman’s earlier statements, the judge found that employees had…
Nissan North America, Inc.
Conveyor lockout training violation affirmed
Three Nissan maintenance technicians inspected an overhead conveyor while a contract mechanic worked elsewhere and later restarted the conveyor, causing one technician’s hand to be pulled into a belt. The judge vacated a lockout-removal notification item because OSHA did not establish that the…
Berwick Electric Company
Heavy-cable training violation affirmed
Berwick electricians pulled a roughly 11,000-pound cable through rollers and sheaves at a power plant, and one employee broke his arm when a suspended section shifted while he tried to move it by hand. The judge found that general warnings about pinch points and using a buddy did not prepare…
Texas Management Division, Inc.
Late-contest relief denial remanded
Texas Management Division filed its notice of contest nearly three months late and sought relief from the citation’s final-order status based on mistake, inadvertence, or excusable neglect. The judge denied relief after a telephonic hearing, relying primarily on competing declarations. The…
Caldwell Tanks, Inc.
Welding-ventilation citation withdrawn and vacated
An administrative law judge affirmed a serious ventilation citation after Caldwell Tanks employees welded inside a water-tower access tube and assessed a $3,400 penalty. The case was directed for Commission review. Before the Commission decided the merits, the Secretary withdrew the sole remaining…
Angelica Textile Services, Inc.
Confined-space and lockout items affirmed as serious
Angelica operated interconnected commercial laundry equipment, including large combined batch washers that employees sometimes entered as permit-required confined spaces. The Commission reversed the judge and affirmed violations involving the company’s written lockout and confined-space procedures…
TMD Staffing
Machine-guarding violations affirmed
TMD Staffing supplied most of the workers at Hightower Metal Works' steel fabrication shop. TMD employees regularly operated an ironworker punch station, two press brakes, and a bending roll without required point-of-operation guards. One employee's finger was crushed while operating the bending…
Century Communities, Inc., dba Century Communities of GA
Crane power-line violation affirmed
Century Communities was the developer and construction manager for a residential subdivision where subcontractors used a crane to place roof trusses. The crane came within 20 feet of energized overhead lines rated at approximately 119.15 kV, causing an electrical arc that seriously injured one…
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…
AltairStrickland, LLC
All citation items vacated
AltairStrickland was removing a 24,000-pound heat exchanger at an ExxonMobil refinery when a pipe fell, killing one crew member and injuring the foreman. OSHA alleged that the company failed to provide required training and violated crane and rigging standards. The judge found that OSHA rules did…
Coleman Hammons Construction Co., Inc.
Late contest dismissed
Coleman Hammons Construction did not contest two OSHA citations within the required 15 working days, so they became a final order by operation of law. A corporate officer signed for the citations and left them unopened on the desk of a project superintendent who was away from the office through the…
General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc.
Stacked-crate citation vacated
General Dynamics Land Systems stored Stryker vehicle parts in stacked crates at an Alabama warehouse. Seven crates fell from an 11-foot stack while an employee was taking inventory, causing serious injuries. The judge found that the crates were not interlocked and that the stack was not stable and…
Prime Pak Foods, Inc.
Late contest dismissed
Prime Pak Foods received a serious OSHA citation by certified mail on November 6, 2017, but did not file its notice of contest by the November 29 deadline. The company argued that OSHA failed to hold a closing conference and should have sent the citation to its counsel. The judge held that service…
Action Electric Company, Inc.
Lockout citation reinstated on remand
Action Electric employees entered a steel mill's cooling-bed basement to prepare for fan replacement before the required lockout procedure was completed. A counterweight moved to its de-energized position, striking and killing an apprentice and narrowly missing the lead worker. An earlier judge had…
Ovation Plumbing, Inc.
Fall-protection citation affirmed with reduced penalty
Ovation Plumbing worked on a multi-unit residential construction project where a foreman and another employee crossed a guardrail onto an unprotected second-floor balcony more than 10 feet above the ground. They entered the balcony area to measure for a future regulator-vent installation. The judge…
Randall Mechanical, Inc.
Late contest dismissed on reconsideration
Randall Mechanical received an OSHA citation on July 3, 2017, but filed its notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline. The judge initially granted relief for excusable neglect. After the Commission emphasized that the reason for delay and whether it was within the employer's control are…
AEROTEK
Manlift floor-opening citation vacated
Aerotek supplied temporary employees to a ceramics manufacturing facility where workers used an older belt manlift. An Aerotek employee fell through a manlift floor opening after the lift jerked and sustained serious injuries. OSHA amended its citation from a manlift design standard to the general…
Southern Hens, Inc.
Lockout and machine-guarding items split
Southern Hens operated a poultry-processing facility where sanitation employees cleaned production machinery during the night shift. An employee's hand was caught in an operating tumbler drive mechanism while she cleaned it, resulting in the permanent loss of part of her thumb. The judge vacated…
Calpine Corporation
Unguarded floor-opening citation affirmed
Calpine operated a power plant where a contractor removed platform grates during a turbine overhaul, leaving temporary floor openings more than 17 feet above a concrete floor. Calpine repeatedly assigned its maintenance employees to replace a turbine spark rod, a task that required access to the…
Jody Wilson Construction, Inc.
Fall citation reduced from willful to serious
Jody Wilson Construction installed siding and screen enclosures and agreed to make an additional siding repair from a residential roof more than eight feet above the ground. Two employees worked on the roof without guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems, and the foreman fell and…
Envision Waste Services, LLC
Safety items split and penalties reduced
Envision Waste Services operated a waste-sorting facility where employees separated recyclables from mixed waste that included used needles and other medical waste. The Commission affirmed the requirement for puncture-resistant gloves and violations involving fire-extinguisher, bloodborne-pathogen…
Lang Masonry Contractors, Inc.
Limited-access-zone citation vacated
Lang Masonry performed masonry work around an elevator opening during a high-rise renovation. A six-pound piece of concrete block fell from the fourteenth floor down the elevator shaft and struck an elevator mechanic, causing fractured vertebrae and other serious injuries. The judge found that the…
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.