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.
Bechtel Corp.
Citations vacated for lack of employee exposure
Bechtel served as engineer and construction manager at the Trojan Nuclear Plant project in Oregon. OSHA cited housekeeping debris, compressed-gas cylinders without valve caps, and an unguarded recess at the construction site. Other contractors created the cited conditions, and the record did not…
H. K. Ferguson Co.
Seven construction violations affirmed and two vacated
H. K. Ferguson was the contractor on a project to expand an Anheuser-Busch facility in Columbus, Ohio. The judge affirmed seven nonserious items involving debris, flammable-liquid storage, smoking warnings, compressed-gas cylinders, elevated runways, and safe access between elevations. He vacated a…
R. H. Bishop Co.
Unguarded-light and grinder penalties assessed
R. H. Bishop was the heating and plumbing subcontractor on a dormitory project at Chanute Air Force Base. The Commission affirmed an unguarded-temporary-light violation because Bishop's employees were exposed, even though another contractor installed and controlled the lighting. It also affirmed an…
Lipsky & Rosenthal, Inc.
Sixth-floor guardrail item reduced to non-serious
Lipsky & Rosenthal was a plumbing subcontractor on an apartment construction project. Three employees hauled plumbing materials while standing at the unguarded edge of a sixth floor. The Secretary charged that condition as non-serious, but the judge classified it as serious and assessed $250. The…
Beall Construction Co.
Construction penalties reduced to $620
Beall Construction was the general contractor on a 12-story building project and faced serious, other-than-serious, and failure-to-abate allegations with proposed penalties totaling $35,442. The Commission adopted the judge's mixed disposition of the citations, including a serious violation for a…
Hersman Construction Co.
Three guarding violations affirmed and failure-to-abate penalties rejected
Hersman Construction received citations covering fall protection, floor and stair guarding, debris disposal, citation posting, and housekeeping at a building project. The judge found that OSHA proved only two open-sided-floor guarding violations and one inadequately covered floor opening. He…
Genco, Inc.
Construction citation vacated after inspection violations
OSHA issued Genco a 13-item non-serious citation after inspecting its construction work at Honolulu International Airport. The judge vacated the citation because the compliance officer began the inspection before presenting credentials to the owner, operator, or agent in charge as required by the…
W. J. Lazynski, Inc.
Crane swing-radius penalty reduced to $360
W. J. Lazynski performed sewer construction from a narrow highway median in Wisconsin. An employee was fatally crushed between a rotating crane counterweight and stacked steel liner plates in an accessible swing-radius area that had not been barricaded. The company had been permitted to close only…
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.