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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Gilco Contracting Co., Inc.
Repeat excavation violation affirmed
A Gilco crew entered an excavation to expose a waterline and install a saddle valve. Three walls were properly sloped, but the western wall was vertical, the excavation was more than five feet deep, and no trench box or other protective system was present. The judge rejected Gilco's argument that…
Butch Thompson Enterprises, Inc.
Power-line item vacated, willful trench violation affirmed
A Butch Thompson Enterprises crew operated an excavator beneath overhead power lines and sent two workers into a 13-foot-deep excavation without cave-in protection. The judge found that the equipment-specific power-line-clearance standard applied, but OSHA's officer had only estimated the clearance…
Degen Excavating, Inc.
Trenching violations affirmed with reduced penalties
An OSHA compliance officer saw a Degen Excavating employee working in an 8.6-foot-deep trench without a ladder, daily competent-person inspection, or cave-in protection. Two supervisors knew and agreed that the employee would enter the trench without the available trench box because they expected…
A. G. Carter Construction Company
Repeated trench warnings supported two willful violations
A. G. Carter Construction installed underground utilities in trenches near Prattville, Alabama. After a fire marshal warned owner Alton Carter about the lack of cave-in protection, a ladder, proper spoil-pile placement, and water controls, similar conditions remained when OSHA inspected one week…
Swallow Construction Corp.
Eighth cave-in violation drew a $33,000 penalty
OSHA inspected Swallow Construction's Illinois sewer and water project after an employee was electrocuted when a backhoe contacted live overhead power lines. The parties settled all citation items except an allegation that employees worked without cave-in protection in a trench more than five feet…
A. L. Grading Contractors, Inc.
Unsafe excavation and untrained flagger drew $25,500 in penalties
OSHA found an untrained employee directing traffic and two workers in a 9.2-foot excavation without cave-in protection or a safe means of egress at an Atlanta-area shopping-center project. The judge rejected the employee-misconduct defense to the training item because the company did not establish…
Kandey Company, Inc.
Cave-in violation reduced from willful to serious
Kandey employees worked in an excavation to connect a new building to a water main in Clarence, New York. The judge found that a portable ladder used for access did not extend three feet above the landing and that the excavation exceeded five feet, was not entirely stable rock, and lacked cave-in…
Pospiech Contracting, Inc.
Unprotected trench citation affirmed with a $5,000 penalty
Pospiech Contracting installed underground utilities at a Florida construction project. OSHA found employees had entered a vertical-sided Type C soil excavation measured at 6 to 6½ feet deep without a protective system. The company argued that the excavation was less than 5 feet deep, that it…
Mustang Engineering Holdings, Inc.
Missing trench exit affirmed while cave-in item was vacated
Mustang Engineering employees entered a trench to survey a newly installed pipe. OSHA cited the company because the trench lacked a safe means of egress and was not sloped enough for its Class B soil. The judge found that the missing ladder or other exit was obvious to Mustang's foreman, so the…
D’Allessandro Corporation
Unprotected 5½-foot trench led to a serious citation
D’Allessandro Corporation employees entered a trench in South Boston to cut an existing pipe and install a fitting. OSHA measured the vertical-sided trench at 5½ feet deep where the employees were working, and the Type C soil was adjacent to a heavily traveled road. The company disputed the…
Martin Construction, Inc.
EAJA filing period began after the judicial-review window closed
Martin Construction prevailed when an administrative law judge vacated six excavation citation items. The company filed an Equal Access to Justice Act fee application 63 days after the merits decision became a final Commission order, and the judge dismissed it as untimely because neither party had…
Griffin Contracting, Inc.
One unprotected excavation wall was enough to violate the cave-in rule
Griffin employees worked in a six-foot-deep utility excavation where one wall was near vertical and lacked shoring, benching, or an adequate slope. OSHA's laboratory confirmed that the fissured soil was Type B, and an employee was observed within 18 inches of the unprotected wall. The ALJ rejected…
J.E. Amorello, Inc.
Blocked ramp and missing cave-in protection led to two trench violations
Two employees worked in a trench that OSHA measured at 5 feet 4 inches deep. The ALJ found that a backhoe blocked access to the available ramp, leaving no safe means of egress, and that the trench lacked required cave-in protection. He credited OSHA's testimony over the employer's conflicting…
J. B. Coxwell Contracting, Inc.
Two excavation violations affirmed and two vacated
J. B. Coxwell Contracting was building an underground concrete junction box for a highway storm drain system in Florida. OSHA cited the company for four excavation violations after employees worked in an excavation about 6 feet 8 inches deep. The judge affirmed a serious violation because the…
West Valley Construction Company, Inc.
Two trench items affirmed and three vacated
West Valley Construction employees briefly entered a six-foot-deep trench at a naval air station in Washington while their superintendent watched. The trench had vertical walls in disturbed Type C soil and no cave-in protective system. The judge affirmed a repeat cave-in-protection violation…
Martin Construction, Inc.
Six trench items vacated for lack of knowledge or proof
Martin Construction was the general contractor on a sewer project where a subcontractor's owner was killed in a trench cave-in. OSHA cited Martin as the controlling employer for six alleged excavation violations, including unsafe access, an edge spoil pile, inadequate inspections, and deficient…
A.E.Y. Enterprises, Inc.
Inadequate trench shoring results in $100 penalty
A.E.Y. installed a shoring system in a University of Rochester excavation before two employees of another contractor entered to repair a pipe. On remand from the Commission, the judge found the excavation was about six and a half feet deep and rejected A.E.Y.'s claim that it qualified for the…
Performance Site Management
Excavation violations result in $4,000 penalty
Performance Site Management placed an employee in an excavation to remove a water-main cap while spoil and an eight-foot pile of ground asphalt stood at the excavation edges. The excavation exceeded five feet, and its narrow benches did not meet the dimensions required for Class B soil. The judge…
B. S. Carter Construction, Inc.
Willful cave-in violation results in $7,000 total penalty
Two Carter Construction employees entered a 17-foot-deep excavation in Class C soil without shoring, sloping, or a trench box. A wall collapsed and broke one employee's leg. The access ladder extended only eight inches above the surface, and the injured employee had not received training to…
Decker Construction
Trench violations result in $5,625 penalty
Decker employees worked in a seven-foot excavation while relocating a fire hydrant. The company had not trained one crew member in excavation hazards, provided no ladder or constructed ramp, left spoil at the edge, and did not slope or shore the Type B soil as required. Those four items were…
A.E.Y. Enterprises
Excavation-shoring case remanded for factual findings
A.E.Y. Enterprises installed a shoring system in an excavation at the University of Rochester. OSHA cited the company for failing to provide an adequate cave-in protective system, but the judge vacated the citation after finding OSHA had not proved the excavation was at least five feet deep. The…
John Carlo, Inc.
Willful trench violation results in $50,000 penalty
John Carlo employees worked in a 14.5-foot trench in Type C soil with only an eight-foot trench box and unsloped walls above it. A large clay mass fell into the trench and killed one employee. The judge found that the project superintendent and foreman knew the trench-protection requirements…
Smoot Construction
Scaffold and trench violations affirmed with penalty reduction
Smoot was the prime contractor on a university construction project where employees worked from incompletely planked scaffolds and a subcontractor's employees entered an inadequately sloped trench. The Commission held that the full-planking exception did not apply because Smoot's employees were…
Reynolds Inc.
Quick-coupler items split and trench violations affirmed
Reynolds was installing a water main when an excavator bucket detached from a hydraulic quick coupler, rolled into an excavation, and fatally struck an employee. The judge vacated the general-duty and safety-program items because Reynolds lacked notice that the experienced operator would skip…
D.R.B. Boring Drilling Company
Five serious trench violations affirmed
D.R.B. performed boring work from a trench approximately 9 feet deep with vertical, unprotected walls. The judge rejected the owner's claim that the business was a sole proprietorship without employees, finding under the economic realities test that a worker the owner paid and directed was D.R.B.'s…
North Texas Contracting, Inc.
Trench safety citations affirmed with $9,000 in penalties
North Texas Contracting was installing a box sewer line in a Dallas trench when OSHA found employees working near vertical walls, accumulated water, spoil piles, and an excavator at the trench edge. The judge credited OSHA's measurements and found that the approximately 10-foot-deep excavation was…
George Cairns & Sons, Inc.
Attorney-fee application denied
George Cairns & Sons sought attorney fees and expenses after an excavation violation was reduced from willful to serious in the underlying case. The judge found that Cairns was the prevailing party on the classification issue because the penalty fell from the proposed $44,000 to $7,000 and the…
Haines & Kibblehouse, Inc. and E.P. Guidi, Inc.
Trench citation affirmed for subcontractor and dismissed for construction manager
Haines & Kibblehouse installed a sewer line at a Philadelphia construction site where a trench collapsed and seriously injured one of its employees. The judge found that employees worked in a vertical-walled trench that was at least five feet deep without a protective system. H&K's foreman treated…
E.P. Guidi, Inc. and Haines & Kibblehouse, Inc.
Trench citation affirmed for subcontractor and dismissed for construction manager
Haines & Kibblehouse installed a sewer line at a Philadelphia construction site where a trench collapsed and seriously injured one of its employees. The judge found that employees worked in a vertical-walled trench that was at least five feet deep without a protective system. H&K's foreman treated…
Reed Engineering Group, Inc.
Late general-duty amendment required continuance and remand
A Reed Engineering employee died in an excavation while the company performed environmental testing. The Secretary initially cited three construction standards, then moved four days before the hearing to add a general-duty-clause allegation in the alternative. The Commission held that allowing the…
Missouri Gas Energy
Late notice of contest reinstated by agreement
Missouri Gas Energy filed a late notice of contest after the original excavation citations were signed for by a clerk and then lost internally. A judge granted the Secretary's motion to reject the notice as untimely, and the employer sought Commission review. While review was pending, the Secretary…
Purler-Cannon-Schulte, Inc.
Repeat cave-in protection violation affirmed
Purler-Cannon-Schulte was installing a 72-inch storm sewer line when OSHA found its foreman working near an almost vertical wall in an excavation about 11 feet deep. The soil was Type B, and the south wall lacked adequate sloping, benching, shoring, or shielding. The judge rejected the company's…
Darby Creek Excavating
Four excavation items vacated and one inspection violation affirmed
Darby Creek Excavating was installing a water line when OSHA found an employee in a deep excavation with accumulated water, no ladder, and no cave-in protection. The judge vacated the general duty clause item because the Secretary did not prove that failing to barricade the excavator's swing radius…
J. Mess Plumbing Co., Inc.
Five excavation violations affirmed and two vacated
J. Mess Plumbing sent crews to locate and repair a sewer line through an excavation more than nine feet deep in a residential yard. OSHA cited the company for seven alleged violations involving traffic protection, warning vests, atmospheric testing, spoil placement, training, competent-person…
Bridges Grading & Hauling, Inc.
Two trench violations affirmed and inspection item vacated
Bridges was laying storm pipe at a residential development while an employee worked in a trench more than eight feet deep. The judge found that the company provided no safe means of egress and allowed the spoil pile to rise directly from the trench edge without an adequate retaining device. She…
R. Williams Construction Company
Five trench-safety violations affirmed
Two employees entered a waterlogged, unshored sewer trench to clean pumps, and the trench collapsed, killing one employee and severely injuring the other. The judge found that R. Williams provided almost no trench-safety training, lacked a safe egress route, and used supervisors who were not…
RMS Construction, Inc.
Trench and worksite violations affirmed
RMS Construction was a subcontractor building a block wall in a deep trench on a New Jersey road and bridge project. OSHA found RMS employees working outside the trench box in Type C soil, with no safe egress, no competent-person inspections, uncapped rebar, inadequate hazard training and worksite…
Lanzo Construction Co., Inc
Diving and excavation violations reclassified as willful
Lanzo Construction installed large sewer pipe in a water-filled excavation using a surface-supplied diver. The Commission rejected Lanzo's request for dismissal based on the Secretary's counsel communicating with the diver, finding the record did not establish an ethical violation warranting…
Arby Construction Company
Trench cave-in violation affirmed
Three Arby Construction employees worked in a six-foot-deep, vertical-sided Type B soil trench without sloping, shoring, or a trench box. The judge rejected the foreman's claim that he believed the trench was under five feet deep, finding the condition obvious from his position directly above the…
McLeod Land Services, Inc.
Four serious trench violations affirmed
McLeod Land Services installed underground drainage pipe at a retirement-community construction project in Sarasota, Florida. Two employees worked in a trench while an excavator's tracks extended over its unsupported vertical end wall. The judge found that McLeod did not adequately train its…
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…
Lakeland Enterprises of Rhinelander, Inc.
Willful trench violation and $50,200 affirmed
A Lakeland employee worked at the bottom of an 18-foot excavation without a ladder or cave-in protection while a part-owner continued operating a backhoe nearby. The judge found that the trench walls were inadequately sloped in Type C soil with pockets of Type B soil and that loose soil was visibly…
Rawson Contractors, Inc.
Undermined-pavement violation affirmed
Rawson Contractors allowed employees to work on and below pavement that had been undermined by a sewer excavation, with part of an excavator resting near the unsupported area. The judge held that the cited standard presumes a hazard when pavement is undermined without support or other protection…
Rawson Contractors, Inc.
Willful trench violation affirmed and penalty reduced
Rawson's foreman removed trench boxes and knowingly sent two employees into an approximately 20-foot-deep trench with nearly vertical walls. The Commission held that the foreman's knowledge was imputable to Rawson because he supervised the crew and, critically, served as the designated competent…
Fields Excavating, Inc.
Two willful trenching violations affirmed
Fields Excavating employees entered inadequately protected pipeline excavations at two Ohio worksites. At Havener Road, a superintendent continued despite saturated, sloughing soil and explicit safety concerns from a gas repairman. At Xenia, a superintendent knowingly sent an employee into a…
Hill Brother Construction, Inc.
Late contest dismissed after owner failed to read notice
Hill Brothers' president received OSHA's citations well before the contest deadline but looked only at the proposed penalties and did not read the prominently stated filing instructions. He then consulted several attorneys and made no effort to contact OSHA until more than 40 days after the…
Calhar Construction, Inc.
Trench and backup-alarm violations affirmed
Employees worked in a trench more than seven feet deep with the access ladder over 60 feet away and set at an improper angle. The trench lacked an adequate cave-in protection system, and laboratory testing confirmed that the soil was not stable rock. OSHA also observed a front-end loader backing…
George B. Hardee Construction Company, Inc.
Trenching violations resulted in $36,800 in penalties
George B. Hardee Construction installed a storm sewer pipeline in an excavation in Mobile, Alabama. OSHA found two employees in Type C soil at depths exceeding five feet without cave-in protection, an adequate competent-person inspection, excavation-hazard training, or a safe means of exit. The…
D’Allessandro Corporation
Excavation violations affirmed with $5,000 in penalties
D’Allessandro Corporation installed drain piping in a Type C soil excavation in Boston. OSHA found an employee working in a trench more than six feet deep without cave-in protection outside the trench box. The judge also found that no qualified competent person was present to inspect the changed…
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…
B. S. Carter Construction Co., Inc.
Training and cave-in violations affirmed
B. S. Carter Construction replaced a drainage pipe in an excavation at least 13.5 feet deep. The excavation collapsed, completely burying one employee and partially burying another; the first employee sustained multiple serious injuries. The judge found that the workers had received no…
Allen Howe & Son, Inc.
Repeat trench violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Two Allen Howe & Son employees worked in a roughly seven-foot-deep sewer trench whose Type B soil walls were steeper than the permitted 45-degree slope. OSHA cited the default sloping option, but the judge found that both parties tried the case under the Type B soil requirements and amended the…
C.J. Hughes Construction, Inc.
EAJA award reduced to $19,443.20
C.J. Hughes prevailed in the underlying trench case and received an Equal Access to Justice Act award for fees and expenses incurred contesting six citation items. On review, the Commissioners remained divided over whether the Secretary was substantially justified in litigating the trench-egress…
Revoli Construction Co., Inc.
Willful trench violation and $63,000 penalty affirmed
A Revoli employee worked in a 7.5-foot-deep, unshored and unsloped trench while the foreman watched from a backhoe. The Commission found actual knowledge through the foreman and constructive knowledge because Revoli lacked an effective enforcement or disciplinary system despite knowing the employee…
J. Masterson Construction Corporation
Willful trench violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Two J. Masterson employees worked in a trench whose near-vertical wall was more than six feet high and consisted of Type B and Type C soil. The superintendent stood at the trench edge and watched while no shoring, sloping, or trench box protected the employees. The judge rejected the company's…
Westar Mechanical, Inc.
Serious trench violations and $31,950 penalties affirmed
Westar and a subcontractor installed a sewer line in unprotected excavations on two consecutive days. On the second day, a trench wall collapsed, a water main broke, and two trapped workers drowned as the trench filled with water. The Commission held that separate cave-in and competent-person…
Reynolds, Inc.
Three excavation violations affirmed
Reynolds was installing sewer lines in Ohio when employees, including the foreman, worked in a trench more than six feet deep without sloping, shoring, or a trench box. Excavated material was piled at the trench edge, and the foreman did not complete the required competent-person inspection before…
Fiore Construction Co., Inc.
Willful trench violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Fiore Construction had two employees working in an eight-foot-deep utility trench without a trench box, shoring, or adequate sloping. The foreman had extensive excavation experience, had completed OSHA excavation training, and admitted knowing that cave-in protection was required under the…
Performance Site Management
Cave-in citation affirmed after a fatal trench accident, safety-program and training items vacated
Performance Site Management is a site-development contractor that was installing sewer lines for a housing project in Cleves, Ohio. A trackhoe bucket, attached with a quick-coupler hitch, came loose and fell into an excavation, fatally injuring a worker who was inside. After a fatality…
Jalco, Inc., and its successors
Three trench-safety citations upheld as violations but each downgraded in severity
Jalco is a utility contractor that was installing a 42-inch water line in Edinburg, Texas. OSHA inspected the trench work and issued three excavation citations: the trench box did not extend 18 inches above the vertical trench wall, the trench floor was dug too far below the bottom of the box, 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.