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.
W. N. Couch Construction Co.
Trench citation vacated for lack of soil proof
W. N. Couch Construction excavated a 10-to-12-foot-deep pipeline trench with vertical lower walls, horizontal benches, and vertical upper walls. OSHA cited the trench under the rule for soft or unstable soil, but the compliance officer described the material as soft and crumbly while the…
Jerald F. Hughes, Inc.
Unprotected 16-foot trench violations affirmed
Jerald F. Hughes, Inc. was installing a large sewer line in a trench that was 16 feet deep. Employees entered the trench while its loose, cracked sides were not shored, sloped, braced, or protected by the trench box available at the site. The judge treated the evidence as establishing a violation…
Kesler & Sons Construction Company
Failure-to-abate ruling affirmed after court remand
OSHA cited Kesler & Sons Construction Company for several safety violations and ordered immediate correction. The company did not contest that citation, and OSHA reinspected before the 15-working-day contest period expired, finding four conditions uncorrected. A judge affirmed the failure-to-abate…
Engineers Construction, Incorporated
Trench citation vacated as unpreventable misconduct
Engineers Construction was excavating a pipeline trench that was 14 feet deep, contained water, and had unstable, inadequately supported sides. Its job superintendent entered the trench for a short task needed before a trench box could be installed. He did so without authorization and in direct…
Toler Excavating Company
Serious trench violation and $700 penalty affirmed
Toler Excavating installed sewer pipe in an unstable trench that was roughly nine to 12 feet deep and was not adequately shored, sloped, braced, or otherwise protected. Excavated material was stored close to one edge and a backhoe operated along the other, adding stress to the trench walls. A…
Olin Construction Company, Inc.
Serious unshored-trench citation affirmed by divided Commission
Olin Construction was locating an underground electrical cable while installing a water main. An OSHA inspector saw two employees in a narrow, vertical-sided trench dug in unstable fill soil and estimated from a folding rule that the trench was about six feet deep. The company disputed the depth…
A. L. Amaral Company
Trench citations affirmed and serious penalty reduced
A. L. Amaral employees built a catchbasin in an excavation more than six feet deep with unstable fill soil, nearly vertical sides, no shoring, and no ladder. The judge treated the catchbasin excavation as part of a trench even though it was wider than it was deep. He affirmed a serious…
Sheesley and Winters Construction Company
Excavation citation and $500 penalty vacated
Sheesley and Winters installed sewer pipe in a ground opening about 13 feet deep, 14 feet wide at the top, and 7 feet wide at the bottom. One wall was nearly vertical and the other was partly sloped, but inspectors observed no cracking, sloughing, or soil movement. The judge found that the company…
Donovan's Blacktop, Inc.
Settlement affirms citations and reduces penalties
Donovan's Blacktop faced citations from inspections of its garage and two Massachusetts construction sites. The cited conditions included poor housekeeping, improper electrical grounding, an unsupported trench, missing eye protection, and gasoline carried in an unapproved container. The parties…
All United Rent
Trench citation vacated as unpreventable occurrence
All United Rent supplied a backhoe and an experienced operator for excavation of a sewer-connection trench in Utah. The trench was about 18 feet deep, had steep unsupported sides, and collapsed while the operator and two other workers were inside. OSHA cited the equipment lessor for failing to…
F. F. Green Construction Co., Inc.
Serious trench citation and $900 penalty affirmed
F. F. Green installed a water main in an Alaska trench that was about eleven and a half feet deep in wet, sandy, unstable soil. At least two employees worked where the trench was not adequately shored or sloped, and the citation also included ladder-access and flammable-liquid-container items. The…
Adams & Mulberry Corp.
Trench violation reduced from willful to serious
Adams & Mulberry installed underground conduit in a narrow Louisville trench that was eight to ten feet deep, had vertical sides, and contained unstable soil and water. Two inexperienced employees entered beyond the completed shoring while positioning additional plywood sheets, and one employee was…
Charles Cohen, Inc.
Trenching cases remanded for merits findings
OSHA cited Charles Cohen, Inc. for allegedly failing to shore, slope, or otherwise support trenches in unstable or soft soil at two Dallas worksites. The judge dismissed both serious citations because they were issued more than three working days after the inspections. The Commission reversed…
Charles Cohen, Inc.
Trenching cases remanded for merits findings
OSHA cited Charles Cohen, Inc. for allegedly failing to shore, slope, or otherwise support trenches in unstable or soft soil at two Dallas worksites. The judge dismissed both serious citations because they were issued more than three working days after the inspections. The Commission reversed…
Davenport Brothers, Inc.
Trench and head-protection violations affirmed, penalty reduced to $200
Davenport Brothers sent two employees into a trench to repair a broken water line. The judge found that the trench was more than five feet deep and was not shored, braced, or sloped, and that neither employee wore protective headgear. The Commission affirmed the serious trenching violation and the…
C. N. Flagg & Company, Inc., d/b/a Northeastern Contracting Company
Serious trench violation affirmed, willful citation vacated
Flagg was installing sewer pipe in a trench more than 15 feet deep. The trench boxes and sheeting did not protect the bottom portion, where employees worked, and the Commission upheld the finding that the soil was unstable. It affirmed a serious trenching violation and its $700 penalty from the…
A. G. Pinkston Co., Inc.
Serious trench penalty reduced to $250
Pinkston employees worked in a trench about seven feet deep without adequate shoring or sloping. The soil was cohesive clay, but it was not solid rock or another material exempt from the trench-protection requirement, and some soil had already sloughed from the side. The judge found a serious…
Shaffer Construction & Engineering Co.
Fatal trenching violations affirmed
Eight employees worked in an approximately eight-foot-deep trench cut into soft, wet, unstable soil near highway and railroad traffic. The walls were almost vertical, had no shoring or bracing, and one wall collapsed and killed an employee. The Commission affirmed a serious violation of the…
O'Dell Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Inc.
Serious trenching violations affirmed
O'Dell Plumbing, Heating & Cooling was installing a storm drain at a hospital construction project in Liberty, Missouri. OSHA cited the company after employees worked in an approximately 14-foot-deep trench whose unstable sides were not adequately supported or sloped and whose spoil piles were…
Tri-County Constructors, Inc.
Serious excavation violations affirmed with $1,200 penalties
Tri-County Constructors had employees working in deep ground openings at a Pennsylvania state-park project. One trench was about 18 feet deep, with its lower eight feet nearly vertical and without shoring, while another excavation had near-vertical walls, water, and unstable soil. The judge…
Horne Plumbing & Heating Company
Serious trenching violations affirmed
Horne Plumbing & Heating was installing sewer pipe in a trench at a Georgia church project. A cave-in killed the job foreman and another employee, and the first inspection found undersized shoring in a roughly 17-foot-deep trench and excavated soil stored less than two feet from its edge. A later…
Marino Development Corp.
Trench violation affirmed and penalty reduced to $500
Marino Development was working in a trench in South Easton, Massachusetts. The trench was more than five feet deep in wet, unstable soil and lacked adequate shoring, support, or sloping. One side collapsed and killed the employee working inside, and the other side collapsed shortly afterward. The…
Hartwell Excavating Company
Trench citations modified and penalties reduced
Hartwell Excavating was installing a sewer line in an Idaho trench that exceeded five feet in depth and had unsloped sides in sand-and-gravel soil. OSHA also cited excavated material stored at the trench edge, missing exit ladders, a worker positioned beneath part of a backhoe bucket, an incomplete…
C. N. Flagg & Company, Inc.
Willful trench penalty reduced to $1,000
C. N. Flagg employees installed gas pipe in a six-to-seven-foot trench with vertical walls in soft, unstable soil beside a road carrying traffic. The company had supplied adequate steel trench boxes and required their use, but the welding foreman knowingly chose not to use them after a gas-main…
Eastwind, Inc.
Serious trench penalties reduced to $600 total
Eastwind employees worked in a seven-foot trench with vertical walls in wet, unstable soil while excavated and backfill material was piled at the edges. Part of a trench wall collapsed and partially buried two employees, who survived. Eastwind admitted serious violations for failing to support the…
Gerstner Electric, Inc.
Serious trench citation amended and affirmed
Gerstner Electric dug a 14-foot-deep, 30-inch-wide trench beside heavily traveled roads in unstable soil that had already caved in several times. Two employees entered the unshored trench to begin installing protection, and a wall collapsed, killing one employee and injuring the other. OSHA cited…
Puterbaugh Enterprises, Inc.
Trench and recordkeeping violations affirmed
Puterbaugh Enterprises laid sewer pipe in a trench about ten feet deep and two feet wide with vertical walls and no shoring, bracing, sheeting, or sloping. The trench caved in and killed an employee who had returned to resume pipe-laying work. The Commission affirmed the serious trench violation…
Stokes Construction Co.
Trenching case remanded for a merits decision
OSHA cited Stokes Construction for three non-serious trenching and shoring violations under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652 and proposed $360 in penalties. The inspection followed a trench accident in which two employees were injured and one apparently died. The judge vacated the citation because it was…
Accu-Namics, Inc.
Serious trench-protection violation affirmed
Accu-Namics installed underground water and sewer pipe in a trench that reached 24 feet deep. Its trench shield extended only 14 feet below ground, leaving about 10 feet of trench wall unprotected, and a cave-in killed four employees. The judge vacated the citation because the compliance officer…
Bi-Co Pavers, Inc.
Trench citation vacated because required slope was provided
Bi-Co Pavers dug a clay-soil trench for a municipal sewer line and sloped its sides at a two-to-one ratio without installing shoring. A portion collapsed after employees undermined a side to tighten pipe bolts, injuring two employees. The Secretary argued that a note in the trenching tables…
F.F. Green Construction Co., Inc.
Safety citations affirmed and reporting penalty removed
F.F. Green was laying a water line in Anchorage when a backhoe contacted or came too close to a 115,000-volt transmission line and an employee guiding pipe was electrocuted. The judge affirmed three serious violations involving power-line clearance, spoil piled at the excavation edge, and…
Frazee Construction Company
Trench citation vacated after OSHA withheld inspection records
OSHA alleged that Frazee Construction willfully failed to shore, slope, or otherwise protect a trench and proposed a $9,000 penalty. During the hearing, the compliance officer disclosed that he had prepared notes, memoranda, and a report from four inspections and the closing conference. OSHA…
Frank Irey, Jr., Inc.
Willful trench violation and $5,335 total penalties affirmed
Frank Irey performed underground electrical-conduit work in a trench about seven-and-one-half feet deep. The trench was not shored or sloped in soft or unstable material, and an employee died when a side collapsed. The administrative law judge classified the trench violation as willful because the…
Stephen Adamowich d/b/a Terryville Sanitation Service
Procedural vacatur reversed
OSHA cited Terryville Sanitation for an unsupported nine-foot trench and failure to provide a ladder, with proposed penalties totaling $805. The first judge vacated the citations because the Commission received the employer's notice of contest after the seven-day transmission period. The Commission…
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.