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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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…
Midwest Steel, Inc.
Scaffold items affirmed after fatal fall
A Midwest Steel ironworker fell 33 feet from a temporary platform while welding steel columns at a hospital construction project and died. The judge vacated allegations concerning the worker’s synthetic lanyard because OSHA did not prove the cited heat-related hazard under the general duty clause…
The Lane Construction Corporation
Work-zone traffic citation vacated
A dump truck backing through a nighttime highway milling operation struck and killed a Lane Construction superintendent. OSHA alleged that Lane failed to implement an effective internal traffic control plan separating pedestrians from moving vehicles. The judge found that OSHA did not prove its…
Elite Builders, Inc.
Fall and forklift violations partly affirmed
Elite Builders was a residential roofing contractor inspected at two Nebraska worksites where employees worked on elevated roofs without conventional fall protection. At the second site, employees were lifted on an oversized, unguarded personnel platform attached to a rough-terrain forklift…
Central Site Development, LLC
Struck-by and recordkeeping citations vacated
Central Site Development performed site-development work at a Florida apartment project where its supervisor, while operating a bulldozer in reverse, struck and killed an employee of a subcontractor. OSHA cited Central Site under the general duty clause for a struck-by hazard and separately for not…
Lloyd Industries, Inc.
Machine guarding and health violations largely affirmed
Lloyd Industries manufactured fire dampers and HVAC products at a Pennsylvania plant where a former employee's fingers were amputated by a press brake. OSHA's safety and health inspections identified unguarded machine points of operation and power-transmission parts, improperly closed electrical…
JH Traffic Control Co., LLC
Traffic-control citation vacated and reporting violation affirmed
JH Traffic Control employees were placing traffic barrels on a busy Boise road when one employee crossed an active lane to retrieve barrels and was struck by a car, causing serious injuries. OSHA alleged a general duty clause violation based on crossing live traffic lanes and setting barrels…
Solares Electrical Services, Inc.
Arc-flash PPE and insulated-tool citations vacated
Solares Electrical Services updated an energy-monitoring system at a Miami hospital where an electrician was burned by an arc flash after entering an energized transfer-switch cabinet. The employee first caused a spark and fire alarm, was told by his foreman to wait, but reentered the locked work…
Peacock Engineering, Inc.
General duty citation vacated for lack of feasible abatement
Peacock Engineering installed burial crypts at Miramar National Cemetery using an excavator and wire rope slings. An employee's thumb was amputated by a sling while he guided a suspended crypt into place by hand, and OSHA cited Peacock under the general duty clause for amputation, struck-by, and…
Capitol Concrete Contractors, Inc.
Skid-steer and injury-reporting citations vacated
A Capitol Concrete trainer fractured his wrist when skid-steer loader arms descended as he reached into the cab during operator training. OSHA alleged a general duty clause violation based on trainers approaching operational skid-steers and also alleged that the hospitalization was reported late…
Aldridge Electric, Inc.
Excessive-heat general duty citation vacated
An Aldridge Electric employee suffered heat stroke while working on a Chicago transit construction project and died the next day. OSHA alleged that Aldridge exposed workers to excessive heat in violation of the general duty clause. After an extensive hearing, the judge found that the Secretary did…
F & H Coatings, LLC
Unsecured pressure-vessel hazard citation affirmed
F & H Coatings prepared to sandblast and paint a 12,000-pound cylindrical pressure vessel that rested unsecured on round pipe racks. The vessel became unstable, rolled off the racks, and fatally crushed an employee who was partly inside its manway. The judge found that the setup created a…
Conrad Yelvington Distributors, Inc.
Rail-yard general duty citation affirmed
Conrad Yelvington Distributors operated an aggregate train through a commuter-rail construction site where a derail device had been placed on the track. The train struck the device and overturned, fatally injuring the conductor. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause for failing to…
Key Energy Services, LLC
Lightning hazard citation vacated
Three Key Energy employees and another contractor's employee were injured when lightning struck a rural gas-well worksite. OSHA cited Key Energy under the general duty clause and proposed training, stopping work during severe weather, and weather radios as abatement. The judge found that Key Energy…
S.J. Louis Construction of Texas
Confined-space citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
Two S.J. Louis Construction employees died after entering an active sewer manhole containing hydrogen sulfide and very low oxygen. The judge found that the general-industry confined-space rules did not apply to the construction work, but affirmed an alternative general duty clause citation. The…
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company
Combustible-dust case settled and dismissed
OSHA cited Cooper Tire over alleged carbon-black dust hazards at its Tupelo tire plant. After withdrawals and a partial settlement, the judge vacated the remaining general duty, hazardous-location, and housekeeping items because the Secretary did not prove the cited combustible-dust conditions…
Pepper Contracting Services, Inc.
Highway work-zone struck-by citation affirmed
Pepper Contracting supervised a highway milling operation where an employee was assigned to uncover a utility box in the path of moving dump trucks. A subcontractor's truck struck the employee, who later died from his injuries. The judge found that Pepper knew workers and vehicles could conflict…
Film Allman, LLC
Willful train-trestle hazard citation affirmed
Film Allman directed twenty to twenty-three employees to film a movie scene on an active railroad trestle. The company knew the railroad had twice denied permission, had no railroad representative controlling train traffic, and did not create a workable emergency exit plan. When a train approached…
Byrd Telcom, Inc.
Gin-pole rigging hazard citation affirmed
A Byrd Telcom crew was raising a 40-foot, 1,800-pound gin pole on a cellular tower when a carabiner used in the rigging failed. The falling pole and rigging fatally struck two workers. The judge found that industry practice required properly secured rigging with chokers and a shackle, and that the…
American Recycling & Manufacturing Co., Inc.
Broad safety violations affirmed after amputation inspection
American Recycling & Manufacturing produced wood packaging materials and pallets at a Rochester, New York facility. OSHA opened a safety inspection after a twenty-year-old employee's left hand was amputated when a coworker accidentally activated a pop-up saw, then opened a related health inspection…
Longhorn Service Company
Mixed ruling on well-rig fall and fire hazards
Longhorn Service Company operated a well-servicing rig near Alexander, North Dakota. The judge affirmed serious items involving an unguarded hole in the rig floor, an inadequately guarded open platform, and improperly maintained and inspected fire extinguishers. A repeat stair-railing item was also…
Peacock Timber Company, Inc.
Lockout, respirator, and noise items affirmed
Peacock Timber operated a seven-employee sawmill in Troy, Alabama. The judge affirmed a serious lockout/tagout item because employees serviced multi-energy-source mill equipment without documented machine-specific procedures. An other-than-serious respirator item was affirmed because employees…
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Crowd-control judge decision vacated after contest withdrawal
OSHA issued a general-duty-clause citation after a Wal-Mart employee was killed in a crowd surge during a 2008 holiday sales event. The chief judge affirmed the serious item and a $7,000 penalty, and the case was directed for Commission review. Wal-Mart then withdrew both its notice of contest and…
Florida LeMark Corporation
General-duty citation affirmed for ungrouted garage columns
Four people died and others were injured when part of a precast concrete parking garage under construction collapsed. OSHA cited Florida LeMark, the subcontractor responsible for grouting column bases, for leaving two load-bearing columns ungrouted while construction continued. The judge found that…
Vitakraft Sunseed, Inc.
Housekeeping and warning-sign violations affirmed, general duty item vacated
Vitakraft Sunseed manufactured small-animal products at a facility where its dust collection system deposited agricultural dust into a wagon inside a dust room. OSHA cited accumulated combustible dust, the absence of warning signs, and an alleged general duty clause violation based on fire and…
United States Postal Service
Willful extreme-heat violation affirmed
A Postal Service letter carrier returned from a five-week absence and delivered mail during an excessive heat warning without an acclimatization period. He reported symptoms to his supervisor on two consecutive days, remained on his route, and died from hyperthermia on the second day. The judge…
American Phoenix, Inc.
Combustible-dust citation partly affirmed
American Phoenix manufactured custom rubber compounds using mixers, hoppers, and multiple dust-collection systems. OSHA alleged that combustible dust in the collectors created fire and explosion hazards under the general duty clause. The judge found fire hazards in the Rotoclone, Pre-Weigh, and…
CSA Equipment Company, LLC
Forklift-hazard case remanded for abatement analysis
CSA Equipment used forklifts to move large steel coils while checkers worked nearby, and an employee was struck by a forklift and later died from his injuries. An administrative law judge affirmed a general duty clause citation after finding that moving the checking operation to a separate dock…
Applied Aquatic Management, Inc.
Airboat-collision citation vacated
Applied Aquatic Management used airboats to perform aquatic plant management work in Florida. Two company airboats collided in a blind trail after one operator entered a dead end and turned back, seriously injuring one employee and causing the death of another. OSHA alleged that the company had not…
Western World, Inc.
Theme-park firearms safety citation affirmed
Western World operated Wild West City, a New Jersey theme park where employees used firearms in staged gunfights. An employee was seriously injured when he was shot during a performance after live ammunition had been brought to the worksite. Although the company prohibited live ammunition, it…
K.E.R. Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Armadillo Underground
EAJA fees awarded after pipe citation was vacated
Armadillo Underground defended citations arising from a PVC water-pipe explosion that injured four workers. The underlying general duty clause item was vacated because OSHA did not prove that tightening the joint bolts while the line remained pressurized was a recognized hazard, and a separate…
Imperial Aluminum
Furnace-explosion citation vacated
Imperial Aluminum was installing a new rotary furnace when an outside contractor troubleshooting its gas-flow controls allowed natural gas to accumulate and then opened the furnace door while the pilot remained lit. The resulting explosion damaged ductwork and released a fireball, but no employees…
Jesse Remodeling, LLC
Willful scaffold item and three serious items affirmed
Jesse Remodeling employees worked on a 13-foot-high scaffold while filling concrete block cells at a restaurant construction site. The scaffold lacked guardrails, two employees worked from its frame and cross braces, and employees used cross braces and uprights to descend. A concrete Grout Hog…
Valcourt Building Services of Georgia, LLC
Window-cleaning citations vacated because franchisee was the employer
A Valcourt franchisee used rope-descent equipment to clean exterior windows on a high-rise building. OSHA cited Valcourt after observing that each worker's safety line and working line shared an anchorage point and that the safety line allegedly could not safely suspend a worker after a fall. The…
Basic Marine, Inc.
Most shipyard citations affirmed
Basic Marine performed shipbuilding and repair work involving confined spaces, hazardous coatings, forklifts, cranes, lifting equipment, and work on barges and a pier. The judge affirmed nearly all contested items, including violations involving confined-space testing and rescue, respiratory…
Everclear Enterprises, Inc.
High-rise window-washing citations vacated
Everclear employees washed high-rise windows while connected to independent fall-restraint or fall-arrest systems. OSHA alleged that workers had to secure themselves within the seatboard before suspension and that ropes needed specific permanent markings. The judge found that the seatboard and…
Roberts Sand Company, LLLP
Clay-pit highwall violation affirmed
Roberts Sand Company operated an intermittent clay pit with a nearly vertical highwall more than 20 feet high. An equipment operator was working near the wall when it collapsed onto the excavator cab, causing his death. The judge found a recognized collapse hazard and concluded that feasible…
K.E.R. Enterprises, Inc., d/b/a Armadillo Underground
Pipe-explosion citation vacated for lack of a recognized hazard
Armadillo Underground installed water-line piping and pressure-tested a completed section while workers tightened bolts to stop a small leak. The pipe exploded, breaking the foreman's legs and causing minor lacerations to three other workers. OSHA alleged that tightening the bolts while the pipe…
ACME Energy Services dba Big Dog Drilling
Rig-floor struck-by citation affirmed
Big Dog Drilling employees were extending an oil rig's telescoping mast when the hydraulic ram failed and large suspended equipment fell onto the rig floor. A driller assigned to watch the mast from the rig floor was fatally struck. The judge vacated OSHA's general duty clause citation, finding…
Domino Window Cleaning, Inc.
Fourth-floor fall hazard citation affirmed
A Domino employee cleaning a fourth-floor New York window without fall protection fell 40 feet to the sidewalk and died from his injuries. The evidence showed that he had been working from the exterior ledge and that Domino also instructed employees to clean from an interior sill beside a large…
Deep South Crane & Rigging Co.
Operator-qualification violations affirmed
Four Deep South employees were fatally injured when a large crane fell backward during assembly at a Texas refinery. The operator had placed the crane in an unstable backwards-overhaul position and left it there for about three hours. The Commission found that Deep South did not give the site…
SeaWorld of Florida, LLC
Killer-whale hazard and stairway items affirmed as serious
SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau died after the killer whale Tilikum pulled her into a performance pool during a close-contact interaction. OSHA alleged that trainers faced recognized struck-by and drowning hazards when performing drywork with Tilikum and drywork or waterwork with other killer…
Cranesville Block Company, Inc. / Clark Division
Respirator violations affirmed and drowning item vacated
Cranesville manufactured ready mix concrete at its Teall Avenue plant in Syracuse, New York. An employee chipping hardened concrete from a mixer drum was exposed to silica at four times the permissible limit while wearing an organic-vapor cartridge instead of the appropriate particulate filter. The…
Post Buckley Schuh & Jernigan, Inc.
Fatal heat-stress violation affirmed
An archaeological field technician became disoriented while digging test holes during his first day on a Texas pipeline survey project. Temperatures approached 99 degrees, he was sent alone toward an air-conditioned vehicle, and coworkers later found him unconscious with a core temperature of 107.8…
Erickson Air-Crane, Inc.
Tanker-truck fall citation vacated for lack of notice
Two Erickson employees repaired a helicopter rotor blade stored on top of a fuel tanker truck during high winds. A gust lifted the blade-box lid and caused one employee to fall about ten feet, sustaining serious injuries. The judge affirmed a general-duty-clause citation based on Erickson's policy…
Era-Valdivia Contractors, Inc.
Independent lifeline item affirmed
Era-Valdivia employees painted a water tower from suspended Spider baskets about 80 feet above the ground. One painter climbed outside his basket and tied his harness lanyard to the scaffold's suspension cable instead of an independent lifeline. The judge vacated a general-duty item based on…
Sand Cut Properties, LLC.
Willful excavation violations affirmed
Sand Cut Properties sent an employee into an excavation that was 6 to 9 feet deep, accumulating water, and repeatedly collapsing in unstable soil. A roughly 15-foot-high spoil pile overhung the edge, and the owner directed the employee to attach a sling to a concrete structure before the collapsing…
ASM-Sanders, Inc.
Trench violations affirmed and pipe-testing item vacated
A subcontractor's worker was killed when a PVC pipe exploded during compressed-air leak testing at an Air Force base construction project. The judge vacated the general duty clause item because ASM-Sanders' superintendent had explicitly delayed testing until the next day and did not know the…
LandCoast Insulation, Inc.
Settlement approved after scaffold-collapse case
The case arose after a 165-foot scaffold collapsed inside a boiler, killing one LandCoast employee and injuring several others. The judge had affirmed serious violations concerning scaffold-component training and the use of preliminary engineering drawings and unapproved component substitutions…
Burford’s Tree, Inc.
Inoperable-seatbelt violation reinstated
A Burford's Tree tractor operator was killed after the tractor rolled over and he was thrown from its cab into the path of the attached mower. The tractor's seatbelt had been inoperable for about six months. Although the foreman submitted weekly reports claiming daily inspections, he admitted that…
Constructural Dynamics Inc.
Pneumatic leak-test citation vacated
Constructural Dynamics, which traded as Silvi Concrete, repaired its concrete mixer trucks at an in-house shop. A welder was killed when a repaired 200-gallon water tank exploded during a pneumatic leak test. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause, alleging that employees were exposed…
4 State Trucks
Order-picker fall and retraining violations affirmed
4 State Trucks used powered order pickers to retrieve parts from warehouse shelves as high as 23 feet. An employee who was not tied off fell about 15 feet from an elevated order picker and later died from his injuries. The judge held that the order picker's work pad was a platform covered by the…
A.H. Beck Foundation Company, Inc.
Drill-rig swing and pier-hole citations vacated
A.H. Beck used a track-mounted drilling rig to excavate a 55-foot foundation pier hole. OSHA alleged that employees were exposed to the rig's rotating swing radius and to a fall at the edge of the hole. The judge found that the company used all of OSHA's listed alternative precautions for mobile…
Extendicare Health Care Services, Inc., d/b/a Arbors at Delaware
General-duty ladder item vacated for lack of employer knowledge
Arbors at Delaware was a skilled nursing facility where its maintenance director fell about nine feet while descending from an attic using a six-foot stepladder. He broke his wrist, suffered a head injury, and remained in a coma at the time of the hearing. The judge found that standing on the…
Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. dba Six Flags Great America
Health violations affirmed with $50,000 in penalties
OSHA inspected maintenance, painting, sign, welding, first aid, and park-service operations at Six Flags Great America and issued a 29-item serious citation. The allegations involved peroxide storage, chemical-resistant gloves, respirators, lead, hexavalent chromium, bloodborne pathogens…
Dierzen-Kewanee Heavy Industries, LTD
Unabated hazards resulted in $133,100 in penalties
Dierzen-Kewanee manufactured dump-truck bodies at a former boiler factory in Illinois. After settling earlier OSHA citations, the company paid only the first penalty installment, did not provide requested abatement information, and left many cited conditions uncorrected for a follow-up inspection…
Sanderson Farms, Inc.
Unstable freezer pallet storage resulted in a $6,300 penalty
Sanderson Farms stored 2,200-to-2,500-pound pallets of frozen chicken on an aging freezer rack system with frequently damaged legs and little margin for placement error. A maintenance employee died from smoke inhalation and burns after beginning to cut a damaged rack leg while loaded pallets…
PSP Monotech Industries
Inconsistent suspended-load training defeated the misconduct defense
PSP Monotech Industries operated a sheet-metal fabrication plant where employees used an overhead floor crane to move large panels. A 3,700-pound panel fell from a clamp, killing one employee and seriously injuring another. The Secretary cited PSP under the general duty clause for failing to keep…
St. Lawrence Food Corp., dba Primo Foods
Most dairy-plant health and safety citations affirmed
OSHA conducted health and safety inspections at Primo Foods, a kosher dairy, and cited hazards involving ammonia refrigeration, respirators, confined spaces, chemical training, noise, machine guarding, electrical work, lockout/tagout, powered industrial trucks, and recordkeeping. The ALJ found that…
Otis Elevator Company
Fatal car-sling incident did not establish employer knowledge
An Otis employee died after riding on an elevator car sling that fell about 60 feet down a shaft while he removed rail-alignment clips. The Commission found that a falling load presented a recognized hazard, but the record did not establish employer knowledge of the employee's conduct. Otis had a…
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.