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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Chenal Valley Construction, Inc.
All citation items withdrawn and judge’s decision vacated
The judge had affirmed residential fall-protection and ladder citations against Chenal Valley Construction as the controlling employer at an Arkansas homebuilding site. The case was directed for Commission review. Before the Commission decided the merits, the Secretary withdrew every remaining…
Corrpro Companies, Inc.
Hole fall-protection item affirmed and inspection item vacated
Corrpro employees installed a corrosion-protection system inside a water-treatment structure in Ohio. A first-time field worker stepped into an uncovered two-foot-square hole and fell about 12 feet, sustaining a spinal fracture that required surgery. The judge vacated the competent-person…
Dayton Tire, Bridgestone/Firestone
Ninety-nine lockout violations reclassified as serious
The Commission had previously affirmed ninety-nine lockout/tagout violations as willful and assessed $1,975,000 in penalties against Dayton Tire. The D.C. Circuit vacated the willful classifications for insufficient evidence and remanded for the Commission to reassess the violations and penalties…
Stone & Webster Construction, Inc., Bartlett Nuclear, Inc.
Privilege-related discovery orders vacated
Stone & Webster Construction and Bartlett Nuclear sought draft OSHA citation worksheets for use in a jurisdictional defense involving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The judge rejected the Secretary's deliberative-process privilege claim, ordered disclosure, and issued a show-cause order that…
Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation
Work-boot payment citation vacated
Cargill required meat-processing employees exposed to wet, slippery floors to wear ankle-covering work boots with water-resistant uppers and slip-resistant soles. OSHA cited Cargill for requiring employees to pay for those boots. The judge found that the boots were exempt “normal work boots”…
Kilby & Gannon Construction Services, LLC
Willful trenching violations affirmed
Kilby & Gannon employees installed drainage pipe in a type-C-soil trench at a parking-garage project. Two workers entered the trench even though it was more than five feet deep, lacked a trench box or adequate sloping, and had no safe egress point within 25 feet. The foreman knew the excavation…
Nova Group/Tutor-Saliba, A Joint Venture
Concrete-piling stacking violation affirmed
Nova stacked 55,000-pound concrete pilings in a temporary storage area on uneven pavement using inadequate and inconsistent dunnage. Two pilings rolled and pinned an employee, causing serious injuries that included a partial leg amputation. The Commission rejected Nova's claims that the judge's…
Caterpillar Logistics Services, Inc.
Recordkeeping case remanded after appellate vacatur
An administrative law judge had affirmed a recordkeeping violation against Caterpillar Logistics Services. The Seventh Circuit reviewed the case and vacated the judge's decision. After receiving the court's mandate, the Commission remanded the case to the judge for further proceedings consistent…
Nyffeler Construction, Inc.
Roof fall-protection and training violations affirmed
Two Nyffeler Construction employees installed roof sheathing more than ten feet above the ground without compliant fall protection. The company owner could see the work and admitted that no guardrail, safety net, or personal fall-arrest system was in use. The company also had not trained the…
Trinity Yachts, LLC
Argon hazard-training item affirmed on second remand
A Trinity Yachts employee died after inhaling argon gas in an enclosed shipyard vent trunk. On second Commission remand, the judge reopened the record to hear from the human-resources administrator who had oriented the employee, who had difficulty reading and writing English. The judge found that…
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…
C.P. Buckner Steel Erection, Inc.
Annual-summary certification items vacated
Buckner's safety and risk manager certified the company's OSHA annual injury and illness summaries for three years. The judge found he was not a qualifying company executive and affirmed three other-than-serious items without penalties. The Commission agreed that he was not the highest-ranking…
Millard Refrigerated Services
Mixed ruling after major ammonia release
About 32,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia escaped from a cracked roof header and a broken evaporator coil at Millard's refrigerated warehouse. Roughly 150 people were taken to hospitals and released, and the company lost about $4 million in product. The judge affirmed items involving unguarded…
Teichert Construction
Truck inspection and trench-protection violations affirmed
A backing dump-truck fatality prompted OSHA to inspect Teichert's water-pipeline construction project. The judge found that the truck driver did not complete the required pre-shift vehicle check and that one brake push rod was out of adjustment when the truck was placed in service. He also found…
Virginia Construction & Management Company, Inc.
Willful canopy fall violation affirmed
Two Virginia Construction employees chipped concrete on a canopy 16 feet 7 inches above a sidewalk without fall protection, safety-toe footwear, hard hats, or eye protection. They accessed the canopy by climbing an inadequately configured scaffold, and the company lacked qualified scaffold…
Weatherguard Construction Co., Inc.
Subcontractor roof fall violation affirmed
About seven roofing-subcontractor employees installed tar paper on a two-story house without fall protection. Weatherguard was the general contractor and controlling employer, and its field supervisor had visited the site, seen the roof work, and acknowledged that the same subcontractor had also…
Turner Industries Group, LLC
Chemical-turnaround training and assessment items affirmed
Turner employees replaced chemical-processing equipment during a plant turnaround in an area containing Tris, ethylene dichloride, and other hazardous substances. The company's special meeting focused mainly on Tris, did not cover all chemical hazards, and missed at least one employee who was sent…
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…
Associated Underwater Services
Falling-piling dive assessment violation affirmed
An Associated Underwater Services diver worked about 140 feet underwater beside an 8,600-pound piling during installation of an oil-containment boom. The piling detached from a vibratory hammer and fell on the diver, killing him. The Commission held that the relevant hazard was a falling piling…
Thomas Industrial Coatings, Inc.
Willful lifesaving-skiff violation affirmed
A suspended scaffold collapsed about 100 feet above the Mississippi River while Thomas Industrial Coatings employees prepared to paint a bridge. Three employees remained suspended from lifelines, but a fourth fell into the river and died. The Commission vacated two fall-protection items because the…
Todd Joseph Properties
Fall and scaffold violations affirmed
Todd Joseph Properties was demolishing a church when OSHA observed two employees working near an unprotected second-floor edge about 15 feet above the ground. One employee also climbed a scaffold frame without a ladder and worked on its top platform without adequate fall protection. The judge found…
Daisy Construction Company
Willful trench violations affirmed
Daisy Construction was installing underground conduit during a road project when employees worked for hours in a trench more than seven feet deep with vertical walls and no cave-in protection. The foreman and the acting superintendent both saw the work, knew trench protection was required, and did…
Cambria Contracting, Inc.
Asbestos violations reduced from willful to serious
Cambria Contracting removed trash and debris from the basements of interconnected abandoned warehouse buildings where friable asbestos pipe insulation was damaged and missing. Its employees used powered equipment, brooms, and shovels in debris later shown to contain asbestos. OSHA cited eleven…
Nuprecon, LP d/b/a Nuprecon Acquisition, LP
Fall citation affirmed for work near open edge
Nuprecon employees were demolishing an aircraft hangar beside a 21-foot-wide unprotected opening with a 36-foot drop. The Commission rejected the judge's exposure finding for a Bobcat operator because the fall standard's definition of a walking or working surface excludes vehicles, and the record…
Shaw Areva Mox Services, LLC
Electrical grounding citation vacated
OSHA cited Shaw Areva after finding a three-plug adaptor and a fuel-pump cord with missing grounding prongs at a nuclear-fuel facility construction project. The Commission held that the grounding-path standard applied to the adaptor because it functioned as a multiple receptacle that was required…
All Steel Consultants, Inc.
Roofing citations partly affirmed
All Steel Consultants was installing metal roofing when OSHA observed four employees working without tying off and two others using lifelines with enough slack to contact the lower roof in a fall. The foreman knew the company's tie-off rule but allowed employees to work without following it, and he…
Boh Brothers Construction Co., LLC.
Lifeline citation vacated on remand
OSHA cited Boh Brothers after a bridge-work accident, alleging that more than five employees were tied to a horizontal lifeline designed to support no more than five. The judge originally affirmed the citation, but the Commission remanded for clearer credibility findings and reconsideration of the…
Barnhart, Inc.
Settlement approved after construction-safety decision
OSHA cited Barnhart, the controlling contractor on a Marine Corps barracks renovation, for electrical, floor-hole, fall-protection, training, and inspection issues involving its subcontractors. The appended judge's decision had affirmed three items involving temporary cords, uncovered floor holes…
21st Century Roofing Systems, Inc.
Roof fall citations affirmed by default
OSHA observed 21st Century Roofing employees working near the edge of a low-slope roof without adequate fall protection. The warning line was only about 2.5 to 4 feet from the edge instead of the required 6 feet, and employees worked outside it near a roughly 25-foot drop without a safety monitor…
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…
Eutaw Construction Company, Inc.
Controlling-employer trench citation affirmed
Eutaw Construction was the general contractor for a sewer-line project where a subcontractor worked in a 14-foot-deep bore pit. The excavation was dug in unstable Type C soil, and its protective system had trench boxes several feet above the bottom, gaps, a damaged support, water seepage, erosion…
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…
Consolidated Grain & Barge Co.
Two grain-bin items vacated
Consolidated Grain & Barge employees entered a grain bin while a partially guarded sweep auger was operating. The judge found that CGB's instructions to remain a safe distance behind the auger and its use of an outside attendant were not equally effective alternatives to deenergizing or positively…
Conoco Phillips Bayway Refinery
Asbestos items reclassified as serious
The Commission had previously affirmed nine asbestos-in-construction items as other-than-serious and assessed $350 per item. The Third Circuit vacated that order and directed the Commission to classify the violations as serious and reconsider the penalties. On remand, the Commission considered that…
Florida Power and Light Company
Arc-flash citations affirmed
An electrical contractor at Miami International Airport needed Florida Power and Light to open a meter can and remove a protective plate so it could replace wiring and a breaker. The FPL employee raised an energized bypass handle without first asking what work had been done or inspecting the…
NRG Sound & Communications, LLC.
Worker found to be an employee
NRG Sound & Communications installed speakers on a school football stadium roof using an aerial lift. NRG claimed that the second worker was a silent partner or independent contractor rather than an employee, but both men initially identified him as an employee and described NRG's owner as the…
Haberle Steel, Inc.
Unsecured steel plate citation affirmed
Haberle Steel stored large steel plates on edge in an outdoor rack at its Pennsylvania fabrication shop. An employee died after a nearly vertical plate tipped and pinned him against another plate. OSHA cited the company under the material-storage standard because nothing prevented that plate from…
Daniel Crowe Roof Repair and its Successors
Fall protection and training citations affirmed
Daniel Crowe Roof Repair hired two roofers to replace a residential roof in Pennsylvania, and one inexperienced worker fell about 17 feet and suffered multiple fractures. The judge found that the roofers were employees, not independent contractors, because Crowe controlled the work, supplied the…
Southern Scrap Materials Co., Inc.
Lead, cadmium, first-aid, and guarding violations yield $114,500 penalty
Southern Scrap Materials operated a Louisiana scrap-recycling facility where workers torch cut metal and used industrial machinery. The Commission rejected the company's broad challenges to OSHA's inspection, testing, and the validity of the lead and cadmium standards. It found that Southern…
Bill Jones Repair & Reroofs, Inc.
Timely-contest evidence requires further proceedings
OSHA cited Bill Jones Repair & Reroofs for four serious construction violations and proposed $10,000 in penalties. An administrative law judge dismissed what appeared to be a late notice of contest and affirmed the citations. On review, the company produced a letter apparently faxed to OSHA within…
Aerospace Manufacturing CT Systems, LLC
Civil case stayed during criminal review
After a workplace fatality, OSHA issued Aerospace Manufacturing a willful citation and referred the matter to the Department of Justice for possible criminal proceedings. The administrative law judge denied the Secretary's request to stay the Commission case because no indictment had been issued…
T & F Systems, Inc.
Willful low-slope roof fall violation affirmed
T & F Systems employees installed roofing material on an Ohio high school roof about 25 feet above lower levels. The judge found that the roof was about 80 feet wide, so a safety-monitoring system alone could not satisfy the cited fall-protection standard. The evidence also showed that the company…
Broan-Nutone Storage Solutions, LP
Power-press supervision and guarding violations affirmed
A Broan-Nutone machine operator's hand was amputated when a mechanical power press cycled while she was clearing a jam. The judge found that she received almost no instruction or supervision when assigned to the press, which lacked the light-curtain protection used on the facility's other presses…
Otis Elevator Company
Remaining fall-protection item withdrawn
OSHA cited Otis Elevator over fall protection used while installing a new elevator platform system. The administrative law judge vacated two scaffold-based allegations but affirmed an alternative allegation that employee lifelines were attached to the same overhead beam used for the platform's…
Ford Motor Company – Buffalo Stamping Plant
Crane-inspection dispute remanded for factfinding
OSHA issued Ford's Buffalo Stamping Plant a willful citation alleging that unsafe crane conditions were not corrected before operation resumed. The administrative law judge granted summary judgment to Ford and vacated the citation. The Commission found genuine factual disputes over what Ford's…
Tecta America New England, LLC
Unprotected roof-edge work results in serious citation
Two Tecta roofing employees worked near the edge of a commercial roof about 20 feet above the ground without tying off their available fall-protection equipment. The working foreman's knowledge of the condition was imputed to the company. Tecta argued that the conduct was unpreventable because it…
B & B Underground Contractors
Excavation and gas-cylinder violations yield $8,000 penalty
B & B Underground Contractors operated a deep boring pit for a wastewater pipeline project in Alabama. The judge affirmed a serious violation for unsecured gas cylinders and found that the pit's only ramp was unsafe and more than 25 feet from employees' work area. Water was accumulating in the pit…
Stellar Management Group d/b/a QSI
Eye protection required during poultry-equipment rinsing
Stellar Management employees used high-pressure, heated water to clean poultry-processing equipment without eye protection. The spray blasted and splashed bone, blood, and chicken particles from equipment while employees worked within three or four feet. The judge found a serious eye hazard and…
Archon Construction
Unprotected trench violation affirmed as repeat
Two Archon employees entered a six-foot-deep trench with steep walls and no cave-in protection to cut an existing sewer pipe. The judge found that the foreman knew the trench's physical condition, even though he mistakenly believed it was less than five feet deep. That mistaken belief prevented a…
Southern Solar
Ladder-use and training items vacated for insufficient proof
A Southern Solar employee used a stepladder that did not extend three feet above the parapet used as the upper landing surface. The judge found that OSHA did not prove the company's lead worker knew or reasonably should have known how that ladder was being used. OSHA also cited Southern Solar for…
O'Connell Electric Company, Inc.
PPE selection and hazard-certification items affirmed
O'Connell Electric crews performed electrical replacement and maintenance work at a university building where some 34,500-volt switches remained energized. An electrician entered an energized switch cabinet outside the crew's assigned work and suffered severe burns in an arc flash. The judge found…
DeWitt Excavating, Inc.
Willful unprotected-trench violation affirmed
Three DeWitt Excavating employees worked in an eight-foot-deep Type C soil excavation with nearly vertical walls and no cave-in protection. The foreman knew protection was required but proceeded without using one of the company's available trench boxes. The judge rejected DeWitt's…
Schaer Development of Central Florida
Improper excavation slope affirmed
Schaer Development installed a manhole in a Florida excavation that reached about 14 feet deep near a highway. OSHA cited spoil piles and a track hoe located within two feet of the edge, but the judge vacated that item because the Secretary did not prove the material or equipment could fall or roll…
Cranesville Aggregate Companies, Inc., d/b/a Scotia Bag Plant; and Cranesville Block Company, Inc.
Discovery orders narrowed and cases resumed
Cranesville sought internal OSHA memoranda and depositions of three Mine Safety and Health Administration employees to support a jurisdictional defense. The Commission held that two OSHA memoranda were protected in full by the work-product privilege and should not have been disclosed, even in…
Delek Refining, LTD.
Third-party report privilege requires in-camera review
After a refinery explosion and fire, OSHA issued process-safety citations and subpoenaed a draft technical report prepared by an outside consultant. Delek claimed the report was protected by attorney-client privilege, but the judge denied its motion to quash without reviewing the document. The…
Central Building & Preservation
Unprotected 200-foot roof edge results in serious citation
A foreman and laborer worked inches from the edge of a Chicago building about 200 feet above the ground with their harnesses unattached. OSHA personnel observed and photographed the condition from an office across the street. The foreman's participation established employer knowledge, and the…
Caterpillar Logistics Services, Inc.
Work-related elbow illness should have been recorded
A Caterpillar employee developed epicondylitis while repeatedly scanning and handling parts in a distribution facility. The condition led to work restrictions, time away from work, reassignment, and medical treatment. The judge found the company's same-day ergonomic review deficient because it…
Dandelion Inn
Late contests dismissed and citations left final
OSHA issued Dandelion Inn two sets of citations with combined proposed penalties of $4,450. The hotel filed its notices of contest months after the applicable 15-working-day deadlines. It argued that confusion, abatement submissions, staff changes, unreturned calls, and the informal-conference…
Ultra Commercial Interiors, Inc.
Unsecured and unmarked floor-cover violations affirmed
An Ultra Commercial Interiors foreman stepped on an unsecured plywood board that covered a floor opening and fell 16 feet, sustaining serious knee and ankle injuries. The cover was neither secured nor marked as a hole or cover. The judge found constructive knowledge because company supervisors knew…
Chicago Bridge & Iron
Crane swing-radius barricade violation affirmed
Chicago Bridge used a crane with a broken swing-radius barricade while constructing a water tower. A walkway to the job trailer passed through the crane's danger zone, and employees worked nearby while cylinders were moved. The judge found employee access reasonably predictable even apart from…
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.