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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M.C. Dean, Inc.
Unguarded skylight violation affirmed after fatal fall
An M.C. Dean electrician went onto a warehouse roof to inspect exhaust fans and fell through an unguarded skylight nearly 26 feet to the floor. He died from his injuries two weeks later. The judge found constructive knowledge because the onsite field supervisor failed to inspect the unfamiliar…
Modern Building Solutions, LLC
Steep-roof fall violation affirmed at church project
A Modern Building Solutions worker replaced missing roof-sheathing nails and removed boards on an 8-in-12 church roof without conventional fall protection. The judge found the church was a commercial project, so the alternative residential-construction provision did not apply. The inspection…
Framers R Us, Inc.
Ladder violations affirmed and repeat fall item vacated
Framers R Us employees used a closed A-frame ladder as the only access to the third level of a motel construction project. The judge held the company responsible even though it did not own or place the ladder because its employees used it and the company took no alternative protective steps. The…
Summer & Winter Contruction, LLC
Roofing safety violations yield $89,000 in penalties
OSHA inspected Summer & Winter roofing crews at two New Hampshire sites and found extensive fall-protection and related safety violations. At the first site, workers used body belts, shared anchors, worked beneath a raised lift, used a damaged ladder, and accessed a steep roof without compliant…
Southern Crushed Concrete
OSHA citations vacated because MSHA had jurisdiction
Southern Crushed Concrete operated an integrated sand-dredging and processing facility in Texas. OSHA cited conditions at a pug mill where dried sand was mixed with a small amount of cement to produce stabilized sand. The judge found that the pug mill was technologically and geographically…
Ben Hur Construction Company
Partial EAJA fee award granted after citations were vacated
Ben Hur Construction prevailed after OSHA withdrew or the judge vacated citations arising from a fatal crane-disassembly accident. The company then sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found the Secretary substantially justified in pursuing the…
Sanchez Arango Construction
Four violations affirmed and two vacated
OSHA cited Sanchez Arango Construction after an inspector saw an employee working about twenty-five feet above the ground without tying off. The judge affirmed serious violations for using a damaged synthetic sling and failing to provide fall protection, rejecting the employee-misconduct defense…
Birdair, Inc.
Compliance officer's phone records protected by informer's privilege
Birdair subpoenaed the personal cellular-phone records of the OSHA compliance officer who investigated it. The Commission held that the informer's privilege protected the records because phone numbers, call frequency, and call duration could identify people who assisted OSHA and reveal how much…
Altor, Inc., and/or Avcon, Inc.
Eight willful items affirmed with $412,000 penalty
OSHA cited extensive hard-hat, open-edge, and floor-hole hazards during construction of a sixteen-story concrete building. The Commission held that Altor and Avcon operated as a single employer because they shared a worksite, management, ownership, office support, and integrated operations. The…
KS Energy Services, Inc.
Review withdrawn and judge's decision made final
The Commission vacated its earlier direction for review of the case. As a result, the administrative law judge's decision became the Commission's final order on April 26, 2011. The order does not discuss the underlying citations or explain why review was withdrawn. It expressly states that the…
Trinity Yachts, LLC, and its Successors
Argon-training case remanded for excluded testimony
After a welder died while working with argon in a yacht's enclosed vent trunk, the judge affirmed a training violation but vacated atmospheric-testing and mechanical-ventilation items. The Commission did not decide the merits. It held that the judge improperly cut off testimony from Trinity's…
ADM Milling Company
Manlift guarding citation vacated under grandfather provision
OSHA cited ADM Milling for failing to guard the lower pulley and moving steps of a continuous-belt manlift installed in 1954. The judge held that the manlift standard's grandfather provision, reinforced by OSHA's own 1991 interpretation letter, made the standard inapplicable to manlifts installed…
Waterford Aluminum Company, Inc.
Pro se default set aside and case remanded
A judge entered default against Waterford Aluminum after the company failed to answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to a show-cause order. The Commission set the default aside because the record did not establish that Waterford received the show-cause order, a broken water pipe had closed…
Korte Construction Co.
Flexible-cord damage citation vacated
Korte Construction routed two heavy-duty electrical cables and a smaller extension cord through friction-hinged windows at a construction project. OSHA alleged that the cords were insufficiently protected from sharp edges and pinch-point damage. The judge found that the heavy rubber sheathing…
Benise-Dowling, Inc.
Fire-suppression and eyewash violations affirmed
OSHA cited conditions at Benise-Dowling's powder-coating facility during a follow-up inspection. The judge affirmed a serious violation because a new electrostatic spray booth lacked automatic fire suppression, rejecting the company's claim that an earlier OSHA discussion deprived it of fair…
Revoli Construction Company, Inc.
Gas-line excavation violations affirmed
A Revoli crew severed an unmarked gas main while excavating near a school. The judge found that Revoli's training was inadequately documented and was delivered in English to workers with limited English proficiency without a reliable method to ensure comprehension. He also credited a police officer…
Avcon, Inc., Vasilios Saites, and Nicholas Saites
Fall-protection violations largely affirmed with $77,350 penalty
OSHA cited numerous hazards during construction of an eighteen-story concrete building. The Commission dismissed Bill and Nick Saites individually because the Secretary added them after the six-month limitations period and did not show that their original omission resulted from a mistake that would…
Winesburg Builders, LLC
Defective lifting-sling violation affirmed
Winesburg used a visibly cut and frayed nylon sling, with its safety thread showing, to lift construction beams. The judge rejected the company's argument that the sling was not defective because later testing showed it could withstand a 6,000-pound load. A foreman must be able to identify…
Crown Cork & Seal USA, Inc.
Press-cleaning violations affirmed and pathogen items vacated
An employee lost a finger while cleaning a running can-end press near the unguarded rear of a pulley. The judge found it reasonably predictable that employees would clean beyond the machine's front because they had done so regularly and were never clearly prohibited from cleaning the rear. Crown…
AKM LLC d/b/a Volks Constructors
Four recordkeeping violations treated as continuing
Volks failed to create incident reports and log entries for numerous injuries, review its logs for completeness, obtain executive certification of annual summaries, and keep one annual summary posted for the full required period. The Commission majority held that the first four omissions continued…
Heff's Tuckpointing
Residential roof fall-protection violation affirmed
Heff's employee worked on a steep residential roof about eleven feet above the ground while removing bricks from a chimney without conventional fall protection. The judge found that the nearby scaffold did not reliably prevent a fall and that Heff's had not shown anchors, guardrails, or other…
Diversified Maintenance Systems
Medical-response planning citation vacated
OSHA cited Diversified Maintenance because its only onsite employee's first-aid and CPR certifications had expired. The judge held that OSHA cited the planning requirement in § 1926.50(b), not the separate certification requirement in § 1926.50(c). Before work began, the company had identified an…
Shawn Telsi, d/b/a Life Time Homes, Green Pines, and/or Telsi Builders
Excavation violations affirmed with $91,200 penalty
Telsi controlled a temple-construction site where subcontractor employees worked in a deep excavation with vertical walls, large spoil piles at the edges, no nearby safe egress, uncovered holes, defective ladders, and uncapped rebar. The judge found Telsi was both the controlling and creating…
Paramount Advanced Wireless, LLC
$19,276.65 EAJA award granted
Paramount prevailed after a fall-protection citation arising from a fatal tower accident was vacated, then sought fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found the Secretary's litigation position was not substantially justified because it rested on a readily correctable…
Pike Electric, Inc.
Settlement approved as final order
After the Secretary petitioned for review of the administrative law judge's disposition and the Commission directed the case for review, the parties signed a settlement agreement. The Commission reviewed and approved the agreement under Commission Rule 100. The short final order does not describe…
US Pagoda, Inc.
Post-retirement decision remanded for further action
OSHA inspected US Pagoda, Inc.'s construction work site and issued a citation and proposed penalty. The employer filed its notice of contest more than ten weeks after the statutory deadline, and former Chief Administrative Law Judge Irving Sommer denied relief and affirmed the citation. The…
FedEx Express, Inc.
Late recordkeeping violation reduced to de minimis
A FedEx employee cut his forehead while exiting a vehicle and received sutures and prescription medication. A supervisor entered the injury into FedEx's electronic system but did not mark that medical treatment was received, so the case did not appear on the 2007 OSHA 300 Log within seven days…
AMP Electrical, Inc.
Electrical training and energized-circuit violations affirmed
AMP Electrical was installing equipment for a store's new chiller when an electrician drilled through a switchboard back plate and contacted an energized circuit, causing a flash and burns to his face and neck. The judge found that the project was construction work and that AMP could have…
Burch Construction
Eye-protection violation affirmed for overhead joint-compound work
Burch Construction was performing drywall and stucco work when an employee applied wet joint compound at and above eye level without safety glasses. The product warnings and safety data sheets called for eye protection because contact could irritate the eyes. The judge found that the employee…
Loretto-Oswego Residential Health Care Facility
Repeat violations reduced to serious
Loretto-Oswego operated a nursing home affiliated with two other Loretto facilities that had prior final orders for substantially similar violations. The judge treated the related corporations as a single employer and affirmed seven items as repeat. The Commission reversed because the facilities…
Flanagan Contracting, LLC
Unprotected excavation violation affirmed
Flanagan Contracting opened an excavation to connect a sewer line at a residential construction site. Its foreman worked for thirty to forty minutes in the approximately eight-foot-deep excavation without a trench shield or adequate sloping. The judge found that the excavation was in previously…
Garden Ridge, Store # 46
Compactor item vacated and records item affirmed
Garden Ridge operated a garbage compactor with a hatch-door interlock that was not working properly. Employees normally stood outside the hatch and used a ten-foot board to push trash down a ten-foot chute toward the compaction chamber. The judge vacated the machine-guarding item because the…
Trinity Yachts, LLC and its Successors
Case returned for possible correction of the judge's decision
OSHA cited Trinity Yachts for three alleged violations of shipyard employment standards and proposed $13,500 in penalties. The judge affirmed two items, vacated one, and assessed $9,000. After Trinity sought review, the Commission identified possible clerical or omission errors near the end of the…
Latite Roofing and Sheet Metal LLC, the Successor to Latite Roofing and Sheet Metal Co., Inc.
Safety-monitoring violation affirmed with a $5,000 penalty
Latite Roofing used a safety-monitoring system while three employees worked on a three-story residential roof. OSHA alleged that the designated monitor could not always see or orally communicate with the other roofers and had roofing duties that distracted him from monitoring. The judge found that…
Ben Hur Construction Co.
Crane-operation and training allegations vacated
A Ben Hur Construction apprentice was killed while helping disassemble a crawler crane after he attached his fall-protection lanyard to a live crane cable. OSHA alleged that Ben Hur failed to follow the manufacturer's crane specifications and failed to train the employee to recognize and avoid…
Crowther Roofing & Sheet Metal of Florida
Steep-roof fall violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Two Crowther Roofing employees snapped chalk lines on a steep apartment-building roof without tying off, about 60 feet above the ground. The judge imputed the foreman's knowledge to Crowther because he directed the crew, knew the employees were not tied off, and did not correct them. Crowther had a…
BOH Brothers Construction Co., LLC
Lifeline case remanded for specific credibility findings
OSHA cited Boh Brothers after a bridge girder fell into the water with ten employees, killing a foreman. The judge affirmed a violation concerning a horizontal lifeline designed to support no more than five workers with a safety factor of two. That ruling depended on testimony that more than five…
Jesco, Inc.
Aerial-lift modification item narrowed to the clamped beam
Jesco used an aerial lift to move 31-foot, 325-pound ceiling beams at an industrial facility. It secured the first beam to the basket's guardrails with vise clamps, then moved ten later beams by resting them on the guardrails without clamps. The Commission held that the field-modification standard…
Sharon and Walter Construction Inc.
Willful fall and repeat training violations affirmed
Two workers installed a metal roof without fall protection, and one was injured in a fall. The Commission held that both workers were employees of Sharon and Walter Construction, despite the company's attempt to treat one as an independent contractor. It affirmed the fall-protection violation as…
Deer Park Roofing, Inc.
Fall citation vacated for supervisory misconduct
A Deer Park Roofing foreman worked near the edge of a low-slope canopy roof without fall protection, about 12 feet 8 inches above the lower level. The judge found that the standard applied, the foreman was exposed, and no permitted fall-protection method was in use. Deer Park nevertheless proved…
Fresenius USA Manufacturing, Inc. d/b/a TruBlu Logistics
Medical-availability and cable items vacated
OSHA inspected a Fresenius distribution warehouse after an employee reported an electric shock while disconnecting a forklift battery. The judge vacated the allegation that medical personnel were not readily available, finding that the cited rule did not require contact within a fixed time and that…
Dayton Tire, Bridgestone/Firestone
Ninety-nine willful lockout violations affirmed
OSHA cited Dayton Tire after a fatal machine accident at its Oklahoma City tire plant, alleging widespread failures under the lockout and tagout standard. The Commission rejected Dayton's vagueness, applicability, minor-servicing, and infeasibility arguments. It also held that separate violations…
Summit Contractors Inc.
Multi-employer electrical citation affirmed
Summit Contractors supplied a generator and spider box without ground-fault circuit interrupter protection for subcontractor employees at an apartment construction project. The Commission overruled its earlier Summit decision and restored its precedent allowing citations to controlling and creating…
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…
Frazier Masonry Corporation
Scaffold fall citation vacated for lack of employee proof
An OSHA compliance officer observed three people working near an unguarded opening on a 38-foot scaffold for about fifteen minutes without other fall protection. The judge found that the scaffold standard applied and that the observed condition violated its terms. OSHA did not identify the three…
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…
MVM Contracting, Corp.
Excavation violation restored to willful
MVM employees performed masonry work in an excavation deeper than five feet without cave-in protection. The judge affirmed the violation as serious, but the Commission found it willful. An OSHA compliance officer had explained the excavation requirements to MVM's superintendent, yet work continued…
Kirtley Sheetmetal, Inc.
Ladder and repeat roof-fall violations affirmed
Kirtley Sheetmetal employees used an eight-foot stepladder to reach a roof even though the ladder did not extend above the landing, was not secured, and was not designed for that use. Employees also worked on a low-slope roof 19 to 28 feet above the ground without being tied off while lifelines…
ConocoPhillips Bayway Refinery
Asbestos items reduced to other-than-serious
Conoco employees chipped and cut an asbestos-containing coating from an underground pipeline sleeve without following multiple asbestos-work requirements. The judge affirmed nine citation items as serious. The Commission held that the Secretary had not presented case-specific evidence showing that…
Compass Environmental, Inc.
Power-line training violation reinstated
A Compass employee was fatally electrocuted when an excavator boom approached an overhead power line and electricity traveled through a grease line he was holding. The judge vacated the training citation because he found the employee's exposure unforeseeable. The Commission reversed, finding that a…
Eurotech Construction Corp.
Floor-hole cover citations vacated for lack of knowledge
A Eurotech masonry employee fell about 17 feet through a floor opening on the 45th floor of a high-rise construction project. OSHA alleged deficient inspections, an unsecured and unlabeled cover, and a failure to retrain employees. The judge credited evidence that Eurotech's foreman inspected…
Latite Roofing & Sheet Metal, LLC, successor to Latite Roofing & Sheet Metal Company, Inc.
EAJA fee application denied
OSHA withdrew a serious citation alleging that a roofing safety monitor performed work that could distract from monitoring duties. Latite then sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found Latite financially eligible and a prevailing party because the…
Burrows Paper Corporation
Late notice of contest dismissed
Burrows Paper received an OSHA citation but did not file a notice of contest within the required fifteen working days. It later argued that confusing or misleading conduct by OSHA officials justified accepting the late filing. The Commission found that the only specified conduct occurred two weeks…
Martorell Construction Company and its Successors
Default case remanded to assess missed hearing
The judge affirmed three serious construction violations and $4,500 in penalties after Martorell failed to appear at the hearing. Martorell later claimed that it had not received written hearing notices and did not remember receiving verbal notice. The Commission treated the filing as a request to…
American Bridge Company
Connector fall violation affirmed as serious
An American Bridge ironworker fell about 70 feet from a steel girder after unhooking his fall-protection lanyard. The judge found constructive knowledge because the foreman was nearby, supervisors had seen workers untied on prior occasions, and the project owner had repeatedly warned American…
Eshbach Brothers, LP
Portland-cement washing citation affirmed
About 20 Eshbach masonry employees handled portland cement at a construction project. Workers used a hose and water barrel to wash cement from their skin, but OSHA requires clean water, non-alkaline soap, and clean towels because wet cement can cause severe burns. Eshbach argued that a bathroom in…
Allstate Services, Ltd. d/b/a A&R Demoltion
Interim lead-protection item withdrawn on review
Allstate demolished lead-painted piping without first measuring employee lead exposure. The judge affirmed an exposure-assessment item and an interim-protection item, with $1,250 penalties for each, while vacating a lead-communication item. The Commission limited review to the interim-protection…
Denny Maize Construction
Eight serious construction items affirmed
Denny Maize Construction did not appear at the hearing, and OSHA's inspection evidence was undisputed. Workers lacked hard hats and eye protection, used circular saws with blade guards wedged open, and used damaged or improperly spliced extension cords. OSHA also documented an undersized scaffold…
Turner Industries Group, LLC
Pipe-machine guarding citation affirmed
Turner employees were being trained on a pipe-facing machine with one accessible cutting point left completely unguarded. A manufacturer's trainer unexpectedly started the machine while two employees were making measurements and adjustments, injuring one employee's hand. The judge found that Turner…
Mosser Construction, Inc.
Excavation violation reclassified as serious
Mosser employees worked in a 6-foot, 6-inch excavation whose benching did not meet the required dimensions. The judge affirmed the protective-system violation as other-than-serious and assessed $500, reasoning that Mosser had substantially attempted to bench the excavation. The Commission found…
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.