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.
High Voltage Electric Service, Inc.
Electrical-shock fee application denied
High Voltage Electric Service directed subcontracted electricians responding to a power failure at a research facility. One electrician suffered severe burns after contacting 4,160-volt equipment that had been re-energized. OSHA cited the company for inadequate warnings and electrical work…
Building Contractors, Inc.
Respiratory-program citation vacated
Building Contractors dry-cut masonry brick at a shopping-mall construction site, generating dust that a bulk sample showed contained 50 percent silica quartz. OSHA cited the company for lacking a respiratory protection program, and the judge held that the general-industry respiratory standard…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Asbestos notice violations reduced to non-serious
Trinity owned a pre-1980 foundry and hired a contractor to repair a furnace covered by an insulation blanket. Trinity believed a prior contractor had removed any asbestos, but it did not perform the testing required to rebut the standard's presumption that the thermal insulation contained asbestos…
St. Lawrence Food Corp., d/b/a Primo Foods
Discovery dismissal reversed and remanded
The judge ordered OSHA to disclose internal documents exchanged between compliance officers and the Solicitor's attorney, then dismissed the citations when OSHA refused. The Commission held that the communications were protected by the attorney-client privilege because they were confidential…
Downrite Engineering Corporation
Manhole safety violations mostly affirmed
Downrite employees installed a sewer manhole invert while one employee worked at the bottom of a 10-foot manhole and another lowered cement, bricks, water, and tools from above. The judge rejected Downrite's Fourth Amendment challenge because the general contractor and Downrite supervisory…
Jimerson Under-Ground, Inc.
Sewer confined-space citations vacated and remanded
Jimerson replaced an existing municipal sewer line by inserting a smaller structural PVC pipe through it and rebuilding connected manholes. Two subcontractor employees died after being overcome in a manhole, and two Jimerson employees survived after attempting a rescue. OSHA cited Jimerson under…
Stanley Roofing Company, Inc.
Willful roof-fall violation reduced to serious
OSHA observed Stanley employees unloading insulation at the edge of a sloped roof about 33 feet above the ground without fall protection. The Commission found the evidence insufficient to prove that the worker who identified himself as foreman had actually been given supervisory authority, so his…
Gate Concrete Products Co.
Gantry crane guarding items partly vacated
Gate Concrete Products manufactured precast concrete products and used gantry cranes to move them around its Jacksonville plant. An employee lost two fingers after reaching through a missing engine-compartment door while a maintenance supervisor tried to start a stalled crane. The judge vacated the…
Seedorff Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold violations affirmed with reduced classification and penalty
Seedorff Masonry employees worked on a scaffold about 19 to 20 feet above the ground. A materials platform blocked the normal ladder access, and a mason's tender used an unguarded end of the work platform and worked within three feet of that edge. The judge affirmed the guardrail violation as…
Keating Building Corporation
Parking-garage formwork citation vacated
Keating was the general contractor for a hotel and parking-garage expansion where part of the garage collapsed during a concrete pour, killing four employees and injuring twenty-one. OSHA cited Keating under the cast-in-place concrete formwork standard and proposed a $7,000 penalty. Although the…
JGB LLC d/b/a General Fire-Proof Door Corp
Review vacated after employer failed to brief
The chief administrative law judge entered a default judgment against JGB after the company failed to comply with an order compelling discovery responses. That judgment affirmed citations alleging numerous general industry violations, primarily involving machine guarding, and assessed $70,750 in…
Aquatek Systems
Balcony fall-protection citation vacated
Aquatek waterproofed apartment balconies, and its foreman directed two employees to finish work on unguarded balconies without fall protection. The administrative law judge imputed the foreman's knowledge to Aquatek, rejected the company's safety-program evidence, and affirmed a $1,500 citation…
Saipan Koreana Hotel
Attorney-fee amount remanded for review
OSHA cited Saipan Koreana Hotel under a temporary labor camp water-supply standard after finding contaminated water in employee housing, then withdrew the citation after the condition was corrected. The hotel sought attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, and the judge twice denied…
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…
Conti Carlucci Construction, Inc.
Contest dismissed after employer stopped participating
OSHA cited Conti & Carlucci Construction for several construction-standard violations and proposed $119,000 in total penalties. The parties stated at the scheduled hearing that they had reached a settlement, but the employer did not return the written agreement and stopped responding to its own…
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…
M.D. Roofing & Siding, L.L.C.
Residential roofing fall-protection violation affirmed
M.D. Roofing & Siding employees performed residential roofing work on two Philadelphia roofs without conventional fall protection. OSHA observed one employee working 22 feet above the ground and another working 30 feet above the ground near unprotected roof edges. The employer argued that it used a…
Pegasus Tower, Inc.
Tower hoisting and hard-hat violations affirmed
Pegasus Tower was constructing a communications tower in Wisconsin when OSHA observed an employee riding a hoist line while conduit was lifted at the same time. The judge found that this practice violated the general duty clause because the tower industry recognized the fall hazard and employees…
McWane, Inc., d/b/a Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company
Fixed-stair rule applied to earthen pit
Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company used a seven-foot-deep earthen pit to capture molten metal spilled during its pipe manufacturing process. Employees entered the pit each workday to remove debris, but no fixed stairs or ladder were in use when OSHA inspected. The company argued that the fixed…
Earl F. Douglass Roofing Co.
Roofing fall-protection citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
OSHA found three Earl F. Douglass Roofing employees working more than 21 feet above the ground without tying off their fall-protection harnesses. The foreman knew the crew was still working after the roof anchors had been removed, but the employer argued that the conduct violated its established…
Earl F. Douglass Roofing Co.
Roofing fall-protection citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
OSHA found three Earl F. Douglass Roofing employees working more than 21 feet above the ground without tying off their fall-protection harnesses. The foreman knew the crew was still working after the roof anchors had been removed, but the employer argued that the conduct violated its established…
August Winter & Sons, Inc.
Falling-load citation vacated
August Winter & Sons was installing drainage tile at a Wisconsin construction project when OSHA cited the company for allegedly allowing an employee beneath a loaded excavator bucket. The compliance officer observed from about 35 feet away and 10 feet above the employee, while the employee and…
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…
J B Distributing Co.
Late notice of contest dismissed
J B Distributing filed its notice of contest 23 working days after receiving OSHA's citations, beyond the 15-working-day deadline. The company argued that OSHA used an incomplete corporate name and that only its president could validly sign for certified mail. The judge found that the naming…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Missing stairway guardrail citation vacated
Summit Contractors was the general contractor for an apartment project where a temporary laborer died after falling 15 feet from an unguarded stairway landing. The guardrail had been removed, but Summit disputed that it knew the temporary crew would enter the building or that the railing was…
Southern Pan Services Co.
Leading-edge violations affirmed as serious, with two items vacated
Southern Pan Services erected concrete formwork at a Home Depot construction project where OSHA cited multiple employees working near leading edges without conventional fall protection. The Commission found that horizontal lifelines or related personal fall arrest systems were feasible for Items 1…
Saw Pipes USA, Inc.
Divided Commission vacates review of willful recordkeeping violations
OSHA cited Saw Pipes USA for numerous failures to record occupational injuries and illnesses on its OSHA 200 logs. The administrative law judge affirmed 59 recordkeeping violations as willful but grouped them for a single $70,000 penalty. Both Commission members agreed that management's knowing…
Jindal United Steel Corp.
Divided Commission leaves grouped recordkeeping penalties in place
OSHA cited Jindal United Steel for extensive failures to record occupational injuries and illnesses on its OSHA 200 logs. The administrative law judge affirmed 110 violations, classifying 82 as willful and 28 as other-than-serious, then grouped them into penalties of $70,000 and $7,000. Both…
Lake Erie Construction Company, Inc.
Highway-sign fall violations affirmed with grouped penalty
Lake Erie Construction employees changed an overhead highway sign more than 20 feet above a road. One employee rode in an aerial-lift basket without tying off, while another worked on the sign structure without continuous fall protection because he had only one lanyard. The Commission found…
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…
Latite Roofing & Sheet Metal Co., Inc.
Roof fall-protection instance vacated for lack of fair notice
Latite Roofing used an alternative fall-protection plan with a warning line and safety monitor while employees worked on a residential roof. The Commission considered OSHA's long history of advice, withdrawn citations, settlements, a prior Latite victory involving a materially similar roof, and…
Bilodeau Homes
Default order set aside after E-Z Trial pleading confusion
Bilodeau Homes timely contested three serious construction citations but did not file an answer after its pro se case was removed from E-Z Trial. The judge granted the Secretary's dismissal motion, affirmed all three items by default, and assessed $3,000. The Commission found no claim of prejudice…
Townsend Tree Services Corporation
Testing-area lockout violation affirmed
Townsend Tree Services employees changed blades and a belt on a remote tree trimmer, then energized the machine to test the replacement parts. The foreman moved within three feet of the rotating blades and died after the boom moved and the blades struck him. The judge held that the lockout/tagout…
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…
Major Construction Corp., Inc. and Michael J. Polites
Individual respondent's fee application denied
Michael J. Polites sought $292,815.77 in attorney fees and expenses after the underlying citation against him individually was dismissed. The Secretary had attempted to hold him personally liable by piercing the corporate veil because corporations he owned or controlled had substantial unpaid OSHA…
AAA Delivery Services, Inc.
Reflective-vest citation vacated because vendors were not employees
A newspaper vendor was struck and killed while selling papers near a Florida intersection before dawn. OSHA cited AAA Delivery Services for not providing reflective vests, but AAA argued that the vendors were independent contractors rather than its employees. Applying the common-law employment…
American Shoe Corporation
Late notice of contest dismissed
American Shoe Corporation received OSHA's citation on September 23, 2004, but did not submit a notice of contest by the October 15 deadline. The company's vice president was traveling when the citation arrived, and an accounts payable employee mistakenly filed it with paperwork from an earlier…
Caretti, Inc.
Masonry-block stacking citation vacated
Caretti was a masonry contractor at a Pennsylvania prison project where OSHA found a stack of blocks about 11 to 12 feet high that was not tapered above six feet. The judge allowed OSHA to correct a typographical error in the cited standard because the factual allegation was unchanged and Caretti…
J.E. Dunn Construction Company
Fall and suspended-load citations vacated
J.E. Dunn ironworkers were guiding a large suspended rebar mat around obstacles near a 20-foot-deep elevator excavation when the load failed and pushed the foreman into the shaft. The judge found that Dunn's taut, maintained caution tape qualified as a barricade under the cited fall-protection…
Williams Insulation
Residential fall-protection citation affirmed
OSHA observed a Williams Insulation employee working on a residential roof about 40 feet above the ground without fall protection. The employee straddled one chimney, walked across the roof carrying plywood, and covered another chimney while his harness remained on the ground. Williams argued that…
Active Oil Service, Inc.
Confined-space violation reduced from willful to repeat
Two Active Oil Service employees were overcome while cleaning an underground oil tank without atmospheric testing, positive ventilation, respirators, harnesses, or a rescue tripod. The Commission held that tank removal was construction work, so the general-industry confined-space standard did not…
Pegasus Tower
Tower fall violations affirmed with grouped PPE penalty
Pegasus Tower employees erected a television tower and worked hundreds of feet above the ground. OSHA cited hazards involving employees riding a dual-drum hoist line, inadequate fall-protection training, and failure to maintain continuous fall protection while moving on the tower. The Commission…
Mead Coated Board, Inc.
Serious paper-mill violation vacated under settlement
The Secretary and Mead Coated Board jointly asked the Commission to reopen its final order, vacate the portion affirming a serious paper-mill safety violation, and approve a settlement. The Commission had already stated that it would grant the requested relief if the Eleventh Circuit returned the…
HWS Consulting Group, Inc.
Reflective-vest citation vacated
An HWS employee performing road-survey work was struck and killed by a backing dump truck while measuring the crown of a milled street without a reflective vest. OSHA cited the construction personal-protective-equipment standard and later alleged a general duty clause violation in the alternative…
Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc.
Electrical citation items vacated
A Shaw electrician was severely burned by an electrical arc after opening an energized panel box at a Maryland waste-removal project. OSHA concluded that he was loosening a live lug bolt with an Allen wrench, while Shaw's investigation concluded that a wrench left on top of the box fell when the…
Saiia Construction, LLC
Attorney-fee application denied
Saiia Construction sought attorney fees after OSHA withdrew an item alleging that employees worked beneath a suspended concrete pipe. The compliance officer had recorded immediately after the inspection that employees were under the load and had reported the same fact to his supervisor. After a…
Saiia Construction, LLC
Attorney-fee application denied
Saiia Construction sought attorney fees after OSHA withdrew an item alleging that employees worked beneath a suspended concrete pipe. The compliance officer had recorded immediately after the inspection that employees were under the load and had reported the same fact to his supervisor. After a…
Davis H. Elliot Construction Company, Inc.
Power-line approach citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
A Davis H. Elliot lineman was electrocuted when a conductive tie contacted an energized 7,200-volt line while he worked from an aerial bucket. He was not using rubber gloves, sleeves, or insulating line covers, although the equipment was available and he had used it on the previous three poles that…
Benson Associates
Scaffold foundation, inspection, and fall-protection items affirmed
Benson Associates used a pump-jack scaffold and planks 13 to 14 feet above the ground while installing soffit and fascia on a Denver house. OSHA found that the scaffold legs lacked proper base plates and that the makeshift fall protection consisted of an Alumibench and boards attached with…
Fastrack Erectors
Attorney-fee application denied
Fastrack Erectors sought $13,091.40 in attorney fees and expenses after a steel-erection fall-protection citation was vacated. OSHA's compliance officer had observed and videotaped two employees working without fall protection on a roof about 30 feet above the ground and believed they came within…
Centimark Roofing Systems
Suspended-load and crane-rigging items vacated
Centimark hired an independent crane company to hoist roofing materials and trash-chute parts to a warehouse roof. During the second chute-parts lift, the load shifted and an eight-foot steel bar slipped out and struck the crane operator. The crane operator had helped rig the load and signaled the…
Stephen K. Korsen, d/b/a MDI Remodeling and Construction
Citations affirmed by default
MDI Remodeling and Construction initially failed to answer the Secretary's complaint and later submitted an answer after receiving additional time. The company then did not respond to a planning-conference notice, its provided telephone numbers were disconnected, and it stopped defending the case…
Zichelle Steel Erectors, Inc.
Willful steel-erection fall violation affirmed
OSHA observed Zichelle employees working near the edge of a fourth-floor steel structure about 44 feet above the ground without effective fall protection. On the first day, one connector was not wearing a harness; on the next day, after OSHA had raised the issue, two connectors wore harnesses but…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Missing stairway guardrail citation vacated
Summit Contractors was the general contractor for an apartment project where a temporary laborer died after falling 15 feet from an unguarded stairway landing. The guardrail had been removed, but Summit disputed that it knew the temporary crew would enter the building or that the railing was…
Caretti, Inc.
Control-room deck fall citation vacated
Caretti performed masonry work near an unguarded control-room deck that was 15 feet, 4 inches above an auditorium floor. Its foreman placed yellow caution tape across the rear of the deck and instructed employees not to enter the area. OSHA observed employees working beside the deck and one foreman…
The Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co.
Coal-dust housekeeping citation vacated as preempted
OSHA cited Cincinnati Gas & Electric under the general housekeeping standard for combustible coal dust accumulated on surfaces in a power plant. The Secretary argued that disturbed dust could become airborne and fuel a secondary explosion. The Commission found that the record did not identify how a…
Exelon Generating Corp., LaSalle County Station
Personal sign-on required for group lockout
Exelon's group lockout procedure listed covered maintenance employees but allowed a lead worker to notify them verbally when protection was applied or removed. The Commission held that group lockout requires each authorized employee to maintain personal control by attaching and removing a personal…
Active Oil Service, Inc.
Fatal tank-vault violations affirmed, with one item reduced to serious
An Active Oil Service employee was killed and a foreman was seriously burned when an oxy-acetylene torch ignited vapors while they worked in an underground vault above a pyro-oil tank. The Commission held that the shallow vault was still a permit-required confined space because entry and exit were…
Turning Stone Casino Resort
OSHA jurisdiction over tribal casino upheld and case remanded
Turning Stone Casino, owned and operated by the Oneida Indian Nation, moved to dismiss OSHA citations on tribal-sovereignty, treaty, and consultation grounds. The Commission applied the rule that generally applicable federal statutes cover tribal enterprises unless a recognized exception applies…
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.