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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Praxair Distribution, Inc.
Liftgate citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
Praxair Distribution supplied cylinder gases to customers and used delivery trucks equipped with hydraulic liftgates. A driver was killed when a liftgate suddenly fell while he was making a delivery at a Veterans' Administration medical center in Cleveland. OSHA cited Praxair under the general duty…
Valley Interior Systems, Inc.
Malfunctioning aerial lift should have been removed from service
Valley Interior Systems used a rented 80-foot articulating aerial lift to install exterior framing at an Ohio college construction project. The lift's tower assembly stopped operating properly, but the field foreman allowed an employee to continue working from it while waiting for a service…
Thomas Industrial Coatings, Inc.
Settlement withdraws high-visibility clothing item
Thomas Industrial Coatings was painting an interstate overpass when OSHA cited alleged traffic-zone and aerial-lift hazards. The administrative law judge vacated the item alleging inadequate protection from traffic and the aerial-lift tie-off item. For the high-visibility clothing item, the judge…
The News Press
Paper-roll loading hazard leads to $2,500 in penalties
The News Press used employees to push 2,000-pound newsprint rolls onto trolleys while one worker stood in front of each moving roll to catch and guide it. A roll had fallen from a trolley at least three times, and one employee missed 43 workdays after injuring her shoulder while trying to stop one…
Mario Sinacola & Sons Excavating, Inc.
Excavator hazard citation vacated for lack of proven abatement
A Sinacola crew was installing a water line in a trench when an excavator bucket moved and pinned a pipe layer against the trench wall, fatally injuring him. The judge found that the construction industry and Sinacola recognized the danger of employees working within an excavator's operating area…
Jimerson Underground
Construction-standard allegations remanded for decision
A fatal manhole accident involving Jimerson and subcontractor employees led OSHA to issue citations under general industry standards. The Secretary later added alternative allegations under construction standards and the general duty clause. The Commission had already held that Jimerson's work was…
The Ruhlin Company
High-visibility vest citation vacated
Ruhlin was widening a highway and had established a coned work zone next to an open traffic lane. OSHA cited the company because nine employees inside the work zone were not wearing high-visibility vests. The Commission held that 29 C.F.R. § 1926.95(a) did not cover warning garments because the…
United States Postal Service and National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 51
Reflective-clothing citation vacated
OSHA cited the Postal Service after a vehicle struck a letter carrier's pushcart while she crossed a street near twilight. The Postal Service already offered reflective vests and issued uniforms with reflective strips, but OSHA argued that carriers needed garments meeting an ANSI high-visibility…
Lewis County Dairy Corp.
Widespread safety violations result in $72,750 penalty
OSHA found extensive safety deficiencies at Lewis County Dairy's kosher dairy plant, including missing safety programs, inadequate lockout practices, unguarded equipment, electrical hazards, deficient fall protection, and insufficient hazard communication. Of the 33 serious citation items, the…
Austin Bridge and Road, L.P.
Crane crushing citation vacated for lack of hazard recognition
An Austin Bridge crew installed concrete traffic barriers using a truck crane parked close behind a flatbed trailer. The crane carrier was inadvertently left in reverse and moved backward, fatally crushing one employee and injuring another. OSHA alleged that employees should have been kept out of…
D-J's Well Service and Roustabout, Inc.
Pump-jack citation vacated because another company controlled the crew
A crew supplied by D-J's was re-leveling an oil-field pump jack when the unit tipped over and fatally crushed a worker. The parties agreed that the work method presented a recognized hazard with feasible means of abatement. The disputed issue was whether the exposed workers were employees of D-J's…
New York Elevator, Inc.
Elevator counterweight and training items vacated
An experienced elevator helper suffered serious leg and head injuries after climbing above a compliant counterweight guard and being caught by a moving counterweight. The employees were modernizing one elevator while keeping the adjacent passenger elevator operating, and the record did not explain…
Jalco, Inc.
Confined-space rescue failures result in $11,800 penalty
A subcontractor employee lost consciousness after entering a 15-foot sewer manhole without atmospheric monitoring, effective ventilation, or rescue equipment. Jalco's foreman entered without a harness, lifeline, or respirator and became dizzy before climbing out. The judge found that the foreman's…
Fabi Construction, Inc., and Pro Management Group
Parking-garage collapse decision assesses $21,000
Four parking-garage levels collapsed during concrete placement at an Atlantic City project, killing four employees and injuring 21. The judge found serious general duty violations because reinforcing mesh did not follow the approved shop drawings and longitudinal steel was installed contrary to…
Reynolds Inc.
Quick-coupler items split and trench violations affirmed
Reynolds was installing a water main when an excavator bucket detached from a hydraulic quick coupler, rolled into an excavation, and fatally struck an employee. The judge vacated the general-duty and safety-program items because Reynolds lacked notice that the experienced operator would skip…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Nelson Tree Service, Inc.
Bucket-truck safety citations vacated
A Nelson Tree Service crew leader was seriously injured when a bucket truck's crank-arm assembly failed, the boom collapsed, and he was ejected from the bucket. The judge found that the Secretary did not prove the truck lacked the required inspection because the company's annual inspection record…
Darby Creek Excavating
Four excavation items vacated and one inspection violation affirmed
Darby Creek Excavating was installing a water line when OSHA found an employee in a deep excavation with accumulated water, no ladder, and no cave-in protection. The judge vacated the general duty clause item because the Secretary did not prove that failing to barricade the excavator's swing radius…
Saiia Construction
Concrete-pipe lifting hazard citation vacated
Saiia Construction was installing concrete pipe in an excavation when OSHA investigated a worksite accident. The remaining citation alleged that an employee in the trench was exposed to being struck by a concrete pipe as an excavator lifted it. The judge found that the hazard was recognized but…
Environmental Enterprises, Inc.
Settlement motion prompted remand for employee comment
Environmental Enterprises treated hazardous wastewater at its Cincinnati facility, where mixing sodium sulfide and an acid generated hydrogen sulfide that rendered an employee unconscious. The judge affirmed three serious violations involving excessive exposure, engineering or administrative…
Arcadian Corporation
Willful reactor-safety violation affirmed after explosion
A pressurized urea reactor exploded at Arcadian's fertilizer plant after corrosive material breached its stainless steel liner and damaged the load-bearing carbon steel layers. The Commission found that Arcadian and its industry recognized the danger of continuing to operate a leaking reactor and…
Emery Air Freight Corporation
K-Loader fall violations affirmed despite FAA claim
Emery cargo handlers rode unguarded elevator platforms on K-Loader trucks to reach aircraft cargo doors, exposing them to falls of more than 4 feet and as much as 13 feet. Emery argued that Federal Aviation Administration oversight displaced OSHA jurisdiction because the FAA had approved an airline…
MasTec North America, Inc., successor of Weeks Construction, Inc.
Energized-line citation vacated and general-duty claim remanded
A MasTec employee was fatally electrocuted while removing slack from an energized 7,200-volt utility line after the cut ends swung into his body. OSHA alleged that the employee worked inside the minimum approach distance without adequate insulation, even though he wore voltage-rated gloves and…
Thomann Asphalt Paving Corp.
Roller rollover citation vacated
A Thomann Asphalt Paving employee died when a roller without a rollover protective structure slid from an embankment and overturned at a New York school construction site. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause, alleging that a rollover protective structure was a feasible way to…
Sturm Ruger & Co., Pine Tree Castings Division
Targeted inspection and settlements affirmed
OSHA used injury and illness data from Pine Tree Castings to select the handgun-casting facility for a programmed inspection under a nationwide targeting plan. Sturm Ruger challenged the data survey, inspection warrant, discovery rulings, evidence, and subpoenas. The Commission held that OSHA had…
Hercules, Inc., & Alliant Techsystems, Inc.
Explosion-hazard failure-to-abate notice vacated
Hercules had previously settled general-duty citations concerning explosion hazards at an explosives facility and agreed to abate them. OSHA later alleged that hazards remained at a loop road and a control building for 440 days and proposed $3.08 million in failure-to-abate penalties. The ALJ…
Galluzzo Equipment & Excavating, Inc.
Most excavation violations affirmed
Galluzzo Equipment & Excavating installed a concrete catch basin and pipe in a street excavation in Lodi, New Jersey. The judge affirmed serious violations involving trench-safety training, the lack of a competent person, missing hard hats, an unsecured pneumatic-hose coupling, an unprotected spoil…
Eric K. Ho, Ho Ho Ho Express, Inc.; Houston Fruitland, Inc.
Corporations dismissed and $658,000 assessed against Ho
Eric K. Ho hired workers to renovate a former hospital where asbestos-containing material was removed without required controls, respiratory protection, or training. OSHA also cited unsafe sanitation and emergency conditions, failure to report an accident, and a recognized hazard involving an…
Nutone, Inc.
Crane and scissor-lift citations vacated
Two Nutone maintenance employees were injured when an overhead bridge crane struck and knocked over the elevated scissor lift from which they were working. The crane operator had disabled the crane's automatic audible and flashing warning system without the company's knowledge. The Secretary…
Oberdorfer Industries, Inc.
Foundry citations partly affirmed and partly vacated
Oberdorfer operated an aluminum foundry that OSHA inspected under a local emphasis program for primary-metal industries. The Commission vacated the no-smoking-sign and explosion-proof-wiring items because the Secretary did not perform the testing her expert said was needed to establish dangerous…
Brooks Well Servicing, Inc.
Snubbing-rig emergency-egress citation vacated
Brooks Well Servicing employees were assisting a specialized snubbing operation at an active oil and gas well when a blowout and explosion killed seven people. OSHA alleged that Brooks failed to provide adequate emergency escape from the elevated snubbing rig. The Commission held that the exit…
Brian Hanley Logging
Yarder guyline hazard affirmed as repeat
Brian Hanley Logging anchored three guylines from a skyline logging yarder to standing trees. The judge found that the trees could fall toward employees when stressed by the yarding operation, that both the logging industry and the employer recognized the hazard, and that using notched stumps or…
C.T. Taylor Company Inc., & Esprit Constructors, Inc.
Related companies treated as a single employer
Two ironworkers fell 39 feet to their deaths after a foreman placed a 5,000-pound bundle of decking on unsecured and unbridged bar joists without providing fall protection. The Commission treated C.T. Taylor and Esprit as a single employer for this project because they shared ownership, management…
Grey Wolf Drilling Company L.P. Rig 865
Backing-truck hazard violation affirmed
A Grey Wolf toolpusher was killed by a winch truck backing across a drilling site while the driver's view was obstructed and the assigned swamper rested in the cab. The judge found that both Grey Wolf's safety manual and drilling-industry guidance recognized using a flagman when a driver lacked a…
The Timken Company
Review vacated after split over traverser hazard
A Timken mechanic lost both feet when a moving traverser's rails meshed with rails beside the teeming car she was repairing. The two participating Commission members agreed that the lockout/tagout standard did not apply because the traverser operated independently of the teeming car. They split on…
Safeway, Inc.
Review vacated after split over propane grill citation
Safeway managers directed employees to adapt an oversized 40-pound propane cylinder to a grill designed for a 20-pound cylinder, leaving the larger cylinder leaning against the grill. Escaping liquid propane ignited and injured two employees. Both participating Commissioners agreed that the…
Anderson Columbia Co., Inc.
Truck-bed transport violations yield $14,000 penalty
Anderson Columbia used a pickup truck to carry an employee and oversized traffic warning signs along a highway work area. The employee fell from the moving truck bed and later died from his injuries. The judge affirmed a serious violation for failing to secure the signs and found that allowing the…
Patterson Drilling Company, L.P.
Rotary-table breakout hazard resulted in a $4,000 penalty
Patterson Drilling employees used one tong and rotary-table power to break a drill-pipe connection. A retaining bolt sheared, the tong swung around, and an employee was struck and later died from his injuries. The judge found that the oil-drilling industry recognized the danger of using rotary…
Trinity Marine Products, Inc.
Welding electrical-hazard citations vacated
Trinity manufactured river barges at a Tennessee shipyard where a newly assigned welder received a fatal electric shock while tack welding. OSHA alleged that the welding rod holder was not fully insulated, employees lacked adequate hazard-communication training, and Trinity failed to keep welders'…
Noble Drilling Services, Inc. and Noble Drilling (U.S.) Inc.
Personnel-basket and test-record violations affirmed
Noble was converting an offshore drilling unit at a Mississippi shipyard when OSHA inspected the vessel and dockside work. The judge held that OSHA had jurisdiction because the Coast Guard had not regulated the cited working conditions on the uninspected vessel. A serious general-duty violation was…
The National Coal Museum
Mine-roof hazard affirmed as serious
The National Coal Museum operated public tours in an abandoned Illinois coal mine and employed former miners to maintain the underground facility. The judge held that OSHA had jurisdiction because the site was a museum, not an active mineral-extraction operation regulated by MSHA, and rejected…
Simkins-Hallin Lumber Company
General duty citation vacated for a forklift-stacking practice the industry did not recognize as hazardous
Simkins-Hallin runs a lumberyard in Bozeman, Montana. After an employee was killed in a forklift stacking operation, OSHA inspected and issued citations, the main one under the general duty clause for letting forklift operators climb onto the machine's fenders to slide spacer boards ("stickers")…
R.B. Thomas Electric, Inc.
Aerial-lift and safety-program violations affirmed
An OSHA compliance officer saw a Thomas Electric apprentice working 15 to 20 feet above concrete in an aerial lift without a safety harness. The judge found that the company was still performing construction work and had not arranged regular competent-person inspections or systematically trained…
R.G. Bigelow Electrical Company, Inc.
Electrical and aerial-lift violations affirmed
A Bigelow electrician was assigned to tighten a connection on an energized 480-volt circuit from an aerial lift at a Connecticut printing company. The supervisor rejected the employee's suggestion to de-energize the box and did not provide insulated tools, electrical protective equipment, or…
Danis Shook Joint Venture, XXV
Basin-hazard training and PPE violations affirmed
Danis Shook was building wastewater equalization basins where accumulated water was held above a 42-inch drain by a plywood plug. A pipefitter foreman entered the water without protective equipment, the plug dislodged, and the draining water pulled him into the pipe, where he drowned. The…
Midwest Generation, LLC, and its successors
Sling and hoist violations affirmed, other items vacated
Midwest employees helped a contractor hoist 25-foot wooden I-joists inside a power plant using a pneumatic winch and nylon sling. A joist slipped from the sling, fell down the hoist bay, and struck and killed the employee signaling the winch operator. The judge affirmed three sling violations…
North Atlantic Fish Company, Inc.
Broad fish-plant safety violations affirmed
OSHA's safety and health inspections of North Atlantic's Massachusetts fish-processing plant identified extensive fire, machine, electrical, chemical, respiratory, noise, storage, and powered-industrial-truck hazards. The judge affirmed most of the serious items, including general duty violations…
Coastal Petroleum Services, Inc.
Remote-site first-aid violation affirmed
A Coastal well-servicing rig overturned at a remote Mississippi oil well, killing one crew member and seriously injuring another. The judge vacated a general duty allegation concerning the mast's guylines and anchors because OSHA did not produce the manufacturer's specifications for the particular…
Reflections Tower Service, Inc.
Three violations affirmed and two vacated after a tower-dismantling inspection
Reflections Tower Service dismantled a communications tower in Ohio, where an employee lost two fingers after his glove was caught in hoist equipment. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause and several construction standards. The judge vacated the general duty clause item because OSHA…
Williams Gas Pipeline/South Central
Case remanded to resolve the respondent's identity
An administrative law judge approved a settlement involving two amended general duty clause items and a $13,950 penalty. The named respondent then asked the Commission to change the case caption from Williams Gas Pipeline/South Central to Texas Gas Transmission Corporation, which it said was the…
B & R Wholesale Tire Co.
Truss bracing, competent inspection, and forklift platform violations affirmed
B & R Wholesale Tire was building a roofed addition between two company buildings in Youngstown, Ohio, when a group of 80-foot wood trusses collapsed and one worker sustained a minor injury. The judge found that the trusses lacked sufficient temporary and ground bracing and that some bracing was…
North West Handling Systems, Inc., and its successors
Scissor-lift and fall-training violations affirmed, willful items reduced to serious
North West Handling Systems used a scissor lift while relocating warehouse pallet racks in Sandpoint, Idaho. A company installer removed part of the lift's guardrail, provided little safety training to two temporary workers, and used a forklift to push up the lift platform after it stopped rising…
New York State Electric & Gas Corp.
PPE citations vacated because employer knowledge was not proved
New York State Electric & Gas Corporation sent a two-person crew to install residential gas service in Binghamton, New York. An OSHA compliance officer saw one crew member operating a jackhammer without eye protection and later determined that he also lacked protective footwear, although both forms…
Gulf Hauling & Construction, Inc.
PPE-training and eyewash items affirmed, most items vacated after a fatal chemical-burn accident
Gulf Hauling & Construction is a family-owned Mobile, Alabama company that hauls paper-processing waste for the International Paper plant. An employee was found on the concrete waste pad in black liquor solids, a caustic material, and died several weeks later from complications of chemical burns…
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.