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.
Key Energy Services, Inc., and its successors
Vacuum-truck venting hazard affirmed, three other items vacated
Key Energy Services was servicing an oil well at the Garcia Lease when a vacuum-truck cargo tank exploded and a worker was fatally struck by flying parts. The judge found that Key should have recognized the fire and explosion hazard created by venting flammable crude-oil vapors beneath the truck…
General Glass & Window, Inc.
All citations vacated after a glazier's fatal crushing
General Glass & Window is a Florida glass installation (glazing) company. In February 1999 an experienced glazier, working alone in the bed of a flatbed truck, was fatally injured when a stack of glass panes tilted and fell on him as he unloaded them at a West Palm Beach work site. OSHA…
Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc.
Willful trench citation vacated, backhoe-bucket general duty violation affirmed
Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc. is a Washington, D.C. area utility contractor that was excavating and installing sewer lines during a hospital expansion. After an OSHA inspection it was cited for one willful and two serious violations. Administrative Law Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld reached a split result…
Agra Erectors, Inc.
Serious citation affirmed, willful citation remanded after tower collapse
Agra Erectors is an Ohio company that erects grain elevators. In October 1997, while its crew was building an 85-foot grain elevator tower in Mill Hall, Pennsylvania, an employee working atop the fully erected tower died when the tower collapsed after the crane supporting it was disconnected and a…
Alden Leeds, Inc.
Commission affirms a $107,100 failure-to-abate penalty for unsafe pool-chemical storage
Alden Leeds runs a wholesale pool-chemical business in South Kearny, New Jersey, where it stores large, constantly changing quantities of oxidizing chemicals that can feed a fire. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause in 1990 and again in 1993 (after a large warehouse fire) for the…
P.A. Landers, Inc.
Settlement reduces willful trench penalty to $40,000
P.A. Landers was installing sewer lines at a Massachusetts condominium development when an unprotected trench collapsed and buried an employee up to his neck, causing multiple serious injuries. The ALJ found a willful trench-protection violation because the site supervisor knew the trench exceeded…
MEI Holdings, Inc. d/b/a Martin Electronics, Inc.
DOD contract does not preempt OSHA safety rules
MEI manufactured explosives and pyrotechnic devices under a Defense Department contract at its Perry, Florida plant. After a fire in a small wooden production building killed two employees and severely burned another, OSHA cited fire, exit, personal-protective-equipment, training, and…
White Electrical Construction Company
Active-train training and barricade violations affirmed
White electricians worked on an elevated Jacksonville transit line beside an active track carrying quiet, remotely operated trains. The foreman knew the unusual site and train-control procedures but gave only general warnings, provided no communication device to the remote crew, and used no…
Crowley American Transport, Inc.
Seat-belt general-duty citation vacated for no proven hazard
Crowley used heavy Capacity tractors to move trailers short distances on and off cargo barges, generally at speeds no greater than 25 miles per hour. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause for not requiring seat belts after a tractor went through a guardrail and fell 20 feet, killing…
Venango Environmental, Inc.
Willful loader hazards affirmed after fatal overturn
Venango Environmental used a front-end loader with defective brakes and steering at a wastewater-treatment construction project. A foreman operating the loader died from injuries sustained when it overturned. Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld vacated the brake-performance item because the Secretary did…
All Waste Environmental Services/North Atlantic
Hydroblasting lance-ejection hazard violated general duty clause
All Waste used high-pressure water to clear a blockage from a pipe at a paper mill. A pressurized cleaning lance unexpectedly exited the pipe, moved out of control, and seriously injured an employee. Judge Ann Z. Cook found that uncontrolled lance ejection was a recognized hydroblasting hazard…
L. R. Willson and Sons, Inc.
Commission lacked authority to halt penalty collection
An administrative law judge had affirmed a tag-line violation against L. R. Willson and Sons and assessed a $4,000 penalty. The parties later settled Willson's separate Equal Access to Justice Act fee claim concerning a withdrawn general duty clause item. When the Secretary sought to collect the…
Mallard Bay Drilling, Inc., LLC
OSHA jurisdiction upheld over emergency response on drilling barge
A natural-gas explosion on Mallard Bay Drilling's stationary drilling barge killed and seriously injured employees and destroyed the rig. OSHA cited delayed evacuation, the lack of an emergency response plan, and inadequate emergency-response training. The company argued that Coast Guard authority…
Keystone Construction Corp.
Failure to assess deteriorated tank roof affirmed
Keystone Construction repaired and repainted concrete water tanks using a containment system supported on the tank roof. While employees removed deteriorated concrete and erected scaffolding, the Smithtown tank roof collapsed and three employees fell about 35 feet. Judge Covette Rooney found that…
National Envelope Corporation d/b/a New York Envelope Co.
All remaining machine-safety citations vacated
OSHA issued National Envelope Corporation citations after two inspections of its envelope manufacturing plant. One case alleged inadequate training after a machine operator injured a finger while attempting to address a chip-collector problem. Judge Richard DeBenedetto found that the operator had…
Scarff's Nursery, Inc.
Trench cave-in violation affirmed under general duty clause
Scarff's Nursery employees installed irrigation pipe in a narrow trench about 6.5 feet deep when a cave-in injured two workers. The agriculture standards contained no trench-safety provision, so OSHA proceeded under the general duty clause. Judge Ken S. Welsch found no proof that the nursery…
Southwest Marine, Inc.
General-duty citation dismissed because a shore-based crane fell under California's state plan
Southwest Marine repairs and refurbishes ships at a San Diego facility. In October 1996, the boom of a shore-based portal crane collapsed onto the USS Benfold moored at the pier. California's state OSHA program (CalOSHA) cited the company over crane operation and maintenance, and federal OSHA…
Dawson Production Services
Rig-guying citation affirmed, anchor-capacity citation vacated after a fatal rig collapse
Dawson Production Services operated a well-servicing rig at a site in Chambers County, Texas. OSHA inspected after a fatality caused by a drill rig collapse and issued two general duty clause citations tied to how the rig was guyed and anchored. On the first item, the evidence showed the company…
McKie Ford
Willful conveyor hazard affirmed with a $20,000 penalty
McKie Ford operated an automobile dealership where employees routinely rode a vertical reciprocating conveyor designed only for freight. An employee was killed when his head was caught between the second-floor landing and the ceiling of the unguarded conveyor. The judge found the hazard recognized…
Virginia International Terminals, Inc.
Forklift seat-belt citation dismissed
Virginia International Terminals, Inc. did not require operators to use seat belts on forklifts equipped with them. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause after an operator drove a forklift off a loading ramp, was ejected or jumped, and later died from her injuries. The judge found…
John Carter d/b/a J.B.'s Tree Service
Tree-work citations affirmed with $6,500 in penalties
John Carter directed workers removing branches from a large oak tree at a private residence. Two workers were struck by falling limbs, and one died three days later. OSHA cited Carter for exposing employees to falling limbs without adequate warnings and safeguards, and for failing to report the…
Meridian Contractors, Inc.
Dismissals reversed and citation cases remanded
OSHA issued Meridian Contractors serious and willful construction citations with proposed penalties after two inspections. The ALJ dismissed both cases under Commission precedent treating the actions as moot because Meridian had stopped employing workers and was preparing to dissolve. After that…
Pepperidge Farm, Inc.
Recordkeeping and lifting violations affirmed, repetitive-motion items vacated
OSHA cited Pepperidge Farm for 176 recordkeeping violations, 21 lifting allegations, and 175 repetitive-motion allegations at a cookie and baked-goods plant. The Commission affirmed the recordkeeping violations as willful and assessed instance-by-instance penalties totaling $289,603. It held that…
George Campbell Painting Corp.
Scaffold-transfer violation affirmed as serious
George Campbell Painting used suspended swing scaffolds while repainting a bridge cable. A painter died after falling more than 300 feet while repositioning a scaffold in the air even though a closed traffic lane was available below. The serious general-duty violation itself was not under review…
Fluor Constructors International, Inc.
Scaffold grounding requirement affirmed
Fluor employees performed arc cutting and welding from wire-suspended scaffolds inside a boiler renovation project. Two scaffolds fell after electrical current reached and severed their suspension cables, injuring employees despite fall-arrest equipment. Fluor tried to isolate the scaffolds with…
Pitt-Des Moines, Inc.
Citation dismissal reversed during criminal investigation
Two workers were killed and five injured when a beam support failed during structural-steel construction and part of a building collapsed. OSHA issued two willful and one serious citation with $147,000 in proposed penalties. While the Justice Department considered criminal charges, the ALJ…
Kokosing Construction Co., Inc.
Rebar item affirmed, formwork fall item vacated
A Kokosing carpenter fell about 22 feet while dismantling concrete formwork and died near two rows of unguarded reinforcing steel. The Commission found that part of his body could have fallen onto the rebar and that the conspicuous condition, crews in the area, and inadequate inspection…
Gem Industrial, Inc.
Fall item affirmed as serious, not repeated
Three GEM ironworkers performed detailing work on beams about 31 feet above the ground without fall protection. The Commission found that GEM had a communicated tie-off rule, but its repeated oral warnings were ineffective, its progressive discipline was not followed, and its monitoring was…
Wiley Organics, Inc.
Commission affirms general-duty and emergency-response citations after a fatal chemical reactor explosion
Wiley Organics, doing business as Organic Technologies, ran a chemical manufacturing plant in Newark, Ohio, making a chemical called R-Glycidol under contract for ARCO Chemical. On April 24, 1991, a reactor vessel exploded during a distillation step and killed the reactor operator, Steven Wears…
Arcadian Corporation
Commission rejects 87 employee-based general duty items and remands for separate-hazard review
Arcadian Corporation manufactured fertilizer at a Louisiana plant where an after-hours urea-reactor explosion destroyed the facility and injured three employees and four other people. OSHA issued 87 willful general duty clause items, one for each employee exposed to the conditions that led to the…
Murphy Enterprises, Inc., d/b/a Murphy Brothers Exposition
Failed Giant Wheel rope and missing sling inspections yield $10,000
Murphy Brothers Exposition was setting up a 90-foot carnival Ferris wheel in Dallas when a damaged wire rope failed, causing moving wheel components to kill two employees and seriously injure a third employee, whose leg was partially amputated. Administrative Law Judge Stanley M. Schwartz found…
Waste Management of Palm Beach, Division of Waste Management, Inc., of Florida
Commission affirms hazard from unauthorized reinforcement of trash-loader boom
Waste Management of Palm Beach operated garbage trucks fitted with hydraulic trash loaders whose flexible booms were designed to absorb operating shock. After one boom cracked, the company welded steel plates along it without evidence of manufacturer approval. The trash-loader assembly later…
Louisiana-Pacific Company
Sander kickback and repeat lockout failures produce $158,500
Louisiana-Pacific Company operated a particle-board plant where a jammed wide-belt sander ejected a board that struck an employee and caused severe internal injuries. The judge found that kickback was a recognized woodworking hazard and that manufacturer-recommended anti-kickback fingers would…
Megawest Financial, Inc.
Apartment-office violence citation vacated for lack of recognized hazard proof
Megawest Financial, Inc. managed a large Florida apartment complex whose office staff experienced repeated tenant threats and several physical attacks. Employees requested daytime security, and another tenant attacked an assistant manager while an OSHA compliance officer was investigating the…
Alcorn Well Service, Inc., a Division of Dawson Well Service, Inc.
Wrench-hazard item vacated, hazard-communication items yield $1,050
An Alcorn Well Service, Inc. crew was fishing broken sucker rods from a Texas well when two workers used pipe wrenches to turn a rod and move an overshot through a tight spot. The rod unexpectedly torqued, one worker lost control of his wrench, and the wrench struck another employee in the head…
Baker Concrete Constr. Co.
Scaffold-access citation vacated for lack of fair notice
Baker Concrete employees climbed formwork to reach a partially dismantled scaffold at a shopping-mall construction site. An administrative law judge affirmed a serious citation for failing to provide a ladder or equivalent safe access and assessed $2,500. The Commission reversed because three OSHA…
ConAgra, Inc.
Joint motion ends Commission review
OSHA cited ConAgra after an employee at a Buffalo grain elevator was seriously injured when a rail-car puller's wire cable snapped. The underlying judge affirmed a general-duty-clause violation as serious, affirmed stair and platform guarding violations, and vacated a lockout…
Well Solutions, Inc., Rig No. 30
Blowout-preventer and training violations affirmed
A Well Solutions crew was changing a pump at a horizontal oil well in south Texas when a blowout and fire killed two employees and seriously injured two others. The Commission found that the well-servicing industry recognized the need for a blowout preventer under the conditions at this relatively…
Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Inc.
Compressed-gas and extension-cord violations affirmed
Tri-City Electrical Contractors, Inc. was completing electrical work at a Builder's Square store in Fort Myers, Florida. OSHA found an unsecured and uncapped carbon-dioxide cylinder connected to an air gun, and an energized extension cord that was repeatedly run over by material-handling equipment…
Davey Tree Expert Company
General duty clause electrocution citation vacated on unpreventable-misconduct defense
Davey Tree Expert Company trims trees around power lines for utilities. On April 14, 1993, one of its working foremen was fatally electrocuted in Winchester, New Hampshire when he contacted an energized primary wire from an aerial-lift bucket while trimming under a contract with Public Service of…
Jewell Painting, Inc.
Lead-paint bridge job, serious items cut to nonserious, water-cooler general-duty item vacated
Jewell Painting removed lead paint from a bridge over the Androscoggin River in Gilead, Maine, then repainted it. After an August 1992 OSHA inspection of the cleanup phase, the agency issued a serious citation and an other-than-serious citation covering nonpotable-water labeling, lead-dust exposure…
Patterson Drilling Company, Inc.
Bloodborne-pathogen citations vacated for an oil-field drilling crew
Patterson Drilling Company ran a horizontal drilling rig at a site south of Gonzales, Texas. OSHA inspected after a February 1993 accident in which falling equipment caused a fatal crushing injury to a worker. The agency issued a serious citation with eight items and an "other" citation with two…
Nelson Tree Services, Inc.
Tree-felling hazard violation affirmed after fatal incident
Nelson Tree Services cleared trees around utility lines at a worksite in Hanoverton, Ohio. A leaning tree fell prematurely while a Nelson employee passed through the work area, fatally injuring the employee. The judge found that the tree-care industry and Nelson's own safety manual recognized the…
T & S Utilities, Inc.
Training, ladder, hard-hat, and fatality-reporting violations affirmed
T & S Utilities installed sewage-pump-station lines in Fort Myers, Florida, and employees worked inside manholes at the site. The judge vacated a general duty clause allegation because a specific confined-space training standard covered the condition and the record did not show actual atmospheric…
Halocarbon Products Corporation
Commission approves $5,500 chemical-safety settlement
Halocarbon Products manufactured specialty chemicals at a New Jersey plant where OSHA investigated after a reported chemical exposure hospitalized two employees, one of whom later died. OSHA alleged general-duty, respirator-program, and hazard-communication violations and initially proposed $37,000…
CNG Transmission Corporation
Mixed ruling on frac-tank hazards
CNG Transmission was preparing a natural-gas field for underground storage and used workers supplied by Union Drilling to monitor a frac-fluid flow-back operation. After the piping was changed so that fluid and gas flowed directly into a frac tank, two night-shift workers were found inside the tank…
Mutual Erectors Inc.
Three safety violations affirmed for $2,300
Mutual Erectors was a small steel-erection contractor building the steel frame for a school addition. The ALJ vacated a general-industry sling-inspection item because the construction rigging standard more specifically covered the condition and the Secretary did not prove a missed inspection. She…
Maskell-Robbins, Inc.
Pipe-loading hazard violation affirmed
Maskell-Robbins distributed polyethylene pipe and reloaded truckloads of large pipe at its Houston yard. During the work, an employee climbed onto loaded pipe, and shifting pipe fell from the truck, struck him, and caused his death. The Commission affirmed a serious general duty clause violation…
E. Smalis Painting Co., Inc.
Bridge-painting citations settled for $50,000
E. Smalis Painting was repainting the Tarentum Bridge in Pennsylvania when OSHA inspected the worksite. OSHA issued three citations alleging one willful, nine serious, and two other-than-serious violations, with proposed penalties totaling $75,000. The parties agreed that the company would withdraw…
Air Plastics, Inc.
Mixed ruling on pit hazards and chemical training
Air Plastics manufactured fiberglass tanks using molds mounted over production pits that employees entered during setup. The judge vacated a failure-to-abate general duty clause citation alleging hazardous confined-space atmospheres because OSHA did not prove that employees faced a significant risk…
Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union
PSM abatement schedule challenge remanded
After an explosion injured or killed employees at an IMC Fertilizer plant in Sterlington, Louisiana, the Secretary and the employer entered a pre-contest settlement that included $10 million in penalties and a corporate process safety management implementation schedule. The employees' union…
Phillips 66 Company
Union settlement-rescission dispute remanded for evidence
After an explosion and fire caused fatalities and injuries at Phillips 66's Houston Chemical Complex, OSHA issued citations proposing more than $5.6 million in penalties. The Secretary and Phillips later reached a $4 million main settlement that also established a corporate process safety…
McCrory Stores and J.J. Newberry Stores
Nationwide fire-safety settlement approved
The Secretary settled four cases involving McCrory and J.J. Newberry retail stores while the companies were operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The agreement reduced the total proposed penalties to a $500,000 general unsecured claim and changed all citation classifications to the…
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corporation
Willful locomotive-brake citation vacated
A Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel locomotive collided with a disabled train while pulling loaded hopper cars, fatally injuring the conductor and injuring the trainee engineer. OSHA alleged a willful general-duty violation because the company continued operating the locomotive after reports of…
Conagra Flour Milling Company
Commission splits flour-mill safety citations and assesses $500
Conagra operated a flour-milling facility in Martins Creek, Pennsylvania, where OSHA cited battery servicing, powered industrial trucks, machine guarding, compressed-air cleaning, and grain-handling practices. The Commission vacated the personal-protective-equipment and eyewash items because OSHA's…
Morrison-Knudsen Co., Inc./Yonkers Contracting Co., Inc., A Joint Venture
Willful lead-protection violations draw $40,000
A Morrison-Knudsen and Yonkers Contracting joint venture used cutting torches to demolish a lead-painted bridge in New York City, exposing employees to hazardous airborne lead. The Commission held that the construction air-contaminant standards applied alongside the more specific welding and…
Waldon Health Care Center & ARA Woodlake Nursing Home
Hepatitis B citations vacated
ARA Living Centers operated the Waldon Health Care Center in Louisiana and the Woodlake Nursing Home in Texas. OSHA alleged that nurses and nursing assistants faced hepatitis B transmission through contact with blood or other bodily fluids and proposed offering the vaccine to exposed employees…
Fuellgraf Electric Co.
Platform-training item affirmed, debris item vacated
Fuellgraf Electric Company was an electrical contractor at an elementary school construction site in Pennsylvania. OSHA alleged that an employee operating a self-elevating platform lacked proper training and that debris in a cafeteria created a tripping hazard. The judge affirmed the platform item…
Clean Harbors of Kingston, Inc.
Confined-space communication case settled
OSHA cited Clean Harbors under the general duty clause after employees entered a pump room to remove a diesel-fuel, Biosolve, and water mixture. The alleged hazard was delayed rescue because half-face respirators impaired voice communication between an entrant and standby personnel. An…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Housekeeping item affirmed and eyewash item vacated
Trinity Industries manufactured railcars at its Bessemer, Alabama, plant. Commission review focused on materials and tools left on elevated work walkways and the availability of water for employees exposed to corrosive paint materials. The Commission affirmed the housekeeping item because Trinity…
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.