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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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Karl & Associates
Demolition-debris violations affirmed serious after asbestos worker's fall through a collapsed grate, $1,250
Karl & Associates is an industrial environmental services firm in the Delaware Valley. In September 1995 it was removing asbestos from a building at the former Publicker distillery in Philadelphia ahead of demolition. A grate on the sixth floor collapsed, and an employee, Norman Williams, fell two…
MRC Technologies, Inc.
Commission lets stand an ALJ penalty cut for a financially strapped employer
MRC Technologies repaired stone-crushing equipment tied to road construction in the Niagara Falls, New York area. After a 1993 inspection, OSHA cited the company across two dockets for numerous serious and nonserious violations plus one willful crane-safety violation, and proposed $35,250 in…
Sanders Lead Company
Commission approves a partial settlement of lead-standard citations
Sanders Lead Company is an employer subject to OSHA's lead standard, 29 C.F.R. 1910.1025. OSHA issued citations in February 1987 covering employee notification of corrective action, training, and respirator-choice requirements under that standard. The case had a long history: the Commission issued…
Consolidated Concepts, Inc., Camden Development, Inc., Noconi Construction Corporation
Most citations vacated, one pump-jack scaffold item affirmed serious, $1,500
OSHA inspected a three-story apartment complex under construction in Corpus Christi, Texas, and issued serious citations to three companies at the site: Consolidated Concepts (CCI), Camden Development (the general contractor), and Noconi Construction. All three contested, the cases were…
Linde Enterprises, Inc.
Trenching cave-in items affirmed serious, seat-belt item vacated, $1,800
Linde Enterprises is a Pennsylvania excavating contractor that was installing utility lines in Dunmore, Pennsylvania. Acting on an anonymous complaint, an OSHA compliance officer inspected the trench worksite and issued one serious citation with four items. Linde first argued the inspection was…
F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Co., Inc.
Commission declines interlocutory review and reassigns a rejected-settlement case
F.A. Bartlett Tree Expert Co. does line-clearance tree trimming. After a June 1995 job in Old Lyme, Connecticut, OSHA issued a serious citation for failing to keep employees the minimum distance from energized parts and an other-than-serious citation for a missing face shield at a wood chipper…
Sloan Steel Erectors and Equipment Rental, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed, citation affirmed by operation of law
Sloan Steel Erectors and Equipment Rental received an OSHA citation and proposed penalty by certified mail on September 26, 1995. Under the OSH Act an employer has 15 working days to file a written notice of contest, which set Sloan's deadline at October 18, 1995. The parties held an informal…
National Engineering & Contracting Company
Willful crane-overturn items vacated, seat-belt and ladder items affirmed serious, $2,500
National Engineering & Contracting was the general contractor on an Ohio Department of Transportation soil-erosion project along a ravine in Lakewood, Ohio. A 28-ton Grove crane overturned into the ravine on August 19, 1994, injuring the operator, which prompted an OSHA inspection and two…
Harbert-Yeargin, Inc.
Seven electrical and scaffold items affirmed serious, four vacated, $4,500
Harbert-Yeargin was the general contractor building a cogeneration power plant in Fort Myers, Florida, that would turn municipal solid waste into steam and electricity for Lee County. While inspecting the site over another contractor in June 1994, an OSHA compliance officer also cited…
ICG Electric, Inc.
Trench inspection and cave-in protection violations affirmed, one serious and one repeat, $12,000
ICG Electric installs underground lines and was working two excavations at an intersection in Aurora, Colorado. Acting on a complaint from the Aurora Fire Department, an OSHA compliance officer inspected the site and found employees in unshored trenches roughly five and a half to six feet deep, in…
Montana Sulphur and Chemical Co.
Commission vacates the two hydrogen-sulfide respirator items after the Secretary withdraws them
Montana Sulphur and Chemical Company makes chemicals, including liquefied hydrogen sulfide, at a plant in Billings, Montana. After a 1994 inspection, OSHA cited the company and the parties settled every item except two serious ones: that loading-crew employees did not wear supplied-air respirators…
New Jersey Monument Co.
Late notice of contest dismissed, citation affirmed by operation of law
New Jersey Monument Co. is a very small company with one shop employee. OSHA issued it a citation and proposed penalty by certified mail on June 16, 1995, received June 19, which set a July 11, 1995 deadline to file a written notice of contest. The company did not file on time. It later wrote to…
EL-O Electric, Inc.
Unguarded live breaker panel affirmed serious, $400
EL-O Electric was the electrical subcontractor on a school renovation and expansion in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. During a complaint inspection, an OSHA compliance officer found an open circuit-breaker panel energized at 208 volts on the boiler-room wall. EL-O's electricians had removed the screwed-on…
Alabama River Pulp Co., Inc.
Floor-opening, manlift, and lockout/tagout violations affirmed, penalties reduced to $1,000
Alabama River Pulp runs a large pulp mill in Perdue Hill, Alabama. During the plant's annual maintenance outage in April 1995, a subcontractor employee fell at a manlift in the digester building and died; the parties stipulated that the death was not caused by any of the violations later cited…
Montana Sulphur and Chemical Co.
March 26 dismissal order with the full ALJ decision vacating both hydrogen-sulfide items
Montana Sulphur and Chemical Company makes chemicals, including liquefied hydrogen sulfide, at a plant in Billings, Montana. After a 1994 inspection, OSHA and the company settled every citation item except two serious ones: that loading-crew employees did not wear supplied-air respirators when…
E & R Erectors, Inc.
Steel-erection fall-protection and crane items affirmed against E & R, related companies dismissed, $3,000
OSHA inspected the steel erection at the ASTM International Headquarters construction site in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and cited E & R Erectors, Inc. E & R claimed it was not on the site that day, so the Secretary amended the complaint to add two related companies, Samuel Grossi and Sons…
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…
Peck and Hiller Company
Loose concrete-form guardrail affirmed serious, penalty cut to $450
Peck and Hiller was the concrete form-shoring subcontractor on a Navy bachelor enlisted quarters project at the Everett Naval Station in Washington. Responding to an employee complaint, an OSHA compliance officer inspected the site and found that a wire-rope guardrail Peck had installed on the…
Industrial Steel Enterprises, Inc.
Commission sets aside default sanctions and remands so a pro se employer can be heard
Industrial Steel Enterprises contested OSHA citations carrying $23,000 in proposed penalties but, representing itself, did not file an answer or respond to the Chief Administrative Law Judge's order to show cause. As a sanction, the judge dismissed the notice of contest and affirmed the citations…
Conagra Poultry Company
Commission approves a revised ergonomics failure-to-abate settlement after the union drops its objection
ConAgra Poultry Company, also styled ConAgra Broiler Company, ran a poultry processing operation subject to a 1992 Corporate Settlement Agreement (an Ergonomic and Recordkeeping Agreement, or CSA) that set ergonomic-hazard abatement and documentation duties. In April 1994, OSHA issued a…
Harry Fiocchi & Associates, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed, citation affirmed
Harry Fiocchi & Associates is a New Jersey general construction, design-build, and project-management firm with about 10 employees. OSHA mailed the company a citation by certified mail on March 31, 1995, and it was received on April 4, 1995. Under the OSH Act an employer has 15 working days to file…
R & R Pipeline, Inc.
Trench spoil-pile and repeat cave-in items affirmed, inspection item vacated, penalties cut
R & R Pipeline is a Colorado utilities contractor. During a December 1994 inspection of a trenching job in Littleton, an OSHA compliance officer found a worker in a trench about 10 to 11 feet deep with no shoring in place, a spoil pile of excavated dirt piled less than two feet from the trench…
Miniature Nut and Screw Corp.
Hearing-conservation lapses are serious violations, but machine-guarding items fail for lack of employee exposure
Miniature Nut and Screw Corporation is a small family-owned maker of die-cast zinc fasteners in Newington, Connecticut, with about ten employees. After a 1993 OSHA inspection, the company was cited for occupational-noise (hearing conservation) violations and numerous machine-guarding violations…
American Airlines, Inc.
FAA ground-operations manual does not preempt OSHA guardrail and hazard-communication citations after a fatal fall
American Airlines ran an aircraft maintenance and repair facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After a worker fell from the third story of a roughly 27-foot mobile "tail stand" work platform through unguarded floor openings to the ground and died, OSHA inspected and issued citations across two dockets…
Humbert Sanitary Service, Inc.
Three trenching items affirmed serious, ladder item vacated, $2,700
Humbert Sanitary Service is a small Ohio construction contractor that installs and cleans septic tanks and lays sewer pipe. While Humbert was tapping a main sewer line on Cleveland Avenue in North Canton, an OSHA compliance officer responded to a complaint and found a laborer working in a…
Dawson Welltech, L.C. Rig #387
Commission approves an oil-rig settlement, with one stair-guardrail item tied to a pending Fifth Circuit case
Dawson Welltech operated a workover oil rig (Rig #387) at a well site near Lamar, Texas. After a 1993 OSHA inspection, the company was cited for guardrail, sanitation, bloodborne-pathogen, hazard-communication, and ladder items across two citations. Administrative Law Judge Louis G. LaVecchia…
Talasila, Inc.
Commission remands after the judge barred the employer's representative without letting it find another
Talasila, Inc. was building a sewer pump station for the City of Houston when OSHA inspected the site after a city engineer complained. OSHA issued several citations, including willful violations of its excavation standards, across three dockets. Talasila was represented at the hearing by M.R…
Midwest Piping & Controls, Inc.
Fall-protection item affirmed serious $400, load-limit posting item vacated
Midwest Piping & Controls is a small family-owned pipe-fitting company that fabricates and installs piping mainly for a nearby Mead Paper Corporation mill. Its shop sits inside Mead's fenced perimeter, on land Midwest owns under a long- term lease. During a complaint inspection aimed at Mead and…
A & B Tops
Three serious items downgraded to "other," one grounding item affirmed serious, $300
A & B Tops is a very small Ohio sole proprietorship, with one or two employees, that makes and installs kitchen countertops. After an employee complaint, OSHA got an inspection warrant, entered the Akron plant, and issued four serious citations: no exit sign on the assembly-room doors, an unguarded…
Taylor Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc.
Late notice of contest not excused, citations affirmed by default
Taylor Roofing & Sheet Metal, Inc., a New Jersey roofing contractor, received OSHA citations and proposed penalties by certified mail on June 19, 1995. Under the OSH Act, an employer has 15 working days to file a notice of contest, which meant Taylor's deadline was July 11, 1995. The company's…
Dandee Creations, Ltd.
Late notice of contest dismissed, citation affirmed
Dandee Creations is a New York company that received an OSHA citation issued December 15, 1994 and delivered by certified mail on January 5, 1995. Under the OSH Act an employer has 15 working days to file a notice of contest, so Dandee's deadline was January 27, 1995. On January 30, 1995 the…
Anchor Hocking Glass Company, Inc.
Forklift aisle items vacated, horn/slow-down item affirmed serious, penalty cut to $2,100
Anchor Hocking makes consumer glassware at a plant in Lancaster, Ohio. After a reported fatality, an OSHA compliance officer inspected the plant's large pack-and- ship department, where forklifts move up to 4,000 pallets a day through a wide main aisle, and issued a citation with three serious…
Contractors Crane Service, Inc.
Commission reinstates a dismissed notice of contest and remands
Contractors Crane Service, Inc., a Vermont company representing itself, contested OSHA citations but did not file an answer to the Secretary's complaint. Chief Administrative Law Judge Irving Sommer issued an order to show cause, and when the company did not respond, he dismissed its notice of…
Trico Technologies Corp.
Failure-to-abate notice restored and remanded, while recordkeeping violations stay other-than-serious rather than willful
Trico Technologies ran a manufacturing plant in Brownsville, Texas, with a press room where workers handled parts coming off power presses. In 1988 OSHA cited the company for a personal protective equipment violation (29 C.F.R. § 1910.132(a)) after press-room employees developed skin rashes from…
Davy Songer, Inc.
The top of a shipping crate workers stood on to rig out machinery was a "walking/working surface" requiring fall protection
Davy Songer, Inc. was a construction contractor with about 290 employees at a worksite in Canton, Ohio. OSHA issued a six-item serious citation, and the company and the Secretary settled all but one item before the hearing. The remaining item (item 4) was decided on the written record without a…
E & E Contractors, Inc.
Employer defaults by not showing for trial, so the citations are affirmed by default judgment
E & E Contractors, Inc., a Syracuse, New York company, contested an OSHA case in which the Secretary of Labor had alleged 46 items across three citations (serious, repeat, and other-than-serious) with a total proposed penalty of $39,600. After the company's non-attorney representative withdrew, the…
The Velotta Company
A general contractor must keep hazard-communication records for the lead paints its subcontractors use near its own workers
The Velotta Company was the general contractor on a bridge rehabilitation project, the Norwood Lateral, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Subcontractors did the lead-paint blasting and repainting inside containments, but Velotta's carpenters and laborers sometimes had to work right next to those areas, and on…
Columbia Presbyterian Hospital
Surgical-mask TB citation vacated because the hospital lacked fair notice that only NIOSH respirators would do
OSHA inspected Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City in June 1992, during a period when a tuberculosis (TB) outbreak had struck hospitals in the New York and New Jersey area. The hospital workers' union, Local 1199, took part as the authorized employee representative. The parties settled…
Robert Lettrick Roofing Co.
Commission approves a settlement after directing the case for review, cutting the roofing citations to a $5,600 package
Robert Lettrick Roofing Company did roofing work in the Albany, New York area. After an OSHA inspection of a steep mansion-roof job in Saratoga, New York in September 1993, the Secretary issued serious, repeat, and other-than-serious citations, and Administrative Law Judge Barbara L…
General Cutlery Co., Inc.
Knife maker loses on almost every safety and health citation, including a willful hazard-communication violation
General Cutlery makes bayonets and household knives in Fremont, Ohio. After complaint inspections in May 1994, OSHA issued two sets of citations, later consolidated: safety violations (Docket No. 94-2015) and health violations (Docket No. 94-1933). The company, represented by its president, argued…
Keith Rasmussen & Sons Construction
Scaffold and fall-protection citations mostly upheld, but penalties cut sharply for a four-worker employer
Keith Rasmussen & Sons Construction, a four-worker builder in Ouray, Colorado, was inspected by OSHA in April 1994 at a jobsite on Main Street. OSHA issued five citation items covering scaffold access, scaffold footing, guardrails, an unguarded second-floor edge, and the lack of a written safety…
Montana Sulphur & Chemical Company
Asbestos-waste "housekeeping" citation vacated because the standard sets no bagging deadline
Montana Sulphur & Chemical Company makes hydrogen sulfide and sulphur in Billings, Montana. During an asbestos-removal project on its "railroad" boiler, wet asbestos-containing mastic (about 31% asbestos) was knocked down and piled on the ground, wetted, and barricaded with tape before being bagged…
Precast Services, Inc.
Commission reverses the judge and affirms a fall-protection citation, rejecting the unpreventable-employee-misconduct defense
Precast Services installs precast concrete panels. During a 1993 job in Mentor, Ohio, OSHA saw a journeyman ironworker straddling the top of a 40-foot precast panel with no fall protection, and cited the company for failing to require personal protective equipment. Precast argued it should not be…
Newell Recycling Company, Inc.
All nine lead-exposure citation items vacated after OSHA lost track of its own lab samples for five months
Newell Recycling processes scrap metal in Eagle Pass, Texas. In June 1994 OSHA watched two employees torch-cut refinery piping while wearing dust masks, and took air samples to measure lead exposure. OSHA then let the samples sit: the industrial hygienist did not follow up for five months, the lab…
Lee Zoldan, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed, citation affirmed because not reading OSHA's paperwork is simple negligence, not excusable neglect
Lee Zoldan, Inc. is a residential and commercial plumbing and heating business in Middletown, New York, in operation since 1966. After OSHA issued a citation and proposed penalties (dated January 12, 1995), the company did not file a written notice of contest within the 15 working days the law…
Louisville Scrap Material Co., Inc.
Lead citations split, with direct-exposure items vacated over face-shield sampling but housekeeping and monitoring items upheld
Louisville Scrap Material Co. (LSM) ran a scrap yard near the Port of Tampa, torch-cutting railroad cars and other metal into scrap. Because pre-1978 coatings contain lead, the cutting generated airborne lead, and OSHA cited LSM under the lead standard along with one grinder-guarding item. The…
Perini Corporation
A construction site with workers on it is "occupied," so the exit-marking standard applies
Perini Corporation was building a project at Federal Triangle in Washington, DC, working four below-ground levels that had no natural light, no permanent power, and light measured at just 1 to 2 footcandles. OSHA cited Perini for failing to mark exits where the way out was not immediately visible…
Trend-Line Furniture Corporation
Late notice of contest dismissed, failure-to-abate citations affirmed because sloppy mail handling is simple negligence, not excusable neglect
Trend-Line Furniture Corporation makes dining room furniture in Bay Shore, New York, with about eight workers in the plant and two clerical employees in the office. OSHA inspected the plant on August 9, 1994 and issued citations. A follow-up inspection on November 8, 1994 found that the earlier…
R & J Construction Corporation
Late notice of contest dismissed, citation affirmed because internal office mishandling of the mail is not excusable neglect
OSHA's Manhattan area office issued a citation to R & J Construction Corporation by certified mail on January 14, 1994, and the company received it on January 19. The law gave R & J 15 working days, to February 9, 1994, to file a written notice of contest. R & J did nothing until it received a…
R.H. Belam Company
Late notice of contest dismissed, citations affirmed because misreading the contest deadline is not excusable neglect
OSHA issued citations and proposed penalties to R.H. Belam Company by certified mail on June 14, 1994, and the company received them on June 15, 1994. The law gave Belam 15 working days, to July 7, 1994, to file a written notice of contest. Belam did not contest in time. Its general manager and…
Holt Cargo Systems, Inc.
Forklift-horn and carbon-monoxide-testing citations affirmed, but rider and hard-hat items thrown out
Holt Cargo Systems is a stevedoring company that was unloading pallets of plywood from the vessel Pan Queen at a marine terminal in Camden, New Jersey. After an OSHA inspection, the Secretary of Labor issued three serious citation items and two repeated items, proposing $9,000 for the serious items…
Empire Steel, Inc.
Commission dismisses the case after the parties jointly withdraw the direction for review
This case arose from a fatal fall at a school re-roofing project in Spring, Texas, where a roofing worker fell about 27 feet through a roof opening to the cafeteria floor below. OSHA cited Empire Steel, Inc., but at the hearing the evidence showed the workers were actually leased and supervised by…
Jocanso, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed, citations affirmed because a staffed office mishandling the mail is simple negligence, not excusable neglect
OSHA issued Jocanso, Inc. two citations and a proposed penalty on October 13, 1994, and the company received them on October 28, 1994. The law gave Jocanso 15 working days, to November 22, 1994, to file a written notice of contest. Instead the company did nothing until its attorney sent OSHA a…
Pak Nation Construction Co., Inc.
Citations affirmed after the company's only defense, that it was not the workers' employer, was found not credible
OSHA cited Pak Nation Construction Co., Inc. on September 15, 1993 for serious and repeat violations of construction safety and health standards found during an inspection of a building restoration in the Bronx, New York, and proposed penalties totaling $10,400. At the hearing Pak Nation stipulated…
Well-Tech, Inc.
Removed platform guardrail and missing site records produced $2,850 in penalties
Well-Tech, Inc. was a well-servicing contractor replugging and sampling wells at a chemical plant in Barberton, Ohio. Employees removed an eight-foot section of guardrail from a 16-foot-high drilling platform and placed caution tape across the opening; within about 15 minutes, an employee fell…
Mashantucket Sand & Gravel
Commission holds OSH Act inapplicable to reservation-only tribal enterprise
Mashantucket Sand & Gravel was a business wholly owned and managed by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe that worked only on the Tribe's Connecticut reservation. OSHA issued three serious citation items with $2,000 in proposed penalties and two other-than-serious items without penalties. The parties…
Armstrong Steel Erectors, Inc.
Commission affirms four fall and impalement violations on bridge project
Armstrong Steel Erectors, Inc. was widening and rehabilitating an Interstate 70 bridge in Ohio. The Commission affirmed four serious violations involving unguarded planks used as runways between girders, unguarded painters' picks used as scaffolds, unguarded concrete pier tops used as work…
Mobile River Terminal Co., Inc.
Gangway citation vacated because its foot overlapped the apron
Mobile River Terminal Co., Inc. operated a marine terminal in Mobile Bay, Alabama. OSHA cited the company under the rule requiring a railed walkway when a ship's gangway foot is more than one foot from the edge of the apron. The compliance officer testified that the closest edge of the gangway…
Calvin L. Sisson
Employee abatement-date contest dismissed after all deadlines passed
Calvin L. Sisson, an employee of Pipeline Development Co., contested the reasonableness of the abatement dates in two OSHA citations issued to his employer. His filings also sought a new investigation, additional violations, and review of the settlement between OSHA and Pipeline. Administrative Law…
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…
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.