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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Otis Elevator Company
Remaining electrical citation withdrawn and case dismissed
Otis Elevator was installing an elevator at a construction site where an employee used a portable drill connected through an extension cord and a metal knockout junction box. The judge vacated the item alleging that the junction box was exposed to physical damage, finding the cited standard did not…
United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney
Commission approves plating-shop settlement
Pratt & Whitney operated a plating shop at its West Palm Beach facility, where two maintenance employees were splashed with a cyanide solution during equipment-relocation work. OSHA cited alleged training, protective-equipment, warning-sign, labeling, and hazard-communication violations. The judge…
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…
Flintco, Inc.
Crane-training item withdrawn and case dismissed
Flintco was using a rough-terrain crane at a Tulsa construction site when the crane tipped over and its jib struck a passing vehicle, killing the motorist. OSHA cited Flintco for allegedly operating contrary to the manufacturer's limitations and for inadequate crane-hazard instruction. The judge…
Tri-State Construction, Inc. and National Engineering & Contracting Company
Inspection upheld and bridge-edge item vacated
Tri-State and National worked on a multi-employer interstate-highway rehabilitation project in Cincinnati. The employers challenged OSHA's initial warrantless inspection of an outdoor bridge work area and the later project-wide inspection conducted under a warrant. The Commission held that the…
Blount International, LTD.
Storage and electrical items affirmed, crane item vacated
Blount International was the general contractor building an aircraft hangar at Westover Air Force Base. The Commission affirmed a material-storage item because heavy structural steel was stored on deteriorated supports in a way that could allow it to spread or tilt. It also affirmed two electrical…
Chartwell Corporation
Dismissal affirmed after missed filing deadline
OSHA cited Chartwell Corporation and issued a failure-to-abate notice with proposed penalties totaling $12,600. The judge ordered the Secretary to file either a complaint or an executed settlement agreement by November 15, 1991. The Secretary filed neither, so the judge vacated the citations and…
Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger, Inc.
Concrete-formwork citations against engineer vacated
Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger provided structural-design and consulting services for a laboratory-building project where metal decking collapsed during a two-layer concrete pour. OSHA cited SGH for allegedly inadequate formwork support and missing shoring plans. The Commission held that design and…
Kulka Construction Management Corp.
Construction manager held liable for fall hazards
Kulka Construction Management managed a three-story office-building project without performing construction trade labor itself. The Commission found that Kulka substantially supervised the work because it coordinated contractors, acted as the owner's on-site representative, addressed safety…
Hackney Brighton Corporation
Exit and cylinder-storage violations reinstated
Hackney Brighton fabricated steel pressure vessels at a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, facility. One designated exit was four feet above the floor with no stairs or ramp, and an acetylene cylinder delivered late in the day remained overnight in the oxygen-cylinder storage area. The judge vacated both…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Full-scope inspection warrant upheld
Trinity manufactured tanks and pressure vessels at a Sharonville, Ohio, facility. After an employee complaint, OSHA obtained a warrant authorizing a limited complaint inspection, a records review, and a full-scope inspection if neutral administrative-plan criteria were met. The facility's…
Conagra Flour Milling Co. & Its Successors
Flour-mill electrical and blowdown violations affirmed
Conagra operated a seven-story flour mill in Sherman, Texas, where combustible grain dust made the milling floors Class II, Division 2 hazardous locations. The Commission affirmed serious violations for using a grain tester and pedestal fan with exposed motor components that did not meet the…
Pride Oil Well Service
Respirator and tank-warning violations affirmed
Pride Oil Well Service employees monitored fluids entering a mobile storage tank while nitrogen used in the well displaced oxygen in the tank. One employee lost consciousness and fell into the tank, and another entered in an attempted rescue; both died from asphyxia due to drowning in the tank…
Mesquite Construction, Inc.
Settlement severed from active case
Mesquite Construction's two cases had been consolidated, but the parties' settlement agreement covered only docket 92-0203. A clerical error caused the judge's final order and the Commission's docketing notice to include docket 92-0317 as well. The Commission severed docket 92-0317, struck it from…
Wyman-Gordon Company
Record-access items become final under appellate settlement
The Secretary appealed part of the Commission's December 1991 Wyman-Gordon decision to the First Circuit. During the appeal, Wyman-Gordon agreed to withdraw its contest to three instances alleging violations of the employee-record-access standard. Those citation portions became final orders by…
Farrens Tree Surgeons, Inc.
Roadside PPE citation vacated for insufficient proof
Farrens Tree Surgeons employees were placing cones and warning signs beside a two-lane highway before clearing brush under power lines. One employee was struck and killed by a driver who was blinded by the rising sun. OSHA cited Farrens because the crew was not wearing brightly colored vests or…
AMR Services Company
Airport ground-services settlement approved
AMR Services provided aircraft ground support at Atlanta's airport, where a wingwalker wearing dark clothing was struck and killed by an AMR fuel truck during nighttime operations. OSHA cited AMR for not providing reflective clothing. The judge vacated the citation, finding that the FAA's exercise…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Forklift-training item vacated for insufficient proof
Trinity used five forklifts at its San Antonio steel-fabrication plant, operated by employees with 15 to 30 years of experience. OSHA alleged that Trinity had not devised adequate methods to train those operators. The record showed that management monitored operator proficiency and that a…
Consolidated Rail Corporation
Interlocutory review granted on FRA preemption
OSHA cited Conrail after inspecting employees performing maintenance and repair work on a railroad bridge in Ohio. Conrail moved to dismiss, arguing that the Federal Railroad Administration had exercised authority over railroad-bridge safety and therefore preempted OSHA. The judge denied that…
Vergona Crane Co., Inc.
Crane lessor liable for broken boom stop
Vergona Crane supplied a crane, operator, and oiler to a construction contractor under a bare-rental arrangement. The Commission treated Vergona and its closely related affiliate as a single entity and found that Vergona remained the workers' employer because it controlled how the crane was…
John Quinlan, t/a Quinlan Enterprises
Permanent-floor guardrail violation affirmed
Quinlan was the steel-erection subcontractor on a two-story building where employees worked near the edge of a permanent concrete second floor about 20 feet above the ground. A single wire rope ran around the perimeter at about 42 inches, but there was no midrail. Quinlan argued that the…
Metric Constructors, Inc.
Hoist item reclassified and rebar item withdrawn
Metric Constructors used a material hoist while building a six-floor hospital addition in Clearwater, Florida. The judge affirmed items involving long material protruding from the hoist, an unprotected ground-level hoist entrance, unenclosed unused sides of the hoist tower, and exposed reinforcing…
Georgetown Ironworks, Inc.
Citation against wrong employer withdrawn
A judge dismissed Georgetown Ironworks' notice of contest after the company failed to answer a show-cause order, which had the effect of affirming the citation and proposed penalties. The Secretary later received information showing that Georgetown Ironworks had no employees and no role at the…
Economy Sod, Inc.
Overlooked response restores notice of contest
A judge dismissed Economy Sod's notice of contest after concluding that the company had not answered an order to show cause. Economy Sod petitioned for review and maintained that it had responded on time. The Commission's record confirmed that a timely response had been received but overlooked…
Well Solutions, Inc.
Open-fields evidence reinstates rig-safety violations
An OSHA inspector first visited Well Solutions' oil-well rig without a warrant and observed unguarded platforms and employees without hard hats from an accessible road and field. The judge suppressed those observations and vacated the citations. The Commission held that the open-fields doctrine…
Alaska Trawl Fisheries, Inc.
OSHA jurisdiction over factory vessels affirmed
Alaska Trawl Fisheries and Golden Age Fisheries operated vessels that caught and processed fish near Dutch Harbor, Alaska. OSHA cited machine guarding, passageway, recordkeeping, welding-gas storage, and hazard-communication conditions aboard the vessels. The companies stipulated to the violations…
Baytown Construction Company, Inc.
Crane power-line clearance violation affirmed
Baytown employees used a truck crane to unload pipe near a 7,620-volt overhead power line. The crane cable and suspended pipe became energized, and an employee handling the pipe was electrocuted. Testimony about loud electrical discharges, burn damage to the cable, the crane's contact with the line…
Ed Taylor Construction Co.
Confined-space inspection-program violation affirmed
Taylor Construction employees entered a 24-foot-deep access shaft to close a valve for an artificial lake at an Atlanta office project. Three supervisory employees died after being overcome by an oxygen-deficient atmosphere during the initial entry and rescue attempts. Two related citation items…
A. E. Staley Mfg. Co.
Settlement affirmed over union participation objection
The Secretary and A. E. Staley Manufacturing reached a settlement that an administrative law judge approved. The authorized employee representative, Allied Industrial Workers Local 837, sought review and argued that it had been denied meaningful participation. The record showed that the union…
Loomis Cabinet Company
Cabinet workers held to be employees
Loomis Cabinet Company manufactured wooden cabinets and was cited after a follow-up inspection for repeat, other-than-serious, and failure-to-abate violations. Loomis stipulated to the violations but argued that its former employees had become partners in Eastview Cabinet Company, leaving Loomis…
Stone Portable Toilets
Dismissal conditionally affirmed pending proof of answer
An administrative law judge dismissed Stone Portable Toilets' notice of contest because the company had not filed an answer to the complaint or responded to an order to show cause. Owner Gary Stone told the Commission that he had filed the required answer, although the Commission's file contained…
Broshear Contractors, Inc.
Trench expert evidence admitted on remand
Broshear Contractors was cited for failing to adequately slope or support a trench under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652. At the hearing, the administrative law judge excluded parts of a geotechnical expert's testimony about a later re-excavation of the trench and excluded the expert's written report. The…
Concrete Construction Company
Training affirmed and backfill violation reduced
Concrete Construction Company was cited after OSHA inspected two excavations beside a public road during a water-line project. The Commission rejected the company's inspection objections because the work was visible from a public area, the foreman consented to the inspection, and the company…
Sal Masonry Contractors, Inc.
Ladder item vacated and guardrail violation made willful
Sal Masonry Contractors was cited for ladder and scaffold violations during masonry work on an academic building at Cornell University. The Commission vacated the scaffold-access item because the testimony conflicted over whether a ladder was present and whether supervisors knew employees were…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Noise and press items affirmed with other items vacated
Trinity Industries manufactured liquid propane gas cylinders at a Jacksonville, Florida facility and contested consolidated health and safety citations. The Commission declined to dismiss the cases over the Secretary's refusal to comply with discovery orders because Trinity had litigated the…
Industrial Glass
Heat-stress general-duty citation vacated
Industrial Glass manufactured bottles in a forming department where employees worked near molten glass and hot bottles. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause for exposing employees to excessive heat stress. The Commission found that the Secretary's expert models did not accurately…
Erie Coke Corporation
Employer had to pay for gloves but violation was de minimis
Erie Coke made flame-resistant gloves available to coke-oven employees but required them to buy the gloves from the company at cost. The Commission deferred to the Secretary's reasonable interpretation that the coke-oven emissions standard required the employer to provide and pay for the gloves. It…
Imageries
Default order upheld after repeated failures to respond
OSHA cited Imageries after an employee on a two-point suspension scaffold was not wearing a safety belt attached to a lifeline and after finding that the company lacked a written hazard communication program. The employee fell to his death, and the company president stated that the employee was his…
LaRosa & Lamar Janitorial Services
Default dismissal set aside over defective service
An OSHRC judge dismissed LaRosa & Lamar Janitorial Services' notice of contest after the company did not answer the Secretary's complaint or respond to a show-cause order. The Commission set the dismissal aside because the judge sent the show-cause order by certified mail without requesting a…
Holman Steel Company
Default order set aside for settlement review
An OSHRC judge dismissed Holman Steel Company's notice of contest, affirmed a citation, and assessed a $1,500 penalty after the company did not respond to an order. The Secretary asked the Commission to review the default because the parties had executed a settlement agreement. Her petition stated…
Quinn Machine & Tool, Inc.
Settlement approved after citations were vacated
An OSHRC judge vacated citations against Quinn Machine & Tool after the Secretary did not timely file either a complaint or a fully executed settlement agreement. The Secretary sought review, and the parties submitted the completed agreement they said had already been negotiated. The agreement…
Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc.
Asbestos monitoring case settled for $1,600
Consolidated Edison employees removed asbestos-containing gasket material at the company's Indian Point station without initial exposure monitoring. An OSHRC judge found a repeated violation of the asbestos monitoring standard and assessed $1,000. The judge also affirmed without a penalty an…
Cornet Frosted Foods & Ice Cream Corporation
Settlement remanded to add omitted item
Cornet Frosted Foods & Ice Cream Corporation and the Secretary settled citations issued in October 1991. Their written agreement reduced the listed penalties from $7,000 to $3,000, required payment of that amount, and recorded the company's representation that the cited conditions had been abated…
Tampa Shipyards, Inc.
Willful crane overload affirmed after fatal collapse
Tampa Shipyards used a tower crane to lift and swing a ship-deck section that workers believed weighed 33 tons while the boom was set for a 21-ton capacity. The crane collapsed during the lift and killed two employees. The Commission affirmed a willful general duty clause violation because…
Hackney, Inc.
Noise program items vacated but records violation affirmed
Hackney operated a pipe manufacturing plant where OSHA alleged willful violations of several occupational noise requirements. The Commission vacated the audiometric-testing and hearing-protector supervision items because OSHA did not reliably prove employee exposure at or above the required…
Price Chopper Supermarkets, A Golub Corporation Company
Injury log required at each store
Price Chopper kept separate OSHA injury and illness logs for its 76 supermarkets at a central office. Employees could request a store's log by telephone and receive it at home by mail or at the store by truck delivery within about 48 hours. The Commission held that this procedure did not satisfy…
Right-Gard Corporation
Pro se employer given hearing on default relief
An OSHRC judge dismissed Right-Gard Corporation's notice of contest and assessed $13,470 after the company did not answer the Secretary's complaint or retrieve and respond to a certified show-cause order. The Commission found that the required notice procedures had been followed and that postal…
Trinity Industries Inc.
Machine and electrical case settled for $800
OSHA inspected two Trinity Industries railcar fabrication plants in Dallas and cited numerous machine guarding, crane, electrical, tool, fire extinguisher, sling, and hazard communication conditions. An OSHRC judge affirmed several serious and other-than-serious items and vacated others. During…
American Cyanamid Company
Label ruling narrowed but safety-data-sheet item affirmed
American Cyanamid manufactured resins and molding compounds for shipment to plastics-industry customers. OSHA alleged that several container labels lacked appropriate target-organ warnings and that material safety data sheets omitted short-term exposure limits. The Commission rejected OSHA's…
Tire Reclamation Services, Inc.
Parties allowed to revisit settlement after fire
Tire Reclamation Services agreed to settle OSHA citations for a total penalty of $450. After an OSHRC judge approved the agreement, the company's vice president reported that a fire had closed the business and left it without funds to pay. The Commission held that this changed circumstance did not…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Electrical penalty cut but four serious violations upheld
Trinity Industries manufactured chemical-processing tanks at its Sharonville, Ohio plant. The Commission upheld serious violations for failing to protect an employee walking on top of a tank from a nine-foot fall, leaving a compressed-gas cylinder without a valve cap, and allowing welding arcs to…
American Sterilizer Co.
Employees may designate monitoring observers
American Sterilizer monitored employees for noise and lead exposure at its Erie, Pennsylvania plant. It allowed monitored and other affected employees to observe the work and ask questions, but its policy barred union representatives acting in their official capacity from observing despite a…
All Phase Electric & Maintenance, Inc.
Construction citations settled for $865
All Phase Electric & Maintenance performed electrical work at a building construction site where OSHA cited hazard communication, gasoline-container, electrical guarding, and stair-railing conditions. The company president admitted the hazard communication deficiencies and stated that he had been…
Bay State Refining Company
Lead and copper citations affirmed
Bay State manufactured brass and bronze ingots from scrap metal at its Chicopee, Massachusetts foundry. OSHA found employees overexposed to copper dust and lead and cited deficiencies in engineering controls, respirator selection and fit testing, contaminated-clothing practices, medical…
F.M.C. Gold Company, Inc.
OSHA citations withdrawn because MSHA had jurisdiction
F.M.C. Gold used an independent drilling contractor to extract core samples at a remote gold exploration site in Idaho. A contractor's fuel truck rolled downhill and pinned an F.M.C. employee against the drill rig, causing fatal injuries. OSHA cited F.M.C. for failing to chock or turn vehicle…
Wyman-Gordon Company
Access ordered to medical and workplace health records
The widows of two former Wyman-Gordon aircraft-parts employees authorized a law firm to request exposure records, medical records, and workplace health analyses concerning their late husbands. The Commission held that legal representatives of deceased employees could exercise record-access rights…
ARA Living Centers of Texas, Inc.
Chemical training required beyond labels and safety data sheets
ARA Living Centers operated Oak Manor Nursing Home, where employees used cleaning products containing phosphoric acid and ethyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride. The nursing home had product labels and material safety data sheets, but the OSHA inspector testified without contradiction that…
Jefferson Smurfit Corporation
Feeder-belt item vacated for lack of employee exposure
Jefferson Smurfit manufactured cardboard boxes using a straight-line gluer with exposed nip points on a product-feeding belt and on separate power-transmission belts. The Commission vacated the item concerning the feeder belt because OSHA did not prove that employees were exposed to a…
Carabetta Enterprises, Inc.
Willful steel-erection fall violation affirmed
Three Carabetta employees erected structural steel about 28 to 30 feet above the nearest floor without a temporary floor, safety net, or other fall protection. Carabetta argued that its three-story construction modules made an intermediate floor impracticable and that the standard unfairly treated…
Mosser Construction Company
Crane gear violation affirmed after storage-area exposure
A Mosser crane operator regularly entered a confined crane compartment containing moving gears, fuel gauges, tools, oils, and other stored materials. After completing lubrication work and restarting the gears, a rag and then his hand became entangled, severing his hand. The Commission held that 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.