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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Consolidated Rail Corporation
Record-access citation vacated under then-controlling precedent
Conrail refused to give an OSHA compliance officer access to injury and illness records, relying on Commission precedent that treated railroad recordkeeping as exempt because of Federal Railroad Administration rules. The Commission had since overruled that precedent and held that railroad employers…
Power Plant Division, Brown & Root, Inc.
Fatal duct fall citation affirmed
A Brown & Root welder fell 43 feet to his death from an elevated surface inside a large air duct while inspecting a defective weld. The surface had been used for assembly work and remained available for inspection and cleanup, but its open side had only a low single wire rope rather than a standard…
Cincinnati Gas and Electric Co.
Judge's decision affirmed by agreement
Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company and the Secretary jointly asked the Commission to decline review. The Commission granted the motion and affirmed the administrative law judge's decision. It gave that decision the precedential value of an unreviewed judge's decision. Because it declined review…
Chesapeake Operating Company
Deck-cargo item vacated and hardhat item affirmed
Chesapeake, a Baltimore stevedoring company, had employees clearing snow and ice from modular-home sections stowed on a ship's deck without fall protection. A majority agreed that the cited fall-protection standard applied to deck cargo, but the item was still vacated because one Commissioner found…
Little Beaver Creek Ranches, Inc.
General duty citation affirmed for power-line hazard
Little Beaver Creek Ranches used a crew of high-school-aged summer employees to move irrigation pipe near an energized 7,200-volt power line. One employee died and three were injured when workers raised a pipe to remove an animal and the pipe contacted the line. The Commission found that the ranch…
United States Steel Corporation
Molten-metal lance-change citation vacated
U.S. Steel required millwrights to replace failed oxygen lances above open-hearth furnaces containing molten metal. OSHA alleged that a lance change could trap water beneath molten metal and cause an explosion. The Commission held that the judge improperly decided the case on broader eruption…
Metro Electric, Inc.
Serious guardrail violation affirmed
Metro Electric was cited for a serious violation of the guardrail standard at 29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(d)(2). The administrative law judge affirmed the citation and assessed a $50 penalty. After reviewing the record and the parties' arguments, the Commission agreed with the judge's reasoning and…
Prestressed Systems, Inc.
Safety-belt citation remanded under revised precedent
Prestressed Systems contested a personal protective equipment citation involving the use of safety belts under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a). The administrative law judge vacated the citation because the Secretary had not shown that safety belts were feasible, relying on then-current Commission precedent…
Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation
Crane-boarding citation vacated
A motor inspector at Jones & Laughlin's Aliquippa steel mill died after attempting to board a moving overhead crane without first notifying the operator. The Secretary alleged that the company failed to instruct workers about safe boarding and failed to enforce an effective crane-boarding safety…
General Electric Company
Press-guarding violation affirmed as serious
General Electric used a powder compacting press whose point-of-operation guard had to be removed for inspection and maintenance. With a selector key broken in the run position, an operator used the guard microswitch to jog the press, accidentally activated the rams, and suffered crushed fingers…
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Welding-ventilation violation reduced to nonserious
Bethlehem Steel welders at its Sparrows Point shipyard worked in a small ship bulkhead where ventilation did not prevent a visible welding haze. OSHA sampling showed one welder was exposed to fluorides at more than twice the referenced safe level, and the negative-pressure respirator provided did…
Consolidated Rail Corporation
Repair-pit and recordkeeping items vacated
OSHA cited Conrail after inspecting a diesel shop in Buffalo, New York, alleging unguarded locomotive repair pits and failure to maintain an occupational injury and illness log. The Commission vacated the pit-guarding item because its then-current precedent treated a Federal Railroad Administration…
Marson Corporation
Mixer-guarding violation affirmed
Marson manufactured autobody filler in a mixer whose rotating blades were covered by a removable steel grate. Workers sometimes removed the grate while adding fiberglass, and a new employee suffered an arm amputation while feeding material into the running mixer. The Commission found that the…
Special Coating Systems of New Mexico, Inc.
Late contest remanded for possible relief
An administrative law judge found that Special Coating Systems received the citation properly and mailed its notice of contest after the statutory deadline. The employer challenged service and also asked the Commission to excuse the late filing under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). Because…
Ackermann Enterprises, Inc.
Plain-view evidence admitted and case remanded
An OSHA compliance officer waiting with permission in Ackermann's construction-site parking lot saw three employees riding in a tractor's front bucket and photographed them from about 300 to 350 feet away. A judge excluded that evidence and vacated the general duty clause citation because the…
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Platform citation remanded for de minimis findings
An administrative law judge had vacated a citation alleging that Anheuser-Busch violated the platform-guarding standard at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.23(c)(1). The Eighth Circuit reversed, holding that the cited surfaces were platforms under the regulatory definition and ordering that the citation be…
Weisblatt Electric Company, Inc.
Multi-employer fall-hazard citations vacated
Weisblatt, an elevator subcontractor, sent two employees to a renovation site to determine whether conditions had improved enough for work to resume. They encountered unguarded openings, floors, ramps, stairs, and unfilled pan-type stair treads that Weisblatt neither created nor controlled. The…
Duggan & Marcon, Inc.
Dismissal vacated for possible settlement
An administrative law judge dismissed Duggan & Marcon's notice of contest. After that order, the Secretary provided correspondence showing that the parties were discussing a possible settlement, although no proposed settlement was submitted to the Commission. The Commission directed review, vacated…
Missouri Farmers Association, d/b/a Odessa MFA Exchange
One item vacated and one remanded
The Eighth Circuit returned this case to the Commission for entry of a modified order consistent with the court's opinion. The Commission vacated citation item two. It remanded citation item one to the chief administrative law judge for further proceedings and entry of the modified order. The short…
Furnco Construction Company
Settlement approved and one item withdrawn
The Commission approved a settlement agreement between Furnco Construction Company and the Secretary. It also granted the Secretary's motion to withdraw citation item 4. At the parties' joint request, the Commission severed Furnco's case from J.L. Manta, Inc., OSHRC docket 78-4923. The short order…
Arkansas Rice Growers Cooperative Association
Roof-hatch citation vacated
An Arkansas Rice Growers employee died after an unsecured section of a hatchway cover gave way on the sixth-level roof of a by-products plant. OSHA cited the cooperative under two alternative general-industry standards for guarding floor openings. The Commission held that those standards did not…
Wheaton Injection Molding Company
Penalty decision vacated for lack of agreement
Wheaton and the Secretary filed a joint stipulation addressing serious violations and proposed penalties, but the company president attached a letter disputing whether the penalties were proper and stating that he did not expect to pay a fine. The judge treated the violations as resolved and…
Samsonite Corporation
Discovery dismissal reversed and citations remanded
OSHA cited Samsonite for alleged excessive noise, inadequate hearing protection and conservation measures, insufficient skin protection from epoxy, and ergonomic stress from repetitive work. The judge treated the Secretary's late responses to requests for admission as binding, dismissed the case…
Berglund-Cherne General Contractors
Rebar impalement citation vacated
Berglund-Cherne employees laid masonry blocks near reinforcing steel that protruded 18 to 24 inches from the same floor level. OSHA cited the company under a standard barring employees from working above unprotected vertical rebar because of impalement hazards. The Secretary argued that workers…
Consolidated Rail Corporation
Guarding items vacated and first-aid item affirmed
OSHA cited Conrail's Ohio diesel repair shop for an unguarded drop-table opening, incomplete safety chains on locomotive work ramps, and lack of trained first-aid personnel when no hospital was nearby. The Commission held that a Federal Railroad Administration policy statement exercised authority…
The Shenango Company
Asbestos-monitoring violation affirmed as nonserious
Shenango removed furnace linings made largely of asbestos with jackhammers and pneumatic tools, creating visible dust clouds, but did not monitor employee exposure. The judge found that asbestos material entered the air but vacated the citation because the Secretary had not specifically proved…
Consolidated Rail Corporation
Guarding items vacated and safety-shoe items affirmed
OSHA cited Conrail's locomotive repair shops in Enola and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for unguarded repair pits and work platforms and for not requiring steel-toed safety shoes. The Commission vacated the guarding items because a Federal Railroad Administration policy statement displaced OSHA…
Globe Industries, Inc.
Conveyor guardrail citation vacated
Globe employees climbed onto two elevated conveyor belts about once a week to clean guide rollers while production was shut down and locked out. OSHA cited the company for failing to install guardrails along the open sides, treating the conveyor tops as platforms under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.23(c)(1)…
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Fall-protection and crane citations vacated
A Bethlehem Steel rigger worked near the unguarded edge of a furnace top without tying off, and OSHA cited the general personal protective equipment standard. Commissioner Cleary concluded that the standard covered safety belts but vacated the item because prior administrative decisions had failed…
Ronsco Construction Co., Inc.
Falling-object citation vacated
Ronsco built plank-covered structures over two entrances to protect workers from falling objects at a New York City construction project. The structures did not cover each entrance's full width, and other contractors' employees sometimes walked around them, but OSHA did not observe Ronsco's two…
Daniel International, Inc.
Falling-material general duty citation vacated
At a nuclear power plant project, ironworkers released a crane line before bolting a 4.5-ton girder, causing it to fall 120 feet and injure two employees below. OSHA did not cite the specific steel-erection bolting standard because Daniel had adequately instructed the ironworkers, but instead…
Ultimate Distribution Systems, Inc.
Trailer wheel-blocking violation affirmed
An Ultimate Distribution employee suffered a broken back when a trailer moved away from a loading dock and his forklift fell into the gap. No witness directly testified that wheel chocks were absent, and the judge vacated the citation as unsupported by the circumstantial evidence. The Commission…
D. F. Goldsmith Chemical & Metal Corp.
Settlement dismissal conditionally affirmed
The Secretary agreed to withdraw the charges against D. F. Goldsmith with prejudice, and the company agreed to abatement measures addressing mercury exposure. The judge dismissed the case under that settlement. Because the record lacked certification that affected employees had received notice, the…
Duriron Company, Inc.
Foundry safety settlement approved
OSHA cited Duriron's Ohio foundry for a serious personal protective equipment violation and a repeated general duty clause violation. The parties settled all disputed issues before a hearing, properly notified affected employees, and received no employee objections. The Commission majority approved…
Borton, Inc.
Scaffold access-ladder violation affirmed
A Borton employee entered a grain silo without using the available ladder, landed on an interior scaffold about 123 feet above the floor, broke through a plank, and died in the fall. The Commission held that the scaffold access standard requires an employer not only to supply a ladder or equivalent…
BJ-Hughes, Inc.
Offshore fall-protection case remanded under general-industry law
BJ-Hughes provided cementing services on an offshore oil drilling rig where an employee worked unsecured on a narrow ledge about 50 feet above the rig floor. Pressure expelled a cementing plug, which struck the employee and caused a fatal fall. OSHA cited the construction personal protective…
Huber, Hunt & Nichols, Inc.
Settlement agreement approved
The Commission approved the parties' stipulation and settlement agreement in the Huber, Hunt & Nichols case. The short order provides no facts about the employer's work, the alleged violations, or the settlement terms. It also does not identify any cited standards or penalties.
Pinkston-Hollar, Inc.
Secretary allowed to withdraw citations
After confirming that it had jurisdiction over the Pinkston-Hollar case, the Commission granted the Secretary's motion to withdraw the citations. The short order does not identify the underlying allegations, cited standards, or proposed penalties. It gives no additional reason for the withdrawal.
Pittsburgh Forgings Company
Discovery sanction vacating citation items affirmed
During discovery, the Secretary repeatedly filed late responses and did not fully explain why requested inspection materials were missing or unavailable. The judge found that this disrupted Pittsburgh Forgings' preparation and vacated only citation items whose underlying conditions had already been…
Wenczel Tile Company; R. T. Vanderbilt Company
Asbestos citations vacated for lack of knowledge
Wenczel used NYTAL 99 industrial talc supplied by R. T. Vanderbilt, and OSHA alleged that the product contained asbestos fibers requiring caution labels, exposure monitoring, and employee medical examinations. The Commission agreed with the judge that NYTAL 99 contained asbestos fibers. It…
The Stacey Manufacturing Company
Shear item vacated and punch item affirmed
OSHA cited Stacey for inadequate guarding on a large steel shear and a hole-punch machine. The Commission vacated the shear item because horizontal pipes and bars greatly restricted access to the blade and hold-downs, employees had no operational reason to place their hands there, and the Secretary…
Hermitage Concrete Pipe Co.
Silica overexposure treated as serious
Hermitage Concrete Pipe employees were exposed to respirable silica dust concentrations as high as seven times the permissible limit while handling sand and cement and finishing conduit. After a federal court rejected the Commission's earlier seriousness test and remanded the case, the Commission…
Kansas City Power & Light Company
Coal-pulverizer hazard recognized and case remanded
Fifteen employees were injured when a coal pulverizer exploded at Kansas City Power & Light's generating plant. OSHA alleged that control circuitry could abruptly stop a hot, loaded pulverizer without purging coal dust and volatile gases, increasing the explosion risk. The judge found no recognized…
Cornell & Company, Inc.
Suspended-load general duty citation vacated
Cornell employees installing a lower beam worked beneath an upper beam suspended from the same crane hook. OSHA cited the general duty clause for exposing them to a suspended-load hazard. The Commission found that the crane was a truck crane and that 29 C.F.R. § 1926.550(b)(2) incorporated an ANSI…
Cargill, Inc., Nutrena Feed Division
One grain-dust item vacated and one remanded
OSHA brought two general duty clause allegations at Cargill's grain elevator and feed mill. One concerned secondary grain-dust fires and explosions in enclosed conveyor legs without explosion-relief venting. The Commission found that hazard recognized but affirmed vacation because Cargill proved…
Snyder Well Servicing, Inc.
Respirator item affirmed and other well-site items vacated
Snyder used a mobile service rig to swab a newly drilled Texas oil well, removing material from the well bore. The Commission held that swabbing had not been shown to be construction work, so construction standards did not apply. It nevertheless affirmed a serious general-industry respiratory…
Delta Field Erection, Inc.
Temporary-lighting citation vacated for lack of knowledge
Delta Field employees repaired trays inside a Tenneco ethyl-benzene storage tower using portable lights installed and controlled by Tenneco. A Tenneco employee mistakenly opened a natural gas line, an explosion followed, and 13 workers died, although the record did not establish that the lighting…
John T. Brady & Co., Inc.
Entrance-canopy general duty citation vacated
OSHA alleged that John T. Brady should have installed canopies over entrances to protect workers from objects falling from crane loads and upper building levels. The Commission held that the general duty clause was unavailable because specific construction provisions addressed crane loads…
P & Z Company, Inc.
Commission withdraws review of fact-bound citation dispute
OSHA alleged that P & Z Company violated requirements for covered garbage containers, clearing scrap lumber, and lighting work areas, with two allegations classified as willful. The case returned to the Commission after an earlier remand required the judge to make specific factual findings and…
United Cotton Goods, Inc.
Fabric-knife guarding amendment allowed
United Cotton Goods employees used electric knives to cut stacks of fabric. OSHA originally alleged that employees should wear metal-mesh gloves under the personal protective equipment standard, then moved 13 days before the hearing to add an alternative point-of-operation guarding charge. The…
Better Baked Foods, Inc.
Notice-of-contest dismissal set aside
A chief administrative law judge dismissed Better Baked Foods' notice of contest after the company failed to prove it had posted the notice and did not respond to a show-cause order. The company's general manager later said a mail clerk had signed for the order but management never saw it, and he…
S. Zara & Sons Contracting Co.
Fatal excavation violation found willful
A Zara employee was killed when an inadequately protected, approximately seventeen-foot-deep manhole excavation collapsed and a broken water main flooded it. Zara had extensive sewer-construction experience, trained supervisors, several prior trenching citations, and repeated warnings, yet its rule…
American Can Company
Noise standard upheld and cases remanded
OSHA alleged that American Can exposed employees to excessive noise without feasible engineering or administrative controls and, in one case, without an effective hearing conservation program. American Can argued that the federal noise standard was invalid because OSHA did not adopt scope and…
Edward Kelly & Sons, Inc.
Layered-soil trench citation vacated
Edward Kelly & Sons sloped the upper seven feet of soft soil in a twelve-foot trench but left the bottom five feet of hard, compact clay vertical. The Commission read the soft-soil trenching rule together with the rule for hard or compact soil. Because the trench wall had distinct layers and the…
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc.
Spray-room item remanded and eyewash item vacated
OSHA cited DuPont for conducting pump spray-painting without a spray booth or spray room and for allegedly lacking suitable emergency eye-flushing facilities where corrosive liquids were handled. The Commission ruled that the spray-painting item required more evidence on whether the pump shop…
Allis-Chalmers Corporation
Spray-booth ignition-source item vacated
Allis-Chalmers used a gasoline-powered forklift to move engines and generators into and out of a spray booth. OSHA alleged that the forklift was prohibited spark-producing equipment in or near a spraying area. The Commission found that OSHA had not proved dangerous quantities of flammable vapors or…
TRG Drilling Corporation (Mid-Continent Division)
Citation vacated for untimely complaint
The Secretary filed his complaint thirty-nine days late, did not seek an extension, did not explain the delay, and did not respond to TRG Drilling's motion to dismiss. The judge treated this unexplained procedural noncompliance as grounds to vacate the citation and dismiss the complaint. The…
Mahone Grain Corporation
Respirator-program violation reclassified as serious
Employees cleaning a long-unused grain elevator worked in thick dust with too few respirators, shared and improperly maintained equipment, and no respiratory protection program. Five employees later became ill, several requiring hospitalization, and the Commission concluded they had contracted…
Daniel Construction Co., Boise Cascade Project
Scaffold-access item affirmed; electrical items split
The Commission reviewed five items from a paper-mill construction project. It vacated an exposed-wire item because the Secretary did not prove Daniel knew or should have known the wire was energized, affirmed vacation of a hoist-inspection item and an electrical-booth access item, and found a…
BASF Wyandotte Corporation
Pentane-backflow general duty citation vacated
Pentane twice backed into nitrogen piping at BASF's chemical plant after a manual valve was left open. OSHA cited BASF under the general duty clause for lacking posted operating and emergency instructions and check valves or another backflow safeguard. Although BASF recognized pentane's fire and…
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.