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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Ladish Company
Fatal wheelabrator guarding violation affirmed
A wheelabrator helper was fatally crushed between a descending loader arm and a conveyor while working from a platform behind the loader. Employees regularly used that platform to free stuck forgings, could not hear the loader in the noisy area, and were outside the operator's view. The Commission…
Lone Star Steel Company
Toxic-exposure citations remain vacated without review
The judge vacated citations alleging excessive coal tar pitch volatile exposure and storage or consumption of food in areas exposed to toxic materials. Neither party sought Commission review, so the majority affirmed the judge's decision without reviewing it and gave it only the precedential value…
Witco Chemical Corp.
Citation 2 remanded for further proceedings
The parties settled citation 1, and the judge approved that agreement; it became a final Commission order and was not before the Commission on review. Because the settlement did not address citation 2, the Commission remanded the case to the administrative law judge for further proceedings on that…
E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Company
Settlement and withdrawal approved
The Commission approved the parties' stipulation of settlement and notice of withdrawal. The brief order does not identify the underlying citations, standards, penalties, or specific settlement terms.
General Dynamics Corporation, Electric Boat Division
PPE-use issue remanded for hearing
The judge vacated a personal protective equipment item after concluding that the standard's use requirement was invalid and imposed no duty to provide equipment. Intervening Commission precedent rejected the invalidity theory, so the Commission reversed. Because the Secretary abandoned the…
P & A Construction Company, Inc.
Late contest reinstated for excusable neglect
P & A's attorney dictated a timely notice of contest, but a temporary secretary inadvertently merged the dictation into another matter and incorrectly said it had been mailed. Counsel promptly filed after discovering the mistake. Applying Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), the Commission found…
Vicon Corporation
Fatal rebar fall citation amended and affirmed
Vicon employees tied reinforcing steel from a narrow plank roughly forty-five to fifty feet above a concrete floor without tied-off safety belts; one employee fell to his death. The Commission held that the reinforcing-steel standard was more specifically applicable than the general…
Air-Kare Corporation
Aircraft spray-room violations affirmed
Air-Kare spray-painted aircraft in a curtained section of a hangar near non-explosion-proof electrical equipment and beneath a ceiling with exposed wood framing. The Commission credited the compliance officer's observations and opinion that dangerous quantities of flammable vapors were present near…
General Electric Company
Turbine-shell guardrail items vacated
Employees sat on narrow joints of cast turbine-shell halves more than seven feet above the floor while drilling and grinding. OSHA cited General Electric for failing to install platform guardrails. The Commission held that an eighteen-to-twenty-four-inch ledge on a manufactured turbine shell was…
Kus-Tum Builders, Inc.
Fatal truss-bracing violation found willful
Kus-Tum erected about forty-five large wooden roof trusses without adequate diagonal bracing. The general contractor and several workers warned company leadership that the trusses were unstable, but workers were told to resume work or go home and additional bracing was deferred. The trusses…
Lukens Steel Company
Willful molten-steel PPE violation affirmed
Several tons of molten steel erupted from an ingot, seriously burning four pouring-platform employees and killing two. Lukens required and enforced incomplete protective-equipment practices: employees working near molten steel lacked face shields, leggings, and adequate gloves, sometimes wore…
National Industrial Constructors, Inc.
Power-plant construction violations resolved
The Commission reviewed numerous fall-protection, trenching, machine, electrical, scaffold, ladder, fire-extinguisher, and equipment-alarm items from construction of a Nebraska power plant. It rejected dismissal for delayed citation issuance because the employer did not prove prejudice. It held…
Pittsburgh Forging Company
Dockets severed and one judge decision affirmed
The Commission severed dockets 78-1361 and 78-2041. It affirmed the administrative law judge's decision in docket 78-2041 and gave that ruling the precedential value of an unreviewed judge's decision. Docket 78-1361 remained under Commission review. The short order does not identify the underlying…
Mel Jarvis Construction Co.
Scaffold lifeline violation held non-willful
Two employees died when their suspended scaffold and its rooftop supports fell 105 feet. Their safety belts were tied to the scaffold's hoisting mechanism, so they fell with the entire system. The Commission held that lifelines had to be independent of every part of the scaffold and supporting…
St. Joe Minerals Corporation, d/b/a St. Joe Lead Company - Smelting Division
Elevator violation penalty set after court remand
A judge had found a willful general duty clause violation because St. Joe bypassed electrical safety devices on a freight elevator and assessed $10,000. The Eighth Circuit reduced the classification to serious and remanded only for a new penalty. Based on the lengthy bypass, high probability of…
Howard Barthelmass Painting Co., Inc.
Power-line electrocution citation vacated
A painter was fatally electrocuted when his aluminum paint-roller extension contacted a 7,200-volt line near a roof parapet. OSHA cited the employer for failing to identify and warn about the circuit before work began. The cited construction electrical rule, however, applied only to electrical…
Branciforte Builders, Inc.
Late contest remanded for Rule 60(b) evidence
Branciforte Builders missed the fifteen-working-day deadline to contest citations carrying $17,085 in proposed penalties. The Commission agreed that no timely contest had been filed and that OSHA had not caused the delay. It nevertheless overruled precedent that treated the finality provision as an…
J. I. Hass Company, Inc.
Late-contest facts remanded after court ruling
The Third Circuit reversed the Commission's prior late-contest ruling and required further findings. On remand, the Commission sent the case back to the administrative law judge to determine the facts surrounding delivery and receipt of the citations and penalty notices and to decide whether J. I…
Eddy's Bakeries Company
Indoor fueling explosion hazard affirmed
Eddy's Bakeries refueled delivery trucks inside a warehouse near open-flame wall heaters. After unattended fueling spilled several gallons of gasoline, vapors ignited and an explosion destroyed the facility. The Commission held that ignition of gasoline vapors near an open flame was a recognized…
United Geophysical Corporation
Drowning PPE citation affirmed
A head linesman drowned while attempting to swim a seventy-yard gravel pit pulling seismic cable without a life jacket. The Commission found that geophysical exploration had not been shown to be construction work, so the construction water-safety standard did not apply. It nevertheless held that…
Union Railroad Company
Locomotive repair-pit violation affirmed
Employees worked beside and crossed two locomotive repair pits that were partly or completely open for substantial periods without covers or guardrails. The Commission rejected suppression of pre-Barlow's inspection evidence and held that a Federal Railroad Administration policy statement did not…
Merritt Electric Company, Inc.
Late contest accepted and fall citation affirmed
Merritt promptly called OSHA to protest a citation, but the area director did not clearly explain that an informal conference would not substitute for a written contest. The Commission treated the later written contest as valid because the company's confusion was reasonably attributable to OSHA's…
S.J. Groves & Sons Company
On remand from the Second Circuit, the Commission vacates the citation
S.J. Groves & Sons Company had contested an OSHA citation that the Commission earlier decided against it. The company appealed, and in May 1981 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the Commission and sent the case back with instructions to enter an order vacating the citation…
S. J. Groves & Sons Company
Citation vacated after court remand
The Second Circuit reversed the Commission's earlier decision and remanded with instructions to vacate the citation. Treating the appellate ruling as the law of the case, the Commission entered the required order. The brief order does not identify the underlying standard, penalty, or merits…
RSR Corporation
Ambiguous citation disposition remanded
A judge's order had become final without Commission review but was ambiguous about the disposition of four citation items. The Commission found sufficient reason under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6) to grant relief from the final order and remanded for any necessary proceedings and a…
Auto Sun Products Co.
Plating protections affirmed and press items vacated
Auto Sun employees handled parts over acid and cyanide tanks without chemical goggles or face shields, and the closely spaced tanks lacked dikes or another means to prevent dangerous intermixing after a rupture. The Commission affirmed both plating-operation violations without penalties. It vacated…
Avalotis Painting Company
Unguarded scaffold citation affirmed
Employees sandblasted from the unguarded top level of a scaffold inside a reheating duct. The Commission held that Avalotis affected interstate commerce because it used out-of-state products, and that employees had access to a 17-foot fall hazard at the scaffold's open end, especially while using…
O'Boyle Tank Lines, Inc.
Construction-site truck violations affirmed
O'Boyle delivered and unloaded cement at construction sites using tractor-trailers with an unguarded cycloblower pulley and, in one instance, backed a vehicle with an obstructed rear view without an alarm or signaler. The Commission held that delivery and unloading were integral to construction and…
American Cyanamid Company
Settlement approval affirmed after court remand
A judge approved a settlement representing that the cited conditions had been abated. The Commission initially remanded so the judge could consider the union's objection that abatement had not occurred, but the Third Circuit reversed that remand as inconsistent with circuit precedent. Bound by the…
Todd Shipyards Corporation
Incorrect respirator item reinstated
Employees performing carbon-arc gouging inside a ship were exposed to roughly twice the permissible concentration of iron oxide fumes. The ventilation arrangement was ineffective, and the dust-and-mist respirators they wore were not approved for fumes. The judge affirmed the overexposure and…
Johns-Manville Corporation
Asbestos removal PPE violation affirmed
Johns-Manville employees removed asbestos insulation from hot gas ducts without Type C supplied-air respirators and special clothing. The judge had required proof that asbestos exposure exceeded the standard's numerical limits. Applying intervening precedent, the Commission held that all employees…
Joseph J. Stolar Construction Company, Inc.
Serious trenching violation affirmed
Joseph J. Stolar Construction was installing underground pipe when a trench wall collapsed and fatally buried one employee. A 25-foot segment contained a significant band of wet, pumpy soil, but employees worked in the trench without shoring and without sloping from the bottom. The Commission held…
Prestressed Systems, Inc.
Consolidated cases severed and one citation affirmed
Prestressed Systems contested citations from two worksites, and the cases were consolidated for hearing. The judge affirmed a housekeeping citation under section 1926.25(a) in Docket No. 76-4276 and vacated a protective-equipment citation in the other case. Only the protective-equipment ruling was…
Triangle Tanning Co.
Evidence from pre-Barlow's inspection was not excluded
Triangle Tanning asked the judge to quash an OSHA inspection warrant and suppress the evidence gathered at its manufacturing facility. The inspection occurred two months before the Supreme Court decided that the OSH Act could not authorize nonconsensual warrantless inspections. The Commission held…
Houston Systems Manufacturing Company, Inc.
Crane clearance citation vacated for employee misconduct
Houston Systems Manufacturing was cited after a crane operated within 10 feet of an electrical power line. The judge found that the company had a rule matching the required clearance, communicated the rule to employees, and effectively enforced it. The Commission agreed that the violation resulted…
Western Massachusetts Electric Co.
Electrical line reenergization violation affirmed
Western Massachusetts Electric removed protective tags and grounds from a 13,800-volt line before all workers were known to be clear. A communication failure and other errors led to premature reenergization, causing an explosion that fatally injured a contractor's employee and exposed utility…
Federated Metals, Inc.
Citation dismissals set aside for obstructed discovery
Federated Metals contested citations involving employee exposure to lead, copper, and noise, along with related respiratory protection and lead-control requirements. The judge dismissed the cases when the Secretary declined to present evidence at the scheduled hearing. The Commission found that…
Ed Cheff d/b/a Ed Cheff Logging
Seatbelt requirement for logging tractors affirmed
Ed Cheff Logging used crawler tractors with rollover protective structures but did not provide or require seatbelts. Tractor operators faced rollover risks on steep terrain as well as risks from branches and debris entering the cab. The Commission held that the general personal protective equipment…
Transamerica Delaval, Inc.
Late-contest dismissal reversed for a mailing-date hearing
Transamerica Delaval received amended citations and had 15 working days to file a notice of contest. Its notice was dated on the deadline but carried a postmark four days later. The judge treated the postmark as controlling and dismissed the contest as untimely. The Commission held that a postmark…
Consolidated Rail Corporation
Bridge fall-protection violation affirmed
Consolidated Rail employees replaced railroad ties on a bridge 34 feet above a busy roadway. Removing groups of ties left large openings, but the employees had no equipment protecting them from a fall. The Commission held that a Federal Railroad Administration policy statement did not displace OSHA…
Puget Sound Tug & Barge; Mission Viking, Inc.; Northwestern Construction, Inc.
Maritime citations affirmed despite Coast Guard authority
Three maritime employers argued that Coast Guard authority displaced OSHA requirements for work on vessels and barges. The cited conditions included respiratory and flotation protection, crane and deck hazards, recordkeeping, unguarded rigging, unsecured propane tanks, and unsafe passage between…
American Cyanamid Company
General duty citation over sterilization policy vacated
American Cyanamid excluded women ages 16 through 50 from production jobs involving lead unless they had been surgically sterilized. OSHA alleged that this policy was a willful general duty clause violation and proposed a $10,000 penalty. The Commission majority held that the policy was a condition…
West Point Pepperell, Inc.
Employee medical records ordered produced with privacy safeguards
West Point Pepperell contested serious respiratory and cotton-dust citations at its textile mill. During discovery, the Secretary sought employee medical surveillance records and mill-level profit and loss statements. The Commission found the medical records relevant to respiratory protection…
Consolidated Freightways
Vacated tractor-seat citation could not be revived
Consolidated Freightways was cited over inadequately padded steel bars on tractor seats that employees said caused injuries on rough roads. The Secretary moved to vacate the citation, and the judge granted that request. After employees objected, the Secretary sought to reopen the case and amend it…
General Dynamics Corp.
Settlement agreement approved
General Dynamics and the Secretary resolved the two consolidated matters through a settlement agreement dated September 24, 1980. The Commission's order contains no description of the cited conditions, legal issues, citation classifications, or penalties. It does not provide substantive reasoning…
Power Systems Division, United Technologies Corporation
Electrical and protective-equipment dismissals reversed
Power Systems faced electrical citations under a standard incorporating portions of the National Electrical Code and a protective-equipment citation involving a chemical treating agent. The judge vacated the electrical items as vague based largely on reported remarks about a proposed replacement…
York Heel of Maine, Inc.
Beam-dinker machine-guarding violation affirmed
York Heel used beam-dinker presses whose operators held steel dies by hand while a heavy beam descended to cut shoe heels. The Commission found that operators' fingers could enter the half-inch gap between the die and beam and that the existing flange did not prevent point-of-operation exposure. It…
Gerard Leone & Sons, Inc.
Dump-truck support requirements applied on a public street
Gerard Leone & Sons operated a dump truck without permanent dump-body supports and safety latches, and a falling raised body caused a fatality. The company argued that the cited motor-vehicle standards did not apply because the truck was being used on a public street. The Commission held that…
Bomac Drilling, et al.
Hydrogen sulfide emergency protection violations affirmed
Bomac Drilling and Scandinavian Montgomery Drilling operated exploratory wells in the Williston Basin without self-contained breathing apparatus for hydrogen sulfide emergencies. The Commission found that hydrogen sulfide exposure was a recognized hazard and that encountering and releasing the gas…
Del-Mont Construction Co.
Confined-space training violation affirmed for loaned employees
Del-Mont sent two long-term employees to pump water and adjust valves in sewer manholes for another organization. Del-Mont provided the workers and equipment, paid their wages, and retained authority over their assignment, but gave no confined-space training or safety equipment. Both employees and…
Ormet Corporation
Electrical-switch guarding citation vacated
Ormet's employees deliberately broke the locking clasp and guards on a main electrical disconnect controlling 13 conveyor belts. OSHA cited the company under a National Electrical Code provision requiring protection where electrical equipment is exposed to physical damage. The Commission held that…
Hooker Chemical Co.
Vinyl-chloride training citation remained vacated
Hooker Chemical was cited for not providing vinyl-chloride hazard training to employees in compounding and calendering operations. The judge vacated the citation after concluding that the training requirement did not apply where ambient vinyl-chloride levels were below the action level. On review…
United States Steel Corporation
Pre-1971 crane guarding citation vacated
United States Steel was cited because exposed moving parts on overhead cranes lacked guards. The company established that the cranes were constructed and installed before August 31, 1971. The Commission held that the cited provision was a design specification that was only advisory for those older…
General Motors Corp., Rochester Products Division
Machine-guarding violation affirmed as de minimis
General Motors temporarily operated an automated carburetor machine with guards removed from three stations for repair. Employees did not normally work at those points of operation, and the machine was generally shut down when malfunctions were corrected. The Commission found technical…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Six truck-shop and fuel-shed items remanded
Six citation items involved conditions in a fuel-pump shed and truck shop at Trinity Industries' manufacturing plant. The judge vacated them after finding that workers in those areas belonged to an independent transportation contractor. The Commission found the record unclear as to whether the…
Triple A South, a Division of Triple A Machine Shop, Inc.
Scaffold-access violations reduced to de minimis
Triple A South employees used ladder-like scaffold stiffeners to reach platforms as high as 70 feet during ship repair. The stiffeners did not qualify as required ladders or trestles because access was not their primary function and their rungs did not fully match the rule. The Commission…
GAF Corporation
Excessive silver exposure classified as serious
GAF employees producing silver compounds were exposed to airborne silver at roughly two to 37 times the permissible limit. Their respirators were not approved for silver, and the plant's ventilation system was not operating. Medical examinations found permanent silver-related discoloration of the…
American Steel Works
Repeated spray-booth airflow violation affirmed
American Steel Works operated a spray-paint booth without a visible gauge, alarm, or pressure device showing whether required airflow was maintained. The same employer had previously received a final citation under the same standard for the same booth. The company argued that its installer could…
United States Steel Corporation
High-voltage line citation vacated for unforeseeable misconduct
United States Steel assigned an experienced lineman to guide contractor employees applying bird repellent near electrical installations. The lineman was instructed that a 44,000-volt line remained energized and that he must avoid the walkway beside it, but he entered the area, contacted the line…
The Duncanson-Harrelson Company
Unsecured barge crane and housekeeping violations affirmed
Duncanson-Harrelson used an unfastened truck crane on a barge while replacing wharf pilings. The Commission held that the requirement to positively secure a mobile crane meant physically fastening it to the barge, and the company did not prove that compliance created a greater hazard. Ropes, spiked…
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.