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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Tonolli Corporation
Second abatement extension sent to hearing
Tonolli Corporation sought a second one-year extension of an abatement deadline, moving the requested date to October 25, 1979. The judge granted the request after the Secretary missed an extended response deadline by several days. The Secretary's late opposition presented reasons the Commission…
Kama Corp.
Noise-inspection trade-secret dispute remanded
OSHA alleged excessive noise at Kama's plastic manufacturing plant and sought a discovery inspection by government personnel and a private acoustical consultant. Kama acknowledged no trade secrets in the specific machinery being tested but said a walk through the plant would expose other…
Trans World Airlines, Inc.
Aircraft-door citation remained vacated
OSHA cited Trans World Airlines for unguarded aircraft doorways that exposed maintenance employees to falls of up to 15 feet. The judge vacated the citation after concluding that Federal Aviation Administration regulation displaced OSHA jurisdiction over the working condition. The Commission…
Reynolds Metal Company
Settlement conditionally affirmed for employee objections
Reynolds and the Secretary settled serious general duty clause and emergency-eyewash citation items by reducing penalties, extending abatement dates, and withdrawing the company's contest. Two unions had elected party status but were not properly served with the proposed agreement or given a clear…
Stahr and Gregory Roofing Co., Inc.
Ladder and floor-guarding violations affirmed
Stahr and Gregory employees repeatedly used two ladders to reach roofing work, passing an unguarded second-floor edge and an inadequately guarded floor opening. The company did not create or control the conditions, and the general contractor was responsible for guardrails, but Stahr and Gregory…
Bristol-Myers Company
Post-citation noise inspection allowed
OSHA cited Bristol-Myers under the occupational noise standard and later sought a plant inspection by an acoustical expert to evaluate feasible controls. The judge denied discovery because he believed the Secretary should have fully developed that evidence before issuing the citation. The…
Boonville Division of Ethan Allen, Inc.
Saw-guarding penalty reduced to $300
Ethan Allen used a combination woodworking machine with two continuously rotating saw blades whose lower central sections were unguarded. The Commission rejected arguments that nearby clamps, the operator's normal hand movements, or the raised blade position provided adequate protection. It held…
Continental Grain Company
Supplemental settlement approved
Continental Grain and the Secretary filed a settlement that amended the citation and proposed penalty and required compliance with the Act. The judge approved that agreement before the parties filed a supplement withdrawing Continental Grain's contest and certifying proper service. The Commission…
Walling Crate Company
Settlements remanded to clarify abatement dates
Walling Crate faced two consolidated cases covering numerous serious, repeated, and nonserious violations, including repeated occupational-noise and failure-to-abate allegations. The parties agreed to reduce penalties, withdraw Walling's contests, and state that the conditions would be abated and…
Material Fabrication Corporation
Mixed ALJ decision affirmed without review
The judge found Material Fabrication in violation of several OSHA standards and rejected other alleged violations. Commission review was directed only on whether the judge erred in finding no violation of the scaffold standard at 29 C.F.R. § 1910.28(a)(1). Neither party sought review or submitted a…
Burkart-Randall Company
Ambiguous machine-guarding settlement remanded
Burkart-Randall and the Secretary settled numerous citation items for $9,000, with detailed safeguards and abatement terms for mechanical power presses. After approval, the parties jointly reported that four citation No. 2 items had mistakenly been classified as serious rather than repeated. The…
Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation
Crane-brake settlement rejected
OSHA cited Kaiser because ten cranes handling molten metal had one holding brake rather than the two required by the standard. The Secretary and Kaiser settled by treating the condition as de minimis, eliminating the penalty and abatement requirement, and withdrawing the company's contest. The…
Bethlehem Steel Corporation (Buffalo Tank Div.)
ALJ decision affirmed without review
The Commission directed review of the Bethlehem Steel case on its own initiative. Neither party petitioned for review, objected to the Administrative Law Judge's decision, or otherwise expressed dissatisfaction. The Commission found no compelling public interest requiring it to decide the case's…
Western Waterproofing Co., Inc.
Willful scaffold penalty set at $8,000 after court remand
Western Waterproofing employees worked on noncomplying suspension scaffolds 17 to 47 feet above the ground. An appeals court upheld willful violations involving missing safety-belt lifelines, failure to lash the scaffolds to the building, and missing toeboards, but rejected the Commission’s earlier…
Champion Construction Engineering Co.
ALJ decision conditionally affirmed
The judge affirmed several OSHA violations, and Champion Construction initially sought Commission review. The company later reported that it would assign its assets for creditors, cease operating, and withdraw its request to file a brief. The Commission found that letter ambiguous as to whether…
IMC Chemical Group, Inc.
Union allowed to oppose citation withdrawal
After IMC contested two citations, the Secretary moved to withdraw the first serious citation before filing a complaint because the alleged hazard had not occurred as charged. The employee union timely asked the Commission to keep the citation in place, but the judge ruled that the Secretary could…
CF&I Steel Corporation
Furnace-hazard citation and $300 penalty affirmed
OSHA cited CF&I Steel under the general duty clause for exposing its employees to flame, extreme heat, and molten metal during furnace-charging operations at its Pueblo, Colorado, facility. The inspection followed an explosion that killed two employees of an independent contractor working in the…
Brockway Glass Company, Inc.
Noise-abatement extension conditionally affirmed
Brockway Glass sought an extension to December 31, 1979 for final abatement of an occupational-noise violation, and the parties settled on that date. The judge approved the agreement before the employee representatives received copies. The Commission held that sending the executed agreement after…
Continental Can Company, U.S.A., a member of The Continental Group, Inc.
Noise cases dismissed under court order
Multiple Continental Can cases alleged excessive noise at company facilities across the country. Continental argued that an earlier Commission ruling barred the Secretary from relitigating the economic feasibility of noise controls at other plants, but the Commission had previously rejected that…
Kroehler Manufacturing Co.
Guillotine-cutter penalty reduced to $250
Kroehler used a guillotine cardboard cutter whose two-hand control allowed the operator to release one lever and move a hand near the descending blade during the cutting cycle. The Commission held that no more specific machine-guarding standard applied to the furniture plant, so the general…
General Motors Corporation
Noise-abatement date corrected to March 1979
General Motors requested an extension of the deadline for abating an excessive-noise violation, and the settlement set March 14, 1979 as the new date. The judge's approval order mistakenly used March 14, 1978, and the judge lacked jurisdiction to correct the filed order himself. The agreement had…
Grossman Steel & Aluminum Corp.
Multiple construction-site charges vacated
Grossman Steel was an iron subcontractor at a Veterans Administration hospital project and faced fire-protection, cylinder-storage, extinguisher, and falling-material allegations. The Commission vacated the general duty clause charge because Grossman's employees neither used nor had reason to use…
Safeway Stores, Inc.
Late contest remanded over missing citation
The judge dismissed Safeway's notice of contest as untimely, making two citations and their penalties final. Safeway told the Commission that it had received only one citation page and had never received the separate second citation. It also offered reasons for missing the contest deadline and…
MRS Printing, Incorporated
Easily bypassed cutter control violated guarding rule
MRS Printing operated a guillotine paper cutter with two controls, but an employee could activate one control with a knee and leave a hand free near the blade. The Commission held that the point-of-operation guard failed because the standard requires a device designed to prevent any body part from…
Williams Enterprises
Safety-net violation affirmed for unprotected ironworkers
Two Williams ironworkers connected steel about 49 feet above concrete without safety belts, nets, scaffolds, or temporary floors. Williams argued that installing nets was impossible because of the structure, existing scaffolds, anchorage distances, and net weight. The Commission found that the…
Aspro, Inc., Spun Steel Division
Abatement settlement set aside for missing employee notice
Aspro requested an extension of an abatement deadline, and the judge approved a settlement granting the requested date. The petition had not been posted for affected employees, and the union elected party status shortly after approval and objected. The Secretary acknowledged that employee notice…
Granite-Groves, A Joint Venture
Hazardous material-hoist violation affirmed
Granite-Groves employees used a hazardous material hoist for two days before the company stopped its operation. The company argued that its foreman's knowledge should not be imputed and that shutting down the hoist satisfied its duty. The Commission upheld the judge's rejection of those arguments…
Hamilton Foundry Division
Grinder case remanded to reconstruct missing testimony
OSHA cited Hamilton Foundry over a grinder work rest that allegedly exceeded the one-eighth-inch maximum gap from the wheel. After the hearing transcript omitted portions of a witness's testimony, the judge dismissed the citation rather than reconstructing the record or determining whether the…
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Hearing moved from Philadelphia to Allentown
Bethlehem Steel's case involved about 36 remaining citation items and more than 20 expected witnesses for each of the company, the Secretary, and the union. Nearly all witnesses worked or lived near Bethlehem and Allentown, while the judge set the hearing in Philadelphia more than 50 miles from the…
Irwin Steel Erectors, Inc.
Omitted settlement penalty corrected to $250
Irwin Steel Erectors and the Secretary settled the case, but their written agreement accidentally omitted the negotiated penalty for citation item 2(a). The judge treated the omission as leaving the original $560 proposal in place. The parties jointly asked the Commission to correct the order…
ITT Thompson Industries, Inc.
Settlement affirmed after employee representative review
The Secretary and ITT Thompson Industries settled serious, repeated, and willful machine-guarding and housekeeping citations, but an administrative error excluded the authorized employee representative from the negotiations and initial review of the agreement. After review was directed, union…
Eaton Corporation
Review petition withdrawn
Eaton Corporation petitioned for Commission review of an Administrative Law Judge's decision in two consolidated dockets. A Commissioner granted review, but Eaton later moved to withdraw its petition. No party objected to the judge's decision. The Commission granted the withdrawal and affirmed the…
Trio Industries, Inc.
Settlement penalty corrected from $350 to the agreed $200
The parties in this case reached a settlement, and the administrative law judge approved it on May 25, 1978, but his order mistakenly assessed a $350 penalty when the parties had agreed on $200. The judge tried to fix the error with a corrective order on June 5, after the original order had already…
John's Roofing & Sheet Metal Co., Inc.
No fall protection near a 32-foot roof edge upheld
A roofing contractor had employees working near the edge of a round gymnasium roof, 32 feet above the ground, without any protection from falling, and OSHA cited it under the personal protective equipment standard, 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a), because the workers should have been wearing safety belts…
Papertronics, Div. of Hammermill Paper co.
Machine-guarding citation reversed for lack of proof of a hazard
A paper-products plant was cited for failing to guard the nip points and pinch points on several slitter-rewinder machines and a folding machine under the general machine-guarding standard, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.212(a)(1). The administrative law judge affirmed the violation, but the Commission reversed…
McLean-Behm Steel Erectors, Inc.
Subcontractor must at least ask the general contractor to fix a fall hazard
A steel-erection subcontractor placing reinforcing steel on a three-story church addition had employees working near an unguarded floor opening and open, unguarded floor edges with drops of up to twenty-five feet. OSHA cited it for a nonserious floor-opening violation (29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(b)(1))…
Evansville Materials, Incorporated
Commission affirms a $550 general-duty-clause violation for overloading a derrick
Evansville Materials supplied a derrick barge and operator to raise Central Soya Corporation's sunken harbor boat from the Ohio River. The derrick boom buckled during the operation, and a Central Soya employee fell into the river and drowned. OSHA originally cited a marine-terminal standard, 29…
Floyd S. Pike Electrical Contractor, Inc.
Citation vacated for unpreventable foreman misconduct
Pike was converting an electrical distribution line when a hoist line contacted an energized line and electrocuted a foreman who was leaning against an ungrounded truck. The cited standard required lifting equipment near energized lines to be grounded or treated as energized and barricaded. After a…
Ashland Petroleum
Deposition denial reversed, document-production denial affirmed, discovery remanded
This is an interlocutory ruling on a discovery fight, not a decision on any citation. The employer wanted to depose employees of General Electric Company and to force GE to hand over documents, and the administrative law judge denied both requests. The Commission granted the employer's…
George J. Igel & Co., Inc.
Defective fire extinguisher and inadequate trench shoring both upheld
This pipe-laying contractor was inspected at a trench worksite and cited for two things: a portable fire extinguisher in a backhoe cab whose gauge showed it needed recharging (nonserious, 29 C.F.R. § 1926.150(c)(1)(viii)) and inadequate shoring in a trench 7 to 13 feet deep (serious, 29 C.F.R. §…
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., Store No. 86
Unguarded compressor fan blades in a locked motor room upheld as a violation
In the motor room of a Winn-Dixie retail food store, two cooler and freezer compressor fans had unguarded blades within seven feet of the working level, and OSHA cited the store for a nonserious machine-guarding violation under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.212(a)(5). The store argued its employees were not…
Electrocast Steel Foundry, Inc.
Harassment-inspection suppression claim remanded for a hearing
This steel foundry demanded that OSHA get a search warrant before inspecting its Cicero, Illinois plant. After OSHA obtained the warrant and inspected, it issued citations, and the foundry moved to suppress the evidence and dismiss the case, arguing the inspection had turned punitive and…
Andy Anderson, d/b/a Andy Anderson Irrigation & Construction
Trench-cave-in violation upheld, penalty cut to $150
This employer was installing sewer pipe in a 70-foot trench that ran 6 to 8 feet deep with nearly vertical, unshored walls and no ladder for exit. OSHA cited a serious violation for failing to shore or slope the trench under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652(c) and for failing to provide an adequate means of…
Gibson Discount Center, Store #15
Eyewash citation vacated for lack of proof
Gibson operated a retail store with an auto service area where employees charged vehicle batteries. OSHA cited the store under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.151(c), alleging that suitable emergency flushing facilities were not readily available near the battery charger. The judge affirmed because the nearest…
E. M. Duggan, Inc.
Stair-rail citation conditionally affirmed
E. M. Duggan was a plumbing and heating subcontractor whose employees regularly used nine unguarded stairways at a multi-employer construction site. The company did not create or control the missing railings, and the judge vacated the citation under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(e)(1)(ii). The Commission…
4G Plumbing & Heating, Inc.
Open-ground citation vacated
4G Plumbing & Heating was one of three prime contractors on a Montana prison-farm construction project. OSHA found that a temporary receptacle installed by the electrical contractor had an open ground and cited 4G under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.401(c) because its employees used the outlet. The defect was…
Otis Elevator Company
Scaffold-access violation reduced to de minimis
Otis employees installing elevators worked from a 30-foot scaffold inside an elevator shaft and climbed built-in scaffold rungs spaced 18 inches apart. The judge found that the rungs were not equivalent to a proper access ladder under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(a)(13), affirmed a nonserious violation…
Valley Roofing Corporation; J. B. Eurell Company
Fall-protection citations vacated
Employees of Valley Roofing and J. B. Eurell worked near roof edges 13 and 29 feet above the ground without safety belts or another form of fall protection. OSHA cited both employers under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a), but the judge vacated the citations because the Secretary did not show a feasible…
Gerard Leone & Sons, Inc.
Trench spoil citation affirmed
Gerard Leone & Sons was a general contractor performing trenching work in Massachusetts. OSHA found excavated material piled at the trench edge above employees working below and cited 29 C.F.R. § 1926.651(i)(1), which required the material to be kept at least two feet from the edge. The judge…
Charles A. Gaetano Construction Corp.
Four serious citations affirmed
Charles A. Gaetano Construction was building a parking ramp when OSHA cited serious hazards involving an inadequately guarded saw, missing personal fall protection, incomplete floor-edge guardrails, and an unguarded carpenter's bracket scaffold. The company argued that an ANSI standard incorporated…
T. J. Service Company
Ladder penalty cut and extinguisher citation reinstated
T. J. Service operated an oil-well workover rig whose derrick man climbed an unprotected fixed ladder to a work platform about 44 feet above the ground several times each day. The Commission affirmed a serious violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.450(a)(5) because the ladder lacked a cage, offset…
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Pre-1971 crane citation vacated
OSHA cited Westinghouse for failing to guard rotating couplings next to a walkway on an overhead crane under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.179(e)(6)(i). The judge vacated the item because employees did not use the walkway during what he considered the crane's normal operating conditions. The Commission affirmed…
Robberson Steel Company
Commission upholds the inspections, denies dismissal, and remands for a merits hearing
OSHA inspected Robberson Steel Company's Oklahoma City facility after receiving written safety complaints, and a follow-up industrial hygiene inspection led to health-hazard citations. Robberson asked the administrative law judge to throw out the citations, arguing that the first inspection was…
Seaboard Coastline Railroad
Railroad-wide OSHA exemption rejected
Seaboard Coastline stipulated that cited workplace conditions violated OSHA standards and that the proposed penalty was appropriate. It argued, however, that railroads were exempt from the OSH Act under 29 U.S.C. § 653(b)(1) because the Department of Transportation regulates the industry. The…
Favrot-Bellows, A Joint Venture
Serious fall-protection violation affirmed
OSHA alleged that Favrot-Bellows willfully violated fall-protection requirements stated in the alternative under three construction standards and proposed a $10,000 penalty. The judge instead affirmed a serious violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a) and assessed $500. On review, the employer expressly…
Hullenkremer Construction Co., Inc.
Scaffold penalty reduced
A Hullenkremer employee washed a newly erected school wall while standing on a scaffold 16 feet above the ground with no guardrails or toeboards. The company president admitted that the condition violated 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(a)(4), but explained that a mason had removed normally used guardrails…
Fattore Construction Company
Multiple citations and $1,680 affirmed
The judge affirmed five citations for serious violations and six of seven items in a citation for nonserious violations against Fattore Construction Company. Total penalties of $1,680 were assessed. Fattore challenged the judge's procedural handling of the case and many factual findings. After…
Borg-Warner Corporation
Serious asbestos exposure citation affirmed
At Borg-Warner's plumbing-products plant, an employee dusted plaster molds with NYTAL 200 talc in a visibly dusty operation. Multiple laboratory analyses found airborne fiber concentrations above the ceiling limit in 29 C.F.R. § 1910.93a(b)(3), and NIOSH electron microscopy and diffraction analysis…
Schultz's, Inc.
Commission declines review, leaving the judge's vacatur of a general-duty citation in place
Administrative Law Judge Henry K. Osterman had vacated a citation and proposed penalty against Schultz's, Inc. for an alleged violation of the general duty clause, section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act. Former Commissioner Moran directed the case for review "for error," bringing it to the full Commission…
Glendale Mills Inc.
Three violations affirmed and poster item vacated
Glendale Mills manufactured knitwear and clothing at a New York plant where OSHA found misleading exit doors, an unrailed stairway, a temporarily missing OSHA poster, and an inadequately guarded bench grinder. The judge affirmed the exit, stair, and grinder items but found that the company had…
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.