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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Barker Brothers, Inc.
Loader safety violation affirmed
Barker Brothers, Inc. was cited under the general duty clause after an employee was fatally injured while a track loader was being moved onto a dump truck. The truck moved and its bed tipped because available brakes, wheel chocks, chains, and boomers were not used. The Commission held that the…
Schriber Sheet Metal & Roofers, Inc.
A divided Commission affirms a general-duty fall citation for unguarded flat-roof work
Schriber Sheet Metal & Roofers received three nearly identical citations for letting employees work near the edge of flat roofs about 25 feet up without guardrails or other fall protection. Each citation alleged a serious violation of both a specific construction standard, 29 C.F.R. 1926.500(d)(1)…
Schreiber Corporation
Roof-guardrail citation remained vacated
OSHA cited Schreiber Corporation for failing to provide guardrails or equivalent protection for employees working on a flat roof. Before the hearing, the Secretary sought to add alternative allegations under the personal-protective-equipment rule and the general duty clause. The judge denied the…
Life Science Products Company; Virgil A. Hundtofte and W. P. Moore
Toxic-exposure citations and personal liability affirmed
Life Science Products manufactured the pesticide Kepone from HCP and exposed employees to toxic substances without adequate engineering controls or personal protective equipment. Employees were also allowed to eat, drink, and store food in contaminated work areas. The four citations included two…
Marquette Cement Manufacturing Company
General-duty violation and $500 penalty affirmed
A federal court vacated an earlier Commission decision and remanded with instructions concerning the Secretary's proposed general-duty-clause allegation. Following that mandate, the Commission granted the amendment and affirmed a general-duty violation based on the evidence described in the court's…
L. E. Myers Company
Power-line gripping-device citation remained vacated
Linemen used gripping devices called preforms to remove about 3,800 pounds of tension from a static wire. Both devices failed, the wire snapped back, and one employee was struck and fell about 80 feet. The judge vacated the general-duty citation after finding that the method followed industry…
The Boeing Company, Wichita Division
Boeing hydraulic-machine hazard and $700 penalty affirmed
Boeing tested a self-designed hydraulic forming machine intended to operate at 100,000 pounds per square inch. At 80,000 psi, the machine failed and propelled a component weighing more than 1,000 pounds over 300 feet, killing two employees. Boeing argued that an unforeseeable defective part caused…
Mercer Well Service, Inc.
Commission affirms a general duty clause citation after a fatal fall from a rig, finding the employer's own safety rule was not enforced
A derrick man employed by Mercer Well Service died after falling from the elevator traveling block of a well servicing rig while riding it without a safety belt. The company had a written rule requiring derrick men to wear a belt when riding the elevators, but the worker had left his belt on top of…
Ford Motor Company
Willful elevator hazard affirmed
Ford used a freight elevator to move automobile bodies when its regular body lift was unavailable. To avoid production delays, the company repeatedly operated the freight elevator after removing rear-door interlocks or seals that state inspectors had required. After the elevator returned to…
Big '6' Drilling Company
Rig citations remanded for further evidence
Big '6' Drilling received eight nonserious citations and one serious general-duty citation after an inspection of an oil and gas drilling rig. Its pro se notice focused on the $805 proposed penalties, but its later answer requested a hearing about the inspection and penalties. The Commission…
H-30, Inc.
Commission affirms a serious violation for workers riding an oil-rig material elevator
H-30, Inc., an oil well drilling company, allowed derrickmen to ride a crown block elevator system to a safety platform 50 feet above the ground. The elevator was designed for materials, and the workers rode without safety belts. The Commission held that the compliance officer did not need to…
Champlin Petroleum Co.
Commission affirms an $800 violation for an inadequately communicated hot-oil safety rule
A Champlin Petroleum crew at a Corpus Christi refinery was draining a pipeline containing crude oil hotter than its auto-ignition temperature so a malfunctioning control valve could be removed. The bleeder valve's handle was missing, and an employee used a wrench to open it. Hot oil reached the…
Crescent Erection Company
Commission affirms a $300 violation for unsafe high-rise material handling
Crescent Erection Company employees were moving a roughly 500-pound load onto the unguarded 51st floor of the Sears Tower construction project. Workers stood between the load and the floor perimeter, pushed against force directed toward the outside of the building, and were not tied off. The…
Young Sales Corporation
Commission affirms general duty violation for fragile roofing sheets
Young Sales Corporation was installing corrugated asbestos cement roof sheets when an employee fell through the brittle material more than 70 feet and died. OSHA cited the company under the OSH Act's general duty clause for failing to protect employees from the recognized hazard of the…
Claude Neon Federal Co.
Commission affirms safety-belt violation for sign work 100 feet above ground
Claude Neon Federal Company maintained signs on tall buildings. An employee repairing a neon sign moved across narrow supports and repositioned a ladder while working about 100 feet above the ground without a safety belt or other fall protection. OSHA originally cited the general duty clause, but…
General Electric Company, Inc.
Commission affirms two violations and vacates two others
OSHA cited General Electric after inspecting its Schenectady, New York, worksite. The Commission vacated a machine-guarding citation because guards and a spacer protected the radiac cutoff machine's point of operation, and it also left an electrical citation vacated. It affirmed a general duty…
Geuder, Paeschke & Frey Company
Settlement approved after union received a hearing
OSHA cited metal-products fabricator Geuder, Paeschke & Frey for one serious general duty clause violation and 44 nonserious violations. The Secretary and employer proposed a settlement that deleted several nonserious items, extended two abatement periods, reduced three proposed penalties, and…
Marion Stephens, d/b/a Chapman & Stephens Company
General duty violation affirmed for work near a power line
Chapman & Stephens grew citrus and used 20-foot steel sprinkler pipes in a grove crossed by a low 7,200-volt power line. While three workers removed a bent pipe near the line, the pipe contacted it, killing one employee, rendering another unconscious, and knocking the supervisor to the ground. The…
Syracuse Rigging Co., Inc.
Hoist citation vacated because a new charge was not tried by consent
Syracuse Rigging used power drills to operate manual chain hoists while lowering a 68,800-pound tank, which fell and fatally injured an employee. OSHA cited the general duty clause and later added an alternative charge that the hoists did not let operators stand clear of the load. The judge…
Stepan Chemical Company
Inadequate training for pressure-vessel work violated the general duty clause
Stepan Chemical assigned newly hired employees to release internal pressure from a vessel containing phthalic anhydride. OSHA alleged that the employees were not adequately trained and supervised in the pressure-vessel and hazardous-material risks of petrochemical work. The Commission explained…
Max J. Kuney, Inc.
Backhoe hazard citation affirmed with reduced penalty
A Max J. Kuney laborer and backhoe operator were using both a shovel and the backhoe bucket to locate a water line in a shallow trench. The judge found that the moving bucket came within 1 to 2 feet of the laborer, exposing him for about 15 minutes to a recognized struck-by hazard that could cause…
Ebasco Services, Inc.
General-duty snap-hook charge vacated for lack of a recognized hazard
Ebasco Services was the engineering and general contractor constructing a coal-fired power plant in Iowa. A boilermaker fell about 60 feet and died while using a safety belt and lanyard with a single-locking snap hook. OSHA alleged under the general duty clause that the spring latch could allow the…
Spencer Leathers, a Division of Spencer Foods, Inc.
Hydrogen-sulfide general-duty citation affirmed with a $1,000 penalty
Spencer Leathers operated a tannery that received sulfuric acid and sodium sulphydrate through nearby intake pipes. A delivery of sulfuric acid was connected to the unlabeled sodium sulphydrate line after employees, including the person in charge, incorrectly identified it, producing hydrogen…
Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp.
Amended open-pit guarding citation affirmed
Kaiser was originally cited under a floor-hole standard for failing to cover or guard open carbon pits. In an earlier decision, the Commission substituted the standard specifically requiring covers or guardrails for open pits and gave Kaiser an opportunity to object. The Commission rejected…
Whirlpool Corp.
General duty citation remanded for feasibility evidence
The Commission had previously found that Whirlpool violated the general duty clause because guard screens supporting employees were not strong enough. A federal appeals court ruled that the record did not contain substantial evidence supporting the Commission's finding that stronger screening was a…
Briscoe/Arace/Conduit, A Joint Venture
Beam fall-protection item affirmed and roof item vacated
Employees of the joint venture worked on 18-inch-wide beam bottoms about 16 feet above a basement floor cluttered with stored scaffolding. They used no personal fall protection. The Commission affirmed a serious violation and a $700 penalty because a cable system for attaching safety belts was…
ABCO Tree & Hedge Service
Power-line tree-trimming violation affirmed
An ABCO employee trimming a tree with a seven-foot aluminum pole saw contacted an energized power line and was electrocuted. He was about eight feet from the line and used neither insulated equipment nor personal protective equipment for electrical hazards. The judge found that contact was…
Georgia Electric Company
Power-line and defective-control violations affirmed
Georgia Electric was installing light poles along a highway when a crew erected a pole close to energized lines using a boom truck. The foreman let an inexperienced temporary operator proceed even though the regular operator had previously considered the task unsafe and company managers had warned…
Chevron Oil Co.; Harvey Industries, Inc.; and McBroom Rig Building Service, Inc.
Subcontractor cases affirmed and Chevron case remanded
Chevron operated an offshore oil and gas production platform where Harvey Industries and McBroom Rig Building Service worked as subcontractors. After an explosion and fire, OSHA cited all three employers under the general duty clause, alleging hazards involving pipeline corrosion controls and…
Massman Construction Co.
General-duty violation affirmed for scaffold near power lines
Massman Construction employees were stripping forms beneath a Kansas City bridge using a 32-foot aluminum scaffold board located above energized power lines. To move the board around an obstructing beam, employees lowered and shifted it while attempting to maintain about two feet of clearance from…
Hopkins Erection Company
Storage-rack general duty citation vacated
Hopkins employees stood on elevated storage-rack shelves while assembling a newly designed rack system. Two employees fell to lower shelves after bed frames slipped from laterally flexible support arms. The judge found that the erection process required the arms to remain unsecured until upper…
Brown and Root, Inc.
Serious items settled and scaffold-screen citation vacated
Brown and Root settled serious allegations involving an inadequately slung boiler pipe that fell about 140 feet, an uncovered floor opening, an unguarded winch platform, and an unguarded runway at the steam-drum level. Those items were affirmed under the settlement with a total $1,000 penalty. The…
State, Incorporated
Guardrail item upheld with increased penalty
State, Incorporated performed construction work at a steel plant where a furnace eruption killed two employees working above the operating area. The judge vacated OSHA's general duty clause citation because the evidence did not establish that the charging operation presented a recognized hazard…
Penrod Drilling Company
General duty citation vacated over hazard recognition
Penrod employees were preparing to dismantle an oil derrick and worked from a girder about 125 feet above the ground without safety belts. One employee stepped onto the bridle assembly, the sling broke, and he fell to his death. OSHA alleged a serious general duty clause violation and proposed a…
Williams Enterprises, Inc.
Counterweight case reversed and remanded
Williams Enterprises was assembling a crane for a Library of Congress construction project when a 43,000-pound counterweight left standing on an inclined street toppled into a second counterweight. The two weights trapped and killed a foreman and an oiler. OSHA alleged a willful general duty clause…
Fry's Tank Service Inc. and Cities Service Oil Company
Confined-space citation affirmed for contractor only
Cities Service hired Fry's Tank Service to clean an oilfield tank and replace internal anodes on a Kansas lease that produced sour crude. A Fry's employee entered the tank without atmospheric testing, breathing equipment, or a safety line, collapsed from hydrogen sulfide exposure, and died along…
Henkels & McCoy, Incorporated
Safety-instruction citation remanded for hearing
Two Henkels & McCoy employees operated a 10-ton jack by standing on its lever despite the manufacturer's warning to stand clear, and one employee was fatally injured when the lever moved. OSHA cited the company for failing to instruct employees to recognize and avoid unsafe conditions, with a…
A.C. & S., Inc. et al.
Sears Tower reviews provisionally vacated
These sixteen cases arose from an extended OSHA inspection of contractors working on Chicago's Sears Tower. The Commission declined review in four cases whose employers had not sought or participated in review and severed Crescent Erection's general-duty case for a separate decision. For the…
Gulf & Western Food Products Co.
Delayed citations remanded for prejudice inquiry
Gulf & Western was cited after two truck accidents in which sugar-cane workers rode without seats and cane knives were not secured; several employees were injured and one died. The judge vacated both general-duty citations because OSHA issued them 36 and 26 days after beginning the respective…
Atlantic Sugar Association
Standing-worker transport case remanded
Atlantic Sugar transported field workers standing in trucks that lacked adequate seating or substantial rear barriers. The judge dismissed the serious general-duty citation at the close of OSHA's evidence, finding insufficient proof that the practice was a recognized hazard. The Commission held…
S. S. C. Corporation
Unsupported-wall hazard and $550 penalty affirmed
S. S. C. excavated a utility trench about 11 feet from an unsupported masonry wall that was 8 to 11 feet high. The ground was wet, soft fill, and an 18.5-ton backhoe straddled the trench end and transmitted vibration through the soil. The wall collapsed into the trench, injuring two employees and…
Ringland-Johnson, Inc.
Fall-hazard citations affirmed with $605 in penalties
Ringland-Johnson employees poured concrete while standing on planks laid across a scaffold inside a circular concrete structure. Gaps between the planks were 30 to 40 inches wide, and employees could fall 19.5 feet; an elevated runway also lacked guardrails, and the scaffold had no ladder or…
Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida
Unsafe worker transportation citation affirmed
Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative transported agricultural workers to and between fields while they stood in stake-body trucks without seats. Loose water coolers, blocks of ice, and ice tongs traveled in the same truck bed. The Commission held that an employer-provided truck used to advance the…
Cormier Well Service
Oil-rig fall-hazard violation affirmed
Cormier Well Service allowed an employee who was learning derrick work to stand without a safety belt or lifeline on an oil-rig platform about 55 feet above the derrick floor. An equipment failure dislodged a 100-pound iron ball that struck the employee, causing him to fall to his death. The…
Nugent Service, Inc.
Heavy-lifting citation vacated
Nugent Service supplied workers for a freight-transfer dock. OSHA alleged that the company required employees to lift objects weighing more than 132 pounds, lacked enough material-handling equipment, and failed to train employees in safe lifting methods. The Commission held that the Secretary had…
Advance Specialty Company, Inc.
Cyanide-gas and guarding violations affirmed
Advance Specialty fabricated wire parts at a worksite shared with Platers and Coaters, an affiliated plating operation under common ownership and management. An employee of each company died when an inexperienced worker mixed acid salts with sodium cyanide and produced hydrogen cyanide gas. The…
Texas Window Cleaning Company
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the Texas Window Cleaning Company case by referring to Francisco Tower Service. The attached judge's decision involved two experienced employees who cleaned fifth- and sixth-floor hospital windows while standing on a 20-inch ledge without safety…
Mobil Oil Company
Refinery heater relighting citation vacated
Mobil operated a natural-gas process heater at its Paulsboro, New Jersey, oil refinery. During a relighting attempt after a shutdown, the heater exploded and seriously injured an operator. OSHA cited Mobil under the general duty clause, alleging that its established relighting procedure lacked…
Theodore D. Bross Line Construction Corp.
Tower dismantling hazard affirmed
Theodore D. Bross Line Construction was dismantling 100-foot steel electrical transmission towers. Two employees remained about 60 feet above the ground while a crane and winch pulled over the tower's upper section. The section struck the remaining tower, causing one employee to fall and die and…
Marquette Cement Manufacturing Co.
Late amendment lacked consent
Marquette Cement discarded worn kiln bricks through an opening 26 feet above an alleyway at its Catskill, New York, plant. An employee in the alleyway was struck by the falling debris and killed. The Secretary first cited the general duty clause, then amended the complaint to cite a construction…
Thunderbird Coos Bay, Inc.
Saw guard and forklift-riding violations affirmed
Thunderbird Coos Bay used a radial-arm saw without a guard over the lower exposed blade. At the same worksite, two employees rode about 15 feet above the ground on loose lumber carried by a forklift. The Commission held that the saw-guarding standard was valid and that the exposed blade created a…
Southern Railway Company
Locomotive-derailer violation and $200 penalty affirmed
Southern Railway employees worked in maintenance pits where moving locomotives could strike locomotives under repair, and the company relied on its industry-standard blue-flag or blue-light rule rather than installing derailers. The Commission held that industry custom helped establish recognition…
Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation, Texas Eastern Cryogenics Corporation, and Sinapp Co-Staten Island, Inc.
Owners dismissed, contractor case remanded
Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation and Texas Eastern Cryogenics Corporation operated a liquefied-natural-gas facility on Staten Island, and Sinapp performed repair work there. A February 1973 tank fire killed three employees of the facility companies and 37 Sinapp employees. OSHA cited the…
Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Crane and personnel-box general-duty citations vacated
OSHA issued two serious general-duty citations to Sun Shipbuilding, each with a proposed $700 penalty. The first alleged that accessible crane swing-radius areas were not barricaded or otherwise protected, but the judge found that signalmen protected the areas and that the evidence did not…
Continental Oil Company (Southern Facilities Terminal)
Tank-terminal fire citations vacated
A gasoline storage tank overflowed at Continental Oil's Chattanooga terminal, followed by a fire and explosion that killed the terminal manager and two employees at a neighboring facility. OSHA issued six citations involving drainage, diking, fire control, and the general duty clause. The…
Hammonds Construction, Inc.
Energized-line violation affirmed and penalty reduced
Hammonds Construction had a cold-line contract requiring power lines to be deenergized before work. Although the owner instructed the foreman to turn off all lines, the foreman sent two employees aloft above an energized 7,200-volt tap. A deenergized wire contacted the live line, killing one…
Hanovia Lamp Division, Canrad Precision Industries, Inc.
High-voltage general-duty citation vacated
On remand from the Third Circuit, the Commission considered whether Hanovia should have required two-person teams for high-voltage laboratory testing. The Secretary's expert said many major companies used that practice, but the evidence also showed that laboratories varied their approach depending…
General Electric Company, Inc.
Mixed ruling on extensive turbine-plant citations
OSHA issued General Electric numerous serious, nonserious, repeated, and willful citations after inspecting its Schenectady steam turbine and generator facilities. The Commission affirmed or restored violations involving ladder safety, portable tools, welder fall protection, housekeeping, fire…
Kingery Construction Company
Forklift-platform hazard charge vacated, other items affirmed
Kingery used a platform attached to forklift forks to place an employee about eighteen feet above the ground for concrete-chipping work. OSHA alleged a serious general-duty violation because the forklift was unattended and the employee had no platform controls. The Commission affirmed vacation of…
Les Mares Enterprises, Inc.
Log-splitter citation vacated for lack of commerce coverage
Les Mares employed workers to clear land in Napa County and split removed trees into firewood. The company had considered using the land for grape production, but no vines had been planted and the intended use was never carried out. The only shown sales were local firewood sales within nearby…
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.