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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Underhill Construction Corp. and DIC Concrete Corp., trading as DIC-Underhill, a Joint Venture
Willful high-rise guardrail violation affirmed for $5,000
DIC-Underhill employees worked on the fifteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth floors of a high-rise construction project without required perimeter guardrails or equivalent fall protection. The Commission rejected the argument that the horse-scaffold standard displaced the open-sided-floor standard…
Republic Steel Corp.
Open-tank ventilation citation vacated
Republic Steel cleaned tubing in an open tank containing sodium hydroxide, using an exhaust rate below the control velocity listed in the cited ventilation standard. The operator's airborne exposure was only five percent of the applicable threshold limit value. Reading the open-tank provisions…
Erel Corporation
Spray-booth floor-paper citation vacated
Erel maintained Air Force ground-support equipment and used combustible paper on a spray-booth floor to collect paint overspray. OSHA cited the practice under a standard prohibiting combustible material in spray-booth construction and proposed a $60 penalty. The judge rejected Erel's claim that Air…
R.A. Pohl Construction Co., Inc.
Trench citation vacated over uncertain soil type
OSHA cited sewer contractor R.A. Pohl after employees worked in a roughly 16-foot-deep trench whose south and east sides were neither sloped nor shored. Pohl argued that the excavation passed through material solid enough to stand vertically without support. The witnesses gave conflicting…
B. & S. Roofing Co., Inc.
Defective-ladder item affirmed without penalty
B. & S. Roofing employees worked near the edge of a flat roof without personal fall-protection equipment and accessed the roof using an extension ladder with a broken pulley rung and splintered rails. The judge affirmed the defective-ladder item because the standard prohibited use of a ladder with…
Petrocelli Electric Co., Inc.
Hard-hat item affirmed and posting item vacated
OSHA cited electrical contractor Petrocelli for failing to post the required OSHA notice and for employees working without protective helmets at a Brooklyn construction site. The judge vacated the posting item because OSHA had not furnished the company with the notice before the inspection…
Julius Nasso Concrete Corporation
Horse-scaffold guardrail claim remanded for hearing
An employee allegedly worked on an unguarded horse scaffold only eight feet above its supporting floor but next to a building perimeter where a fall could extend about 100 feet. The judge granted summary judgment for the employer because the scaffold itself was less than ten feet high. The…
Limbach Company
Missing stair railing violation affirmed
Limbach employees used a flight of stairs leading to a work trailer that lacked a railing on one open side. The company admitted the stair configuration but argued that the stair width and a nearby storage box removed the fall hazard. The judge found that those conditions might reduce the…
Walker Construction Company
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA cited Walker Construction for ungrounded portable tools and uncovered or unbarricaded pier holes, proposing $85 in total penalties. Walker's vice president signed a notice of contest before the deadline, but a secretary did not mail it until five days after the statutory filing period expired…
Brown & Root, Inc.
Trenching citations vacated for lack of proof
OSHA cited Brown & Root after inspecting an underground utility project where employees were installing pipe in a trench. The citations alleged that the trench lacked an adequate exit and that its sides were not properly supported or sloped. The judge found that employees could reach an ascendable…
Spring Sheet Metal & Roofing Co., Inc.
Roof fall-protection citation vacated
Spring Sheet Metal employees worked on flat roof areas and accessed small upper roofs across sloped sections of a building with pagoda-like structures. OSHA alleged that the company failed to guard open roof edges and added an alternative catch-platform allegation for work involving the sloped…
Quick Erectors, Inc.
Window-installation fall citation vacated
Quick Erectors employees installed window frames at fifth-floor wall openings about 40 feet above the ground without midrails or safety belts. The judge found a fall hazard but concluded that a standard intermediate rail would obstruct the frame work and had to be removed for final window…
Zeller Machinery Co., Inc.
Late contest of machine-guarding citation dismissed
Zeller Machinery filed its written contest of a serious machine-guarding citation 25 working days after receiving the citation and proposed penalty. The company said it mistakenly believed the 15-day period began on the abatement date and had orally advised OSHA that it intended to contest. The…
Request Records, Inc.
Ladder, exit-sign, and storage violations affirmed
OSHA cited Request Records for leaving an unmarked defective ladder accessible near high storage shelves, failing to mark an exit route, and stacking boxed records so they leaned toward an employee aisle. The judge found that buying a replacement ladder did not remove the old ladder from service…
Flintco, Inc.
Hoist and radial-saw violations affirmed
OSHA cited Flintco during construction of a high-rise hospital addition for a personnel hoist without guy lines, employees working near an unguarded edge without safety belts, a radial arm saw that did not return automatically, and an unguarded roof edge. The judge affirmed the hoist violation…
Leo J. Martone & Associates, Inc.
Crane-boom fall protection violation affirmed
An OSHA compliance officer observed Martone's crane operator walking on a horizontal tower-crane boom about 70 feet above the ground without guardrails or a safety belt attached to a lifeline. The judge vacated the serious citation, but the Commission reversed because inspection duties on the boom…
Florida Power & Light Co.
Commission excuses a slightly late notice of contest and orders a hearing
Florida Power & Light Co. wanted to contest an OSHA citation but filed its written notice of contest three days late. The company's safety manager had told OSHA's acting area director in person, within the 15-working-day window, that the company would contest, and he had already prepared the…
Dic-Underhill, A Joint Venture
Willful guardrail violation affirmed
Dic-Underhill employed about 80 people performing concrete work at the World Trade Center construction site. OSHA found two accessible open-sided floor locations without guardrails and also cited missing fire extinguishing equipment near a stairway. The Commission affirmed the guardrail violation…
Morris Enterprises, Inc.
Saw-guard and stair-railing items affirmed
The Commission reviewed two items the judge had vacated at Morris Enterprises' building-supply operation. An unguarded table saw was available for employee use, and saw trimmings, the company president's testimony, and the walkaround representative's statement supported a finding that it was…
Weyerhaeuser Company
Noise-control citation vacated for lack of feasibility proof
After an earlier remand, the remaining issue was whether engineering controls for noise at Weyerhaeuser's operation were economically feasible. The record showed that vinyl curtains near a single-facer machine would cost $6,000 to $8,000 while reducing sound by only one or two decibels. The judge…
Boise Cascade Corp., Composite Can Division
Noise ruling expanded and abatement modified
OSHA measured excessive noise at Boise Cascade's paper-and-metal container plant. The Commission affirmed violations at winder and seamer operations where employees lacked required hearing protection and reversed the judge's vacation of the punch-press portion because several operators were not…
Diversified Construction Consultants, Inc.
Commission sets aside a dismissal to approve a settlement
Diversified Construction Consultants, Inc. had contested an OSHA citation, but Administrative Law Judge Chalk dismissed its notice of contest because the company failed to file an answer and did not respond to an order to show cause. Two days later, the parties reached a settlement and asked the…
Koppers Company, Inc.
Review ended after union withdrew petition
An authorized employee representative petitioned for Commission review of an administrative law judge's decision involving Koppers Company. The representative later withdrew that petition. Because no party then objected to the judge's decision, the Commission affirmed it without further analysis…
CAPA Iron Works, Inc.
Water drum and pails satisfied fire protection requirement
CAPA Iron Works employees used an acetylene torch at a construction site where OSHA found no portable fire extinguisher. The company relied on a 55-gallon drum of water and two fire pails as alternative equipment. The Commission accepted the judge's credibility finding that the equipment was…
Parnon Construction, Inc.
Central records allowed and extinguisher item vacated
Parnon Construction performed masonry work at several dispersed construction sites and kept its injury and illness log at its main office. The Commission held that this centralized system complied with the rule for physically dispersed operations because foremen reported daily, the office contact…
Central of Georgia Railroad Company
Railroad liable for hazardous conditions on customer tracks
Central of Georgia Railroad sent switching crews onto tracks owned and maintained by Continental Can, where lime, oil, mud, chips, and water created unsafe walking conditions. The Commission rejected the railroad's argument that Federal Railroad Administration authority displaced OSHA jurisdiction…
Environmental Utilities Corp.
Trench violation reclassified as serious
Environmental Utilities installed sewer pipe in trenches in Columbia, Pennsylvania. Two employees remained in the Marietta Pike trench after two of three trench jacks were removed, leaving the trench inadequately protected from a cave-in. The Commission changed the judge's classification from…
W. E. Dalton, M. L. Dalton & J. B. Truelove, d/b/a E. L. Dalton & Co.
Trench timbering and warning-vest items affirmed
E. L. Dalton & Co. performed trenching work beside a public street and near railroad tracks in Irving, Texas. The Commission affirmed a serious trench-timbering violation because the company used three-quarter-inch plywood where the applicable table required larger timber, and it sustained a $100…
Bonitz All-Weather Crete Co., Inc.
Flat-roof guardrail citation vacated
Bonitz employees installed roof insulation on a flat hospital roof about 26 feet above the ground without guardrails or other fall protection. The judge found a serious violation after rejecting the company's claims that guardrails were infeasible or would create a greater hazard, and assessed a…
Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Co.
Amended open-pit citation affirmed
Kaiser was originally cited under a floor-hole standard for failing to provide covers or guardrails around open carbon pits. In an earlier order, the Commission found that the open-pit standard applied instead and provisionally amended the citation. Kaiser argued that the amendment caused…
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…
Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.
Review direction vacated at employer's request
Air Products asked the Commission to vacate the direction for review in its case. The Commission found that the company did not seek any change to the judge's decision. It granted the motion under the Commission's policy statement, making the judge's decision the final order. Commissioner Moran…
Stimson Contracting Co.
Three trench items affirmed and duplicate item vacated
Stimson Contracting employees installed sewer pipe in a trench that was 17 feet deep and four feet wide at the bottom. The company placed excavated material too close to the edge, did not provide an adequate exit, and left a crawler crane above and near the trench without additional shoring or…
Rust Engineering Company; Allegheny Industrial Electric Company
Scaffold access item reduced to de minimis
A Rust Engineering employee climbed down a 15-foot scaffold using its end-frame bars instead of a separate access ladder. The Commission agreed that the bars were not equivalent to a proper ladder because their spacing varied from 19 to 21 inches and the record did not show slip-resistant…
General Electric Company
Unguarded paint-room pit violated open-pit standard
General Electric used a long, five-foot-deep pit to paint the undersides of railroad cars at its Erie facility. After a car left the room, painters routinely cleaned debris from a floor surrounding the unguarded pit and worked within two to three feet of its edge. The Commission held that…
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…
The House of Glass
Seven equipment and electrical items affirmed
The House of Glass operated a retail glass and glazing business in Great Falls, Montana. OSHA cited conditions involving a discharged fire extinguisher, a radial saw, an unguarded pulley, blocked electrical equipment, and three ungrounded appliances or machines. The Commission found the record…
Ribblesdale, Inc.
Inadvertent default set aside
Ribblesdale was cited for pump-jack scaffold conditions involving missing guardrails, inadequate pole bracing, and inadequate foundations. Its lawyer failed to appear at the hearing after misunderstanding the company's instruction to stop work on a different OSHA matter. The judge entered default…
Swimline Corp.
Advisory radiation guide could not support citation
OSHA cited Swimline after measuring electromagnetic exposure above 10 milliwatts per square centimeter at an operator's position on a radio-frequency heat sealer. The judge held that the cited radiation guide was advisory because it said the level "should not" be exceeded, while an enforceable…
Sun Outdoor Advertising, Inc.
Scaffold guardrail violation affirmed as serious
Two Sun Outdoor Advertising employees painted a billboard from an unguarded suspension scaffold 20 feet above rocky ground. One employee wore a safety belt, while the other had forgotten to reconnect his belt for about 15 minutes after lunch. The Commission affirmed the serious guardrail violation…
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…
McHugh & McHugh
First-aid and crane swing-radius items affirmed
McHugh & McHugh used two barges and a crane while constructing a railroad bridge over the Willamette River. The Commission affirmed a first-aid item because supplies locked in a shore-side trailer were not easily accessible to employees working on barges in the river. It also affirmed a serious…
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.
Crane brake item affirmed without penalty
Wheeling-Pittsburgh operated a 35-ton overhead crane after its engine had been repaired but before the hydraulic foot brake was reinstalled. Operators normally stopped the crane by reversing its electric motor, but that method would not work during a power failure and the foot brake was used in…
J. P. Fyfe, Inc.
Flat-roof guardrail citation vacated
J. P. Fyfe employees performed roofing work on a one-story building about 15 to 17 feet above the ground. OSHA observed seven employees on the roof, including two within two or three feet of the edge, without perimeter guarding or personal fall protection. OSHA alleged a repeat serious…
Western Waterproofing Co., Inc.
Five suspension-scaffold items affirmed
Western Waterproofing employees sprayed a building from a two-point suspension scaffold supported by outrigger beams at heights up to 22 feet. The judge found that the outrigger supports lacked required bearing, anchorage, and bracing, and that the scaffold lacked a secondary tieback, safety belts…
Mikel Company, Inc.
Machine-guarding items affirmed in part and penalties reduced
Mikel Company manufactured high-style furniture using saws, routers, a jointer, and a root shaper. The judge vacated the root-shaper item because the evidence showed a hold-down guard was installed, but affirmed jointer and router guarding violations with penalties of $30 and $35. Four saw-guarding…
Quillian Pipe Company, Inc.
Trench violation reduced from willful to serious
Quillian Pipe employees worked in an inadequately protected trench that was more than five feet deep while installing underground pipeline in Macon, Georgia. OSHA had recently explained trenching requirements to the company's president after an earlier inspection, then cited the later condition as…
Iowa Southern Utilities Co.
Energized-line inspection violation affirmed
An Iowa Southern Utilities lineman was electrocuted while removing part of a three-phase power line energized at 13,200 volts. The parties stipulated that the crew failed to take the precautions needed to determine the line was de-energized before work began. The Commission treated the temporary…
Deemer Steel Casting Co.
Failure-to-abate settlement approved
Deemer Steel had previously been ordered to control dust from portable pneumatic grinding wheels and was given time to seek a variance. After OSHA denied the variance application and reinspected the plant, it issued a failure-to-abate notice with a proposed $1,260 penalty. The parties agreed to…
Adler & Neilson Co., Inc.
Central recordkeeping satisfied construction rules
Adler & Neilson performed architectural metal installation as a subcontractor at a temporary construction site. OSHA cited the company for not keeping its injury and illness log and annual summary at that worksite. The Commission found that the company had maintained the records at its central…
Croom Construction Co.
Safety-belt citation vacated under wrong standard
A Croom Construction employee fell through a temporarily covered roof opening to a concrete floor 15 to 17 feet below and died. OSHA cited the company for not using lifelines, safety belts, or lanyards while employees installed roofing sheets. The Commission held that the cited standard regulated…
Northwestern Insulation Co., Inc.
Scaffold violations and walkaround inspection affirmed
Northwestern Insulation employees worked from multilevel scaffolding while covering heat-exchanger towers on a roof about 30 feet above the ground. The judge affirmed violations involving missing guardrails and toeboards, excessive plank spans, and excessive plank overhang, with total penalties of…
Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Unguarded bus service pits violated open-pit rule
Greyhound maintained 15 bus service pits that were 42 feet long, four feet wide, and four feet six inches deep. The pits lacked covers or guardrails when buses were not being serviced, and employees regularly worked in the surrounding area. The Commission rejected Greyhound's claim that federal…
Carl E. Widell & Son; L. Feriozzi Concrete Company; L & S Steel Service, Inc.
Excavation citations vacated for lack of moving-ground danger
Employees of three contractors worked in a pumping-station excavation about 48 feet square and 27 feet deep. OSHA alleged that the west wall exposed employees to moving ground because its slope was less than the approximate angle listed in a trenching table. The judge found that OSHA did not prove…
James M. Inman Construction Corp.
Serious excavation violation affirmed with a reduced penalty
James M. Inman Construction was the general contractor for construction of a department store in Hackensack, New Jersey. A front-end loader used a muddy road beside a seven-foot-deep excavation where no stop logs or barricades protected the edge, and a concrete subcontractor's employee was standing…
S. E. Smith & Sons
Saw-guard violations affirmed with a reduced penalty
S. E. Smith & Sons contested five nonserious items and five serious machine-guarding items involving table and radial saws. The employer argued that each saw operator should decide whether to use the required safety devices. The judge rejected that position because compliance with the standards…
Howard P. Foley Co.
Injury-log item affirmed and four worksite items vacated
Howard P. Foley performed electrical work at a power-plant construction site. The judge affirmed a recordkeeping item because the onsite injury and illness log contained no entry for a known lost-time injury, and he assessed a $50 penalty. He vacated a housekeeping item because valves awaiting…
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…
Titanium Metals Corporation of America
Roadway citation affirmed and failure-to-abate charge vacated
Titanium Metals refined titanium at a Nevada facility where forklifts carried open pots of molten magnesium chloride over exterior roadways with dips and ruts. The uneven surfaces caused the hot material to splash, and the record included an employee burn from a splash. The judge held that the…
Alpha Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold guardrail and access violations affirmed
Alpha Masonry employees worked from a fourth-floor scaffold with unguarded ends. Employees also moved between the building and the scaffold by taking a two-foot horizontal and three-foot vertical step while exposed to falls of about 38 to 41 feet. The judge found serious guardrail and safe-access…
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.