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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United States Steel Corp.
Coal-tar-pitch settlement approved
The Secretary and United States Steel settled citations alleging excessive exposure to coal tar pitch volatiles at coke-oven batteries in four plants. The Steelworkers accepted the settlement except for the Fairfield, Alabama plant, where it objected that the two-year abatement period lacked…
K & B Sheet Metal, Inc.
Three nonserious construction violations affirmed with $150 in penalties
K & B Sheet Metal, a sheet-metal subcontractor at a Suffolk Community College construction site, was cited after its employees worked amid concrete-block and brick debris and in building areas without the required firefighting equipment. The company also had not posted the required OSHA notice. The…
Don Helvig, d/b/a Don Helvig Excavating
Trench protection and exit violations affirmed with reduced penalty
Don Helvig Excavating was digging a sewer trench in a North Dakota mobile-home park. The trench was about seven feet deep in soft or average soil, with the lowest three to four feet nearly vertical, inadequate sloping above, and no shoring or bracing. Although the soil was dry and collapse was not…
Jimmy R. Carlson
Twelve migrant-housing violations affirmed without penalty
Jimmy R. Carlson provided a Nebraska farm house for a migrant worker family of twelve. OSHA cited twelve temporary-labor-camp conditions involving livestock near the house, unsanitary grounds, overcrowded sleeping rooms, a boarded window, unscreened doors, distant and unapproved water, a nearby…
B & B Motor & Control Corp.
Exit and extinguisher penalties reduced to $280
B & B Motor & Control used a basement for storage and electronic-controller assembly by three employees. Two fire-exit doors were secured with bars, access or discharge was obstructed, and the exit signs were not illuminated. The company did not contest those violations but challenged the proposed…
Seattle Stevedore Co.
Hatch-tender fall-protection violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Seattle Stevedore was loading logs aboard two vessels in the Port of Tacoma. Three hatch tenders stood on stowed hatch pontoons flush with the offshore gunwales so they could signal winch operators who could not see the logs below. The signalmen had no gunwale protection, life jackets, lifelines…
Pabst Brewing Company
Noise case revived and discovery inspection granted
Pabst was cited for allegedly failing to use feasible engineering or administrative controls for excessive brewery noise. The judge granted Pabst summary judgment after the Secretary admitted he could not then prove that available controls would reduce noise to the limits in Table G-16, and the…
Everett Stevedoring Company
Repeat hard-hat violation affirmed
Three Everett Stevedoring longshoremen were not wearing protective hats while logs were being hoisted aboard a vessel. Two worked on deck within the swing area of operating cargo gear, and one worked on a log boom beside the ship; all had access to hazards from the gear, slings, or falling debris…
Publix Meat Market #1034
Mesh-glove citation vacated
OSHA cited Publix for not providing metal mesh gloves to retail meat cutters who used knives for boning, trimming, and cutting. Applying the reasonable-person test used for the general personal-protective-equipment standard, the judge found that the Secretary had not established a nationwide…
Underhill Construction Corp. and DIC Concrete Corp., trading as DIC-Underhill, A Joint Venture
Repeat serious perimeter-guarding violation affirmed
DIC-Underhill was cited after employees worked near unguarded edges on the fourth and fifth floors of a high-rise construction project. The judge found that perimeter guards sometimes had to be removed for specialized column work, but held the company responsible for completely removing the…
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…
Weyerhaeuser Company
Sawmill citations largely reinstated
After two inspections of Weyerhaeuser’s Oregon lumber complex, the judge vacated most contested items. The Commission largely reversed. It affirmed excessive-noise subitems where even machinery-idling readings exceeded permissible levels for the employees’ work periods, while vacating subitems that…
Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Brewery noise-control violation affirmed
Anheuser-Busch was cited for failing to implement feasible engineering or administrative controls for excessive noise at brewery packaging equipment. The company challenged a continuance that allowed the Secretary to obtain expert testimony and disputed the judge’s reliance on that acoustical…
Alan Wood Steel Company
One crane limit-switch citation vacated, one conditionally affirmed
Alan Wood Steel was cited over malfunctioning upper-limit switches on two regularly used overhead cranes. Crane 69 passed the required slow-speed tests but failed a high-speed test. The Commission vacated that citation because the crane was not new or altered and the standards did not require…
Western Window Cleaning Service, Inc.
Fatal scaffold fall yields serious belt violation
Two window cleaners fell about 24 feet when a suspension-scaffold wire rope broke; one died and the other was seriously injured. Neither wore a safety belt or lifeline, although the company had issued the equipment. The judge held that the cited powered-platform provisions applied only to…
Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation
Noise-abatement deadline extended
Owens-Corning sought to extend two noise-abatement deadlines to December 31, 1976. The judge found that the company had installed operator booths with sound levels below 90 dBA, maintained an audiometric program, supplied hearing protection, and pursued engineering controls for noisy glass…
Publix Meat Market #1096
Mesh-glove and apron citation vacated
OSHA cited Publix for not requiring retail meat cutters to wear steel mesh gloves and aprons while boning, trimming, and cutting meat. The judge applied the industry-custom and reasonable-person tests used for the general personal-protective-equipment standard. The record contained no evidence of…
Southeastern Aluminum Products
Metal cut-off saw guarding citation vacated
Southeastern used two Rockwell cut-off machines with metal saw blades rather than abrasive wheels. OSHA alleged that the manufacturer-supplied guards were inadequate under the general machine-guarding standard, while the company argued that the machines and guards were designed under the…
Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company
Contested trenching items vacated
The utility’s employees worked in an 8-to-10-foot-deep trench protected by plywood sheeting, hydraulic jacks, and sloped upper walls. OSHA alleged inadequate support in soft or unstable soil, insufficient close sheeting, and a need for additional bracing because a parked backhoe was near one end…
Seattle Stevedore Company
Serious cargo-edge fall hazard affirmed
Two longshoremen worked atop a 26-foot-high stack of steel pipe while unloading a vessel. For about an hour they crawled to the aft ends of the pipe beside an unguarded three-foot opening to the hold floor, without a safety net, belt, or equivalent protection. The judge found a serious violation…
Yonkers Plate Glass, Inc.
Serious balcony fall hazard affirmed
Two Yonkers Plate Glass employees installed metal trim on an unguarded fourth-floor balcony about 40 feet above ground, working as close as three feet from the edge without belts or lifelines. The judge credited the compliance officer’s identification of the workers and imputed the foreman’s…
Central Building and Cleaning Co., Inc.
Scaffold and protective-equipment violations affirmed
An employee sandblasted from a two-point suspension scaffold 24 feet above a Chicago sidewalk. The judge found that the cornice hooks were securely installed, but the scaffold was improperly tied to window-cleaner anchors, the sandblaster lacked a safety belt and lifeline, and required rails and…
L. H. Sowles Company
Construction-site exposure citations affirmed
These consolidated cases involved three construction sites. At a North Dakota power plant, debris obstructed walkways and cutting waste fell through floor holes into an incompletely barricaded area; both nonserious items were affirmed, with a $45 penalty for housekeeping and none for falling…
Kennedy Houseboats, Inc.
Machine-guarding citation affirmed without penalties
Kennedy Houseboats contested point-of-operation guarding allegations involving double-angle saws, a Pexto shear, and the shear and punch on a Dvorak Iron Worker, while several other electrical and machine-guarding items remained contested only as to penalty. The judge found that employees’ hands…
Central Contracting Corporation
Roof-edge and air-shaft violations affirmed
At a hospital addition, a crane operator worked near the unguarded edge of an elevator-tower roof about 20 feet above a scaffold, and an unguarded air-shaft pit lay beside an employee walkway. The company conceded both violations but disputed their classification and penalties. The judge found the…
Union Steel Erectors, Inc.
Willful crane-riding and fall violations affirmed
OSHA observed Union Steel employees riding a crane hook, headache ball, and suspended steel loads 50 to 70 feet above the ground. The foreman knowingly allowed the practice for about a week, the general contractor had warned him it violated safety rules, and the crane operator knew it was…
Savina Home Industries, Inc.
Failure-to-abate notification vacated
Savina received a failure-to-abate notification after a follow-up inspection concerning an injury log, first-aid training, and a welding hood hanging on a fire extinguisher. The Commission explained that a prima facie failure-to-abate case requires a final original citation and the identical…
The Mayronne Company
Fatal derrick-ladder violation reduced from willful to serious
A derrickman fell 60 to 70 feet to his death while helping move a snatch block during rig-down. A ladder rung had only three to four inches of clearance behind it, and the rig’s counterweight ladder-safety system was unavailable after the derrick crown had been telescoped down. The worker also was…
Huron Culvert and Tank Company
Rivet-punch and shear guarding violations affirmed
Two Stamco rivet-and-punch machines required a helper to place a hand beneath the punch and rivet hammer at least once during each culvert assembly, and no guarding device was present. The judge found that interlocking dual controls could be installed and that possible production slowdown or…
Charles Vrana & Son Construction Company
Fatal roof-fall violations affirmed
Vrana employees repaired a tornado-damaged metal roof with loose sheets and open areas up to about 32 feet above ground. An apprentice stepped on an unsecured sheet and fell through the roof to his death. The judge found that workers received only general directions to remove debris and install…
Ruedy’s Auto Shop
Spray-painting violations affirmed with reduced penalty
Ruedy’s small auto-body shop admitted several spray-painting violations, including inadequate mechanical ventilation, ignition sources, missing no-smoking signs, uncovered waste containers, and excessive flammable material. The judge found their cumulative effect serious because six employees faced…
Arthur and Toni Sheets, doing business as Sheets Tree Expert Company
Repeat hard-hat violation affirmed with $10 penalty
An employee of the small tree-trimming company worked beneath a large limb being lowered by a boom truck without wearing a protective helmet. The company had supplied hard hats, face shields, ear guards, and protective glasses, but employees resisted using them. The judge held that employee…
Alatex, Incorporated
Sewing-machine apparatus items affirmed as de minimis
The four consolidated cases concerned whether the power-transmission standard applied to industrial sewing-machine apparatus. At Alatex’s request, proceedings were stayed pending the Commission’s decision in Van Raalte, which the company agreed would control. After that decision, one contested item…
Arizona Public Service Co.
Full controls required on each aerial-lift platform
Arizona Public Service used a truck-mounted double-spinner aerial lift with two employee platforms. One platform had full boom, trolley, and swinger-arm controls, while the other could control only its swinger arm, brake, and dump valve. The Commission held that applicability turned on whether the…
Roof Engineering Corporation
Flat-roof guardrail citation vacated
Roof Engineering employees installed roofing material on an open-sided flat penthouse roof. The Commission affirmed vacation of the guardrail citation because, under its intervening Central City Roofing precedent adopting the Fifth Circuit’s Diamond Roofing reasoning, the open-sided-floor standard…
John Hassall, Inc.
Fastener-plant noise citation vacated
John Hassall’s fastener plant exposed machine operators to noise of roughly 95 to 102 decibels. The Secretary proposed enclosing machines with rated plastic curtains, but the judge found that approach unproven and impractical because it would not reduce noise inside the enclosure, would interfere…
C. A. Spalding Company
Mechanical-press guarding violation affirmed
C. A. Spalding’s tool-and-die shop used mechanical power presses for slow, experimental forming work without point-of-operation devices that kept both of an operator’s hands outside the press. Employees sometimes adjusted material by hand or with a push stick while inching the press. Although no…
The Pioneer Company
Trench and retaining-wall violations affirmed
Pioneer employees worked in a narrow trench between a 15-foot retaining wall and a nearly vertical excavated hillside made of shattered shale, sandstone, fill, and seeping material. The trench had no adequate shoring or slope. Other employees, including a foreman, used the unguarded 18-inch-wide…
John Hoaglin Auto Trim
Low-gravity shop violations affirmed with $75 total penalty
John Hoaglin Auto Trim contested only the penalties for ten admitted nonserious violations. The items included floor debris creating a trip hazard, naphtha stored in an unapproved container, unguarded sewing-machine belts, uncovered electrical outlet boxes, and ungrounded sewing and vending…
Ketchikan Spruce Mills, Inc.
Wire-rope sling citation vacated
Ketchikan Spruce Mills used wire-rope slings with spliced-eye ends to load lumber and cants onto a barge. The standard required protruding splice strands to be covered or blunted. The judge found that keeping the strands continuously blunted would require inspection after every load, exposing…
St. Johnsbury Trucking Co., Inc.
Footwear and eye-protection items upheld
St. Johnsbury Trucking operated a busy freight terminal where employees moved cargo with forklifts and carts and repaired trailers. OSHA cited the company for failing to require protective footwear, failing to require eye protection during metal drilling, and leaving electrical parts unguarded. The…
Mercury National Life Insurance Co.
Late contest dismissed and OSHA coverage upheld
Mercury National Life challenged OSHA jurisdiction after being cited for poster, recordkeeping, exit, and electrical conditions at its Oklahoma office. Although almost all policyholders, agents, employees, income, and shareholders were in Oklahoma, the company used out-of-state equipment and…
Rayco Construction Company, Inc.
Repeat guardrail and housekeeping violations affirmed
Rayco employees worked on unguarded second- and third-floor levels in cold, gusty weather with ice, snow, and water on the surfaces. Some came within inches of floor edges or worked on beams outside the floors, facing falls of 12 to 24 feet. The second floor also contained lumber with protruding…
Spartan Construction Co., Inc.
Informal-conference request did not preserve contest
After a fatal accident, Spartan received a serious citation and proposed $500 penalty. Within the 15-working-day contest period, its president wrote OSHA requesting an informal discussion and later attended a conference. He did not expressly contest the penalty until a second letter sent after the…
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…
Savina Home Industries, Inc.
Thirteen construction violations affirmed
At a retail-store construction site, the judge affirmed thirteen nonserious items involving missing hard hats, deficient mobile-scaffold rails, planking and bracing, frayed drill cords, an unapproved receptacle, a knotted winch cable, reversed wire-rope clips, a damaged ladder, a mushroomed…
West Coast Construction Co., Inc.
Inadequate excavation sloping upheld
West Coast Construction was installing a storm sewer and had three employees working in a sandy ground opening that was 7.5 feet deep. OSHA cited the company because the opening lacked shoring and its walls were not sloped enough to protect employees from moving ground. The Commission held that the…
Miller Construction Company
Two trench items vacated for insufficient proof
Miller Construction was installing an underground water line when OSHA cited it for a hard-hat violation, material stored too close to a trench edge, and inadequate protection against a trench collapse. The company admitted the hard-hat item, which carried a $25 penalty. The judge found that…
General Telephone Company of Pennsylvania
Aerial-lift citation vacated as isolated misconduct
A General Telephone cable splicer worked about ten feet above the ground in an aerial-lift bucket without wearing a body belt and attached lanyard. OSHA cited the company and proposed a $90 penalty. After a remand to consider the company's timely brief, the judge found that the employee had been…
Konkolville Lumber Co., Inc.
One saw item and one chain item upheld
OSHA cited Konkolville Lumber for saw guarding, mechanical power-transmission guarding, and fire-extinguisher conditions at its Idaho sawmill. In an earlier ruling included in this release, the Commission affirmed a serious radial-saw violation with a $100 penalty and left in place a nonserious…
R.C. Smith, d/b/a R.C. Smith & Company
Late contest dismissed after effective mailed notice
OSHA issued three serious citations and a ten-item nonserious citation after inspecting R.C. Smith's apartment-building project. Smith told the inspector that he would leave the country and directed OSHA to send mail to his home address, where a tenant he had asked to handle his mail signed for the…
Schultz Roof Truss, Inc.
Judge's decision affirmed without substantive review
The Commission affirmed the judge's decision because no party objected and the review order identified no compelling public-interest issue. Commissioner Moran agreed with affirming settled nonserious items but said he would vacate two litigated serious citations under the woodworking-machinery…
Imperial Lumber Company
Late-contest dismissal reversed for notice inquiry
Imperial Lumber received OSHA's citation and penalty notice at its corporate mailing address while its president was abroad. The president wrote a contest letter when he returned, but the judge dismissed it as late because more than 15 working days had passed since the mail arrived. The Commission…
Crawford Steel Construction Co.
Fall-protection citation vacated for lack of feasible method
Crawford Steel employees walked along steel beams while erecting an exit ramp, at points more than 25 feet above the ground. OSHA cited the company for failing to provide a safety net or another listed form of fall protection and proposed a $550 penalty. The record showed that a crane had to…
Allis-Chalmers Corporation
Side-shield item upheld, tractor-guarding item vacated
Allis-Chalmers employees used machine tools and compressed air in areas where metal particles could approach their eyes from the front or side. Although employees wore frontal safety glasses, the company did not generally require side shields. The Commission affirmed the eye-protection item and its…
Alpha Poster Service, Inc.
Most failure-to-abate and liquid-handling items upheld
Alpha Poster Service operated a small silk-screen printing business that OSHA reinspected after an earlier citation became final. The judge affirmed ten failure-to-abate items at $45 each, vacated two others, and affirmed two housekeeping and exit-obstruction violations as nonserious at $115 each…
Norfolk and Western Railway Company
Railroad exemption rejected
OSHA issued two citations alleging 31 violations at Norfolk and Western Railway workplaces in Chicago. The railway admitted the violations and the penalty factors, leaving its claimed exemption from OSHA jurisdiction as the contested issue. The Commission relied on earlier decisions holding that…
Diamond International Corp.
Guarding citations upheld with reduced penalties
OSHA cited Diamond International for unguarded power-transmission equipment, unguarded saw blades, and stairways without handrails at its Idaho sawmill. The judge found nine power-transmission guarding violations but reduced their classification from serious to nonserious because employee exposure…
Philadelphia Coke Division, Eastern Associated Coal Corp.
Conveyor-ramp citation vacated
Philadelphia Coke used an enclosed, inclined conveyor ramp between two elevated screening stations. OSHA cited the company because the ramp rose about four to four-and-a-half inches for every twelve horizontal inches. The Commission held that the cited standard required stairs or a ramp where an…
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…
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.