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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California Stevedore & Ballast Co.
Serious overloading hazard affirmed, container item vacated
California Stevedore discharged cargo from the S.S. Samoa Bear in San Francisco. It attempted to lift a five-ton pontoon with two booms rigged in a configuration understood in the industry to have about a two-and-a-half-ton capacity, and the gear failed, dropping the pontoon near several employees…
Mid-Plains Construction Company
Roof-fall case reinstated after pleading amendment
OSHA alleged that Mid-Plains Construction employees worked on a roof more than 25 feet above the ground without adequate fall protection. The citation initially relied on the general duty clause, but the Secretary's complaint amended the legal theory to the construction safety-net standard while…
Betten Processing Corp.
General-duty crane citation vacated
Betten Processing used a crane to move scrap iron and steel at its Wisconsin facility. After the operator left the crane unattended with its engine running and its magnet resting on a scrap pile, the boom and magnet rotated into a truck cab and killed the driver. OSHA cited the company under the…
Getty Oil Co.
Untested pressure-vessel citation affirmed
Getty Oil had a fluid-booster pressure vessel fabricated for installation at a Texas oil and gas facility. The experienced field mechanic responsible for the work learned that the vessel had not been pressure-tested but installed it without telling the company. The vessel ruptured immediately after…
Copperweld Steel Co.
Bottomless slag-pot citation affirmed
Copperweld Steel used a bottomless slag pot with a temporary dolomite bottom to handle molten slag at temperatures near 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Employees, union representatives, the safety director, and other company supervisors repeatedly warned management that the pot was unsafe, but the…
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, A Div. of United Aircraft Corp.
Loading-area general-duty citation vacated
Pratt & Whitney loaded tractor-trailers on a service road near a remote storage building, using forklifts for about 30 minutes at a time. Traffic was infrequent, moved slowly, and consisted mainly of company vehicles, while the forklifts and trucks used warning lights and employees followed safety…
Edgewood Construction Co.
Gas-detection general-duty violation affirmed
Edgewood installed a sewer beside a corroded natural-gas line that leaked repeatedly during the project. Employees relied on odor and waited 15 minutes for ventilation before entering the sewer, but the company did not use gas-detection instruments or change its ventilation methods. Gas accumulated…
Godwin-Bevers Co., Inc.
General-duty citation vacated because crane standard applied
Godwin-Bevers directed a leased crane and rigging crew while erecting precast concrete units beneath a 7,620-volt power line. A crane cable contacted the line, killing the contractor's foreman and injuring another employee and the crane lessor's oiler. OSHA cited Godwin-Bevers under the general…
Penn Central Transportation Company
Untimely railroad citations remained final
OSHA cited Penn Central for unsafe track conditions and multiple shop, office, electrical, housekeeping, and recordkeeping conditions at a Virginia rail yard. Penn Central did not timely contest the original citations, so the Commission held that they became final by operation of law and the…
Tolar Construction Company
Masonry-wall collapse violation affirmed
Tolar constructed a concrete-block wall approximately 20 to 30 feet high without pilasters and with inadequate temporary bracing. A strong wind collapsed the wall while employees were working nearby, and blocks landed as far as 200 to 300 feet from its base. The Commission affirmed a serious…
A & W Drill Rentals and Leroy Crandall and Associates
Power-line citations vacated
A & W operated a truck-mounted soil-drilling rig near energized overhead lines while working for Leroy Crandall and Associates. The experienced A & W foreman knew the line was present, but raised the boom into it and an A & W employee handling a guy line was electrocuted. The judge found that A & W…
National Cleaning Contractors, Inc.
Elevator-shaft hazard violation affirmed
A cleaning employee was instructed to use tools to trip an elevator hoistway door's emergency release. He was not warned that the elevator car might be absent, opened the door, stepped into the shaft, and fell 23 feet, sustaining injuries that required hospitalization. The supervisor had taught the…
Murro Chemical Co., Inc.
Conveyor hazard affirmed under general duty clause
Murro Chemical manufactured soap and fatty acids at a Virginia facility. OSHA initially cited an unguarded feed-conveyor worm gear under a machine-guarding standard, then amended the charge at the hearing to the general duty clause because the cited standard did not fit the condition. The judge…
Thorleif Larsen & Son, Inc.
$550 penalty restored for unanchored wall collapse
Thorleif Larsen & Son was the masonry subcontractor building a tall concrete-block wall at an Indianapolis construction site. The wall was left freestanding without being tied to the building's structural steel, and part of it collapsed, killing the company's foreman and seriously injuring three…
B & K Paving Company
Serious ungrounded-pump violation affirmed
B & K Paving used an electric water pump in a creek to control smoke from an asphalt batch plant. An employee entered the creek to inspect the pump intake, encountered electrical current in the water, collapsed, and later died. The pump was not grounded even though grounding leads had been…
Stack Construction Co.
$650 general-duty penalty affirmed
Stack Construction was installing a drainage culvert and concrete storm-sewer pipe. The judge found recognized hazards from an unguarded haul road beside an excavation and from moving a one-ton pipe section over employees in a trench. An employee operating a front-end loader had died after the…
Getter Trucking, Inc.
General duty citation vacated for lack of feasible measures
Getter Trucking helped recover a derailed locomotive using winch trucks and wire-rope cables. A cable caught under a crawler tractor became taut and snapped free, striking an employee who later died. OSHA alleged that the company failed to keep employees away from the cable under tension. The judge…
James E. Roberts Company and Soule Steel Company
Subcontractor liable for crane power-line hazard
James E. Roberts Company was the general contractor for a hospital addition, and Soule Steel Company was the reinforcing-steel subcontractor. A crane working near uninsulated 12,000-volt lines contacted the lines while a Soule employee guided suspended reinforcing steel, and the employee was…
Home Supply Company; Al J. Schneider Company, Inc.; and Al J. Schneider and Associates, Inc.
Four high-rise fall hazards upheld
Home Supply Company and two Al J. Schneider companies operated as a joint enterprise while constructing the 24-story Louisville Trust Building. The Commission affirmed four serious general duty clause violations involving unguarded floor perimeters, elevator-shaft openings, stairway openings, and…
Richmond Block, Inc.
Mixer lockout citation vacated after employee disregarded procedure
Richmond Block manufactured concrete products and used electrically powered mixers that employees entered for cleaning. The company had installed a padlock-based energy-isolation system, trained employees to use it, and instructed them to keep the key while inside a mixer. One employee entered…
ARO, Inc.
Two confined-space hazards affirmed with $1,500 in penalties
ARO employees entered a pit furnace without testing its atmosphere or disconnecting argon piping, and two employees were overcome and died in the oxygen-deficient space. Other employees immediately attempted rescue, but suitable rescue equipment was not readily available and additional workers were…
Southern Soya Corp.
Cottonseed cave-in violation affirmed with a $750 penalty
Southern Soya operated a cottonseed mill with a large storage tank and a steel tunnel that protected employees while seed was removed. Packed cottonseed could form vertical and undercut walls that might collapse if employees left the tunnel before the seed reached a safe level. A foreman…
Blaisdell Manufacturing, Inc.
Settlement disclaimer required revision
Blaisdell Manufacturing entered a settlement covering two serious citations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Commission affirmed the vacation of citation 2 because the Secretary said he could not produce enough evidence to prove it. It set aside approval of citation 1 because the…
Arizona Public Service Co.
Transformer-work citations vacated
Arizona Public Service employees worked around energized lightning arresters while repositioning lifting equipment above a transformer. An experienced journeyman electrician contacted an arrester and was killed after disregarding known clearance rules. The judge found no violation based on his…
Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Specific crane violation affirmed
Sun Shipbuilding was cited after employees used a crane and a non-locking clamp to move a 40-foot angle beam, which slipped and struck an employee. OSHA alleged both a general-duty violation and a violation of the specific crane standard governing secure and balanced loads. The Commission dismissed…
Boston Elevator and Machine Company
Serious citation affirmed
Boston Elevator and Machine Company contested a serious citation, a non-serious citation, and their proposed penalties. The Secretary amended the serious citation to allege a general-duty violation and withdrew the proposed penalty for the non-serious item. The employer later withdrew its contest…
American Smelting and Refining Company
Airborne lead general-duty violation affirmed
American Smelting and Refining operated a lead-refining plant in Omaha where air samples showed inorganic lead concentrations above the level generally accepted as safe. The administrative law judge found that the airborne lead was a recognized hazard likely to cause death or serious physical harm…
John B. Kelly, Inc.
Wall-collapse violation affirmed and serious penalty raised
John B. Kelly employees modified a 17-foot free-standing masonry wall at a federal construction project. A supervisor directed that the wall be supported with diagonal braces, but twice observed the employee proceeding without those braces and left after repeating warnings. The employee later…
Jasper Construction, Inc.
Hidden roof-hole hazard and $500 penalty affirmed
Jasper Construction created a roof opening about five feet by twenty feet for a ventilation shaft. The opening remained inadequately guarded for about a month and was later covered only with paper and lightweight insulation that could not support a person's weight. A subcontractor's employee walked…
Gressani-Gysel Construction, Inc.
Stairwell-opening citation vacated because no floor was proved
Gressani-Gysel was cited after a steel beam fell through an open stairwell or chimney-like area while employees worked above and a subcontractor's employees worked below. One subcontractor employee died, and the record showed a recognized falling-material hazard. OSHA charged the company under a…
B. Heckerman Iron Works, Inc.
Helmet item affirmed and opening citations vacated
B. Heckerman Iron Works employees worked in a stairwell area where materials could fall from above. The administrative law judge vacated the serious floor-opening citation and its $500 penalty because OSHA did not prove that a floor existed at the third-story elevation, making the cited…
Brisk Waterproofing Company, Inc.
Scaffold access charge amended and $1,200 assessed
Brisk employees performed caulking work from two suspended scaffolds 18 stories above the ground. An employee moved between them around a pylon and across an open gap without a safety belt, and three employees occupied a scaffold rated for no more than two workers. The Commission held that OSHA…
Greenfield and Associates, a Joint Venture
Tunnel citations settled for $16,000
Greenfield constructed a Lake Huron water-intake tunnel where an explosion killed 22 employees and seriously injured many others. OSHA issued nine citations concerning atmospheric testing, methane and communication hazards, ventilation, fire and explosion controls, evacuation planning…
M. A. Swatek & Co.
Maximum penalty assessed for serious trench hazard
M. A. Swatek & Co. excavated a trench in unstable soil for utility work in Oklahoma. The trench was about 17 feet deep, 3 feet wide at the bottom, and 19 feet wide at the top, with no shoring or ladder and sides steeper than the recognized safe angle. A side wall caved in and fatally injured an…
Ernest F. Donley's Son, Inc.
Serious T-form hazard affirmed with $640 penalty
Ernest F. Donley's Son was the concrete structural subcontractor on a multistory office-building project in Ohio. It used large T-forms weighing several thousand pounds and secured them with cable assemblies to prevent tipping. The Commission found that the original anchoring method provided…
Somerset Tire Service, Inc.
Serious electrical hazards affirmed
Somerset Tire Service operated an automotive service station in New Jersey. An employee received a fatal electric shock while connecting the plug of a tire-truing machine to an extension cord carrying 220 volts. The judge found loose wire strands inside the machine plug and an electrical continuity…
REA Express Co.
Maximum penalty affirmed for high-voltage hazard
REA Express operated a freight terminal with a locked circuit-breaker room containing 15,000-volt equipment. During an electrical outage, supervisory employees directed unqualified maintenance workers into the room to restore operations. The floor was damp, severed high-voltage cables were…
John J. Gordon Company
Citation dismissed after improper record reopening
John J. Gordon Company employees painted from a scaffold about 30 feet above the ground in Buffalo, New York. The scaffold fell, killing one employee and seriously injuring another, and the judge later found a serious general-duty-clause violation with a $750 penalty. At the original hearing…
Norman R. Bratcher Company
Aluminum-ladder citation vacated
Norman R. Bratcher Company painted buildings at Fort Wolters, Texas. Two employees received severe electrical shocks, one fatal, when an aluminum extension ladder contacted an overhead 7,200-volt line while they raised it after working on its extension mechanism. OSHA cited the painting contractor…
Vy Lactos Laboratories, Inc.
Hydrogen-sulfide citation vacated for unproven recognition
Vy Lactos manufactured livestock and poultry feed concentrates using proteinaceous fish solubles. After fish slurry overflowed into a basement, employees entered without self-contained breathing equipment and encountered a lethal atmosphere attributed to hydrogen sulfide gas. Three employees died…
Engstrum and Nourse
Serious trench cave-in hazard affirmed
Engstrum and Nourse installed an underground storm drain in San Francisco using a trench ranging from 13 to 16 feet deep. An eight-foot section remained unshored when two employees entered to install protection from the bottom up. Soil and loose material collapsed into the trench, killing one…
Republic Creosoting Co., Division of Reilly Tar & Chemical Corp.
Crosstie unloading and stacking citations vacated
Republic Creosoting operated a railroad-tie marshalling yard in Indiana. A newly hired employee unexpectedly cut the steel band around a package of ties before the forklift was positioned to secure the load, and falling ties fatally injured him. The Commission found that the company's customary…
Universal Maintenance & Repair Corporation
Mail-conveyor lockout violation affirmed
Universal maintained and repaired more than 200 conveyor belts at a mail-sorting facility. OSHA issued a serious general duty clause citation after an employee lost his right arm while attempting to clear a conveyor that had not been locked out. The judge found that the available locks and shared…
R. D. Blue Construction, Inc.
Trenching hazard citation affirmed
R. D. Blue Construction was excavating a trench for utility work near a hospital when two employees worked in a section at least eight feet deep. OSHA alleged that the trench had unstable sides, lacked adequate sloping, shoring, sheeting, or bracing, and had excavated material placed too close to…
Broadview Construction Co.
Forklift worker-lifting penalty raised to maximum
Broadview used a forklift to lift six employees and 25 long sheets of roofing material to a roof about 24 feet above the ground. The employees had no secured personnel platform or way to shut off the lift, and all six were seriously injured when the forklift toppled at a height of about 26 feet…
Hanovia Lamp Division, Canrad Precision Industries, Inc.
Serious citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
Hanovia manufactured lamps and employed an experienced laboratory technician who worked alone while testing high-voltage equipment. The technician created an unsafe arrangement involving exposed energized components and was electrocuted. OSHA cited the company under the general duty clause and…
Swift Trucking Company
Log-handling citation and $550 penalty affirmed
OSHA cited Swift Trucking under the general duty clause for removing binders from a load of logs before the loading machine was in place. The company contested the serious citation and proposed $550 penalty, then asked to withdraw its contest. Swift Trucking stated that it had abated the condition…
Arnold Hansen, dba Hansen Brothers Logging
Loader-swing citation vacated
Hansen Brothers Logging used a rotating log loader whose counterweight created a hazardous swing area near a truck trailer. An employee entered that area during loading and was fatally injured. OSHA cited the employer under the general duty clause and proposed a $500 penalty. The Commission found…
Constructora Metalica, Inc.
Crane citation vacated after denial of a fair hearing
A crane collapsed during dismantling at Constructora Metalica's apartment project, killing one employee and seriously injuring another. OSHA issued a serious general duty clause citation and proposed a $750 penalty. The Commission found that the parties had received notice only of a prehearing…
National Realty & Construction Company, Inc.
Passenger-riding citation affirmed with reduced penalty
A foreman rode on the step of a front-end loader that was towing equipment down a dirt ramp. The loader stalled and overturned, fatally injuring the foreman after he left the step. OSHA cited National Realty under the general duty clause and proposed an $800 penalty for allowing passenger riding on…
Phoenix, Inc., Legore Quarries Division
Quarry citations vacated for lack of OSHA jurisdiction
Phoenix operated a limestone-pulverizing facility at its Legore Quarries Division. OSHA issued serious and non-serious citations after an employee's leg was caught in an auger and amputated above the knee, and proposed a $750 serious penalty. The judge approved withdrawal of the contest but…
Dale M. Madden Construction, Inc.
Crane power-line citation and $650 penalty affirmed
Madden Construction operated a crane near a 55,000-volt overhead line while leveling the equipment for pile-driving work. An employee at an outrigger received an electrical shock and was injured. The judge dismissed the case because he found the Secretary's accident investigation weak and concluded…
American Home Products
Press-guarding settlement and $770 penalty approved
OSHA cited American Home Products after finding numerous inadequately guarded punch presses and foot-operated press pedals at its Ekco Housewares division. The record stated that press conditions had caused multiple employee amputations before inspection. The company represented that it had fully…
Sharp and Parrott, Inc.
No-penalty withdrawal settlement approved
OSHA cited Sharp and Parrott for conditions under standards that had not yet taken effect, proposed no penalty, and the parties agreed to treat the citation as arising under the general duty clause. The company represented that the conditions had been corrected, promised continuing compliance…
Gifford-Hill Pre-Stress
Concrete-lifting settlement and $700 penalty approved
OSHA cited Gifford-Hill, a general contractor, and an erection subcontractor over allegedly unsafe lifting attachments on prestressed concrete slabs. Gifford-Hill moved to withdraw its contest, represented that the condition was corrected, paid the $700 proposed penalty, and promised continuing…
Hidden Valley Corporation of Virginia
Trench citation affirmed and penalty raised to $1,000
Hidden Valley required employees to work in an approximately nine-foot-deep sewer trench whose sides were neither shored nor sloped. The trench collapsed and killed an employee and another person. Because the specific construction standard was not yet applicable to this employer, OSHA cited the…
Puget Sound Power & Light Co.
Disputed settlement set aside and hearing ordered
OSHA cited Puget Sound Power & Light under the general duty clause and proposed a $600 penalty. The parties stipulated that the case involved legitimate factual and legal disputes, the company would withdraw its contest, and it would pay $550 without admitting a violation. The judge approved the…
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.