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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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…
H.L. Vokes Company
Posted settlement gave employees adequate notice
H.L. Vokes Company was cited for failing to abate a spray-area ventilation violation. The Secretary and the company settled the case by extending the abatement date, affirming the $30 failure-to-abate penalty, and withdrawing the company's contest. The Commission held that the dispute over the…
Coleman Co., Inc.
Abatement extension dispute was moot
Coleman Company obtained an extension of the deadline for correcting an unguarded-machinery hazard. An affected employee opposed the extension and argued that interim protective measures were available. By the time the case reached the Commission, both the extended December 1974 deadline and a…
The Ashton Company, Inc.
Steel-erection railing rule controlled temporary floors
The Ashton Company was the general contractor building a multistory county courthouse in Tucson, Arizona. During the steel-erection stage, employees installed plywood decking and poured concrete on partially completed second and third floors. OSHA cited Ashton under the general open-sided-floor…
Brady-Hamilton Stevedore Company
Unguarded radial saw violation affirmed
Brady-Hamilton Stevedore operated a radial-arm saw without a guard over the lower exposed blade at its Portland, Oregon, gear locker. The judge vacated the citation after finding that the woodworking machinery standard was invalidly adopted from an ANSI standard. Relying on its earlier Noblecraft…
Lige Dickson Co.
Wet trenches required sloping and safe exits
Lige Dickson Company excavated long dewatering trenches in wet, unstable fill at a Tacoma, Washington, worksite. Portions of two trenches were 9 to 10 feet deep, inadequately sloped, and unshored, while an employee worked along the trench bottoms. The company also provided no ladders or steps, and…
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…
Diebold, Inc.
Press brakes required point-of-operation guarding
Diebold operated unguarded press brakes and mechanical punch presses at three Ohio plants. The Commission held that press brakes, although excluded from the specific mechanical-power-press rule, remained subject to the general machine-guarding requirements. It rejected Diebold's vagueness and…
J.A. McCarthy, Inc.
Employee refusal did not excuse hardhat violations
J.A. McCarthy employed longshoremen at the Port of Philadelphia who repeatedly refused to wear required protective hats. The company supplied hats, posted signs, conducted an educational campaign, included reminders in pay envelopes, and held safety meetings, but did not discipline or discharge…
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc.
Mesh gloves not required for retail meatcutters
OSHA cited A&P because a meatcutter in a retail store did not wear a wire-mesh glove on his noncutting hand while boning meat. The record showed that retail meatcutters rarely used mesh gloves and that the store's reported meat-department accidents did not include boning injuries. The judge held…
Grand Union Co.
PPE rule did not require wire-mesh gloves for butchers
OSHA cited Grand Union because butchers in one of its retail stores did not use wire-mesh gloves, protective aprons, or head protection. The judge dismissed the item for lack of proof that employees were exposed to the alleged hazard. On review, the Commission disagreed with that exposure finding…
Akron Brick & Block Co.
Work rules and tools were not machine guarding
Akron Brick & Block used an automatic cuber to stack finished concrete blocks. When the machine misplaced a block, operators were instructed to turn a safety switch, use a metal hook, and avoid entering the point of operation. Employees nevertheless entered the machine during its operating cycle…
Donald K. Nelson Construction, Inc.
Improper personal service invalidated citation
OSHA attempted to send a construction citation and proposed penalty by certified mail, but the mailing was not delivered. An agency official retrieved the envelope and personally delivered it to the home of the company's president, where his wife received it. The Commission held that personal…
Juhr & Sons
Saw-guard citation reinstated and penalty reduced
Juhr & Sons, a general contractor, was cited after employees used a radial arm saw without a guard covering the lower portion of the blade. The employer admitted the violation and contested only the proposed $550 penalty. The administrative law judge nevertheless considered whether the guarding…
Amory Cotton Oil Company
Screw-conveyor guarding amendment remanded
Amory Cotton Oil employees manually pushed cottonseed into an uncovered floor-level screw conveyor, and one employee was fatally injured. OSHA cited a power-transmission shaft standard, but at the hearing sought to add an open-sided-floor standard and the general machine-guarding standard after the…
ACE Sheeting & Repair Co.
Unguarded skylight citation affirmed
ACE Sheeting & Repair's owner and an employee were replacing rusted metal sheets on a pitched warehouse roof containing about 60 skylight openings. The openings were covered by translucent panels but had no compliant guardrails or covers, and the employee fell through a panel and died. The…
Colorado Pipe Lines, Inc., d/b/a CPL Constructors
Unprotected trench violation affirmed as serious
Colorado Pipe Lines was cited for a willful violation involving an inadequately protected trench and excavated material placed near its edge. The trench was 12 to 14 feet deep, and employees were exposed while its sides were not adequately shored or sloped. The Commission agreed that the evidence…
Sletten Construction Co.
Bridge guardrail citation affirmed
Sletten Construction was excavating bridge piers and used a work bridge above water without guardrails. The Commission upheld the judge's finding, based on circumstantial evidence, that employees were exposed to the unguarded bridge and affirmed the repeated violation with a $340 penalty. It also…
Boring & Tunneling Co. of America
Trench ladder and shoring violations affirmed
Boring & Tunneling employees worked in a 14-foot-deep sewer trench reached by a short, improperly pitched, and unsecured ladder. The trench sides were nearly vertical, and the shoring used deteriorated, split, and rotting timbers while nearby highway traffic created vibration. The administrative…
Cornish Dress Manufacturing Co.
Sewing-machine belt guarding required
Cornish Dress Manufacturing operated straight, single-needle sewing machines whose exposed power-transmission belts ran at 800 to 900 feet per minute. The administrative law judge vacated the citation because he viewed the belt-guarding standard as intended for larger industrial machinery and…
American Smelting & Refining Co.
Asbestos exams required at any exposure level
American Smelting & Refining operated a Montana plant producing lead bullion and zinc oxide, where some employees worked around asbestos and others were exposed to airborne lead and zinc oxide. The Commission held that the asbestos standard required annual medical examinations whenever an…
The Bearden Co.
Unsupported trench violation affirmed as serious
The Bearden Company, a plumbing contractor, excavated a sewer-line trench in unstable soil with vertical, unsupported walls. Its foreman lowered an employee into the 8-to-10-foot-deep trench to inspect the sewer main before shoring equipment arrived. The employee later reentered the deep area and…
Buckeye Industries, Inc.
Garment-machine guarding violations affirmed
Buckeye Industries manufactured men's slacks using about 101 sewing machines, four electric knives, and 11 steam pressers without point-of-operation guards. Its records showed repeated finger, hand, and eye injuries involving the cited equipment. The Commission held that OSHA proved the violations…
Clark Equipment Co.
Press-brake guarding citation affirmed
Clark Equipment manufactured heavy construction equipment using five press brakes whose points of operation were unguarded. Operators placed metal within inches of the dies, and a descending die could amputate a hand or finger. The Commission held that the general machine-guarding standard applied…
Penn Central Transportation Co.
Rail-shop safety violations and $625 penalty affirmed
OSHA cited Penn Central's railway maintenance and repair shop for 15 nonserious conditions involving fall protection, fire and chemical safety, compressed air, machine and electrical guarding, and failure to post the OSHA notice. The Commission agreed that railroad status did not remove OSHA…
Vincent Rizzo, d/b/a Vincent Rizzo Construction Co. or Masoncraft, Inc.
Citations dismissed for naming the wrong employer
OSHA issued three serious construction citations totaling $1,500 against Vincent Rizzo and a company that had not performed the cited work. The notice of contest promptly stated that Masoncraft, Inc. was the correct employer, but the Secretary continued prosecuting Rizzo individually rather than…
Continental Kitchens, Inc.
Woodworking saw-guard violations affirmed
Continental Kitchens manufactured kitchen cabinets using seven radial, swing cut-off, and hand-fed crosscut table saws that lacked required blade guards. The employer admitted the saws did not meet the guarding requirements but argued that guards could create a greater hazard by throwing small…
Todd Shipyards Corp.
Shipyard fall-protection violation classified as repeated
Todd Shipyards admitted several safety violations at its San Pedro shipbuilding and repair yard. The Commission classified the failure to provide protective equipment for employees working more than five feet above a solid surface as repeated because two prior final citations involved substantially…
Victor O. Hegsted, d/b/a Challenger Supply
Serious saw-guarding citation affirmed
Challenger Supply operated three saws that did not comply with the woodworking-machine guarding standards. The Commission held that the standards were validly promulgated and that the violation was serious because contact could cause amputation of a hand or fingers. It found employer knowledge…
Madison Millwork Co.
Radial-saw violations reduced to nonserious
Madison Millwork operated two radial arm saws without guards covering the exposed sides of the lower blade and used compressed air for cleaning above 30 pounds per square inch. The Commission upheld the validity of the radial-saw guarding standard and affirmed the administrative law judge's…
Pantry Pride Food Fair Stores, Inc.
Mesh-glove citation for meat cutters vacated
Pantry Pride meat cutters trimmed and boned meat without wire mesh gloves. OSHA cited the retail food store under the general personal-protective-equipment standard and proposed a $50 penalty. The record showed only infrequent minor nicks, no customary use of mesh gloves in retail meat departments…
William W. Turnbull, d/b/a Turnbull Millwork Co.
Table-saw citation affirmed and penalty reduced
Turnbull Millwork, a four-employee kitchen-cabinet manufacturer, used two hand-fed table saws without the required guards. Its initial pro se notice contested only the $500 penalty, but later filings made clear that the employer had intended to contest the citation too. The Commission held that…
Rocky Mountain Millwork, Inc.
Serious saw-guarding citation affirmed
Rocky Mountain Millwork had four saws that did not comply with the woodworking-machine guarding standards. The Commission held that the standards were validly promulgated and that the violation was serious because contact could cause amputation of a hand or fingers. It found employer knowledge…
Peregrine Industries, Inc.
Serious radial-saw guarding citation affirmed
Peregrine Industries operated radial saw equipment that did not comply with the lower-blade guarding standard. The Commission held that the standard was validly promulgated and that the violation was serious because contact could cause severe physical harm, including finger amputation. It also…
International Terminal Operating Corporation of New England; John T. Clark and Son of Boston, Inc.; Terminal Services, Inc.; Bernard S. Costello, Inc.
Longshore hard-hat citations affirmed
Four Boston stevedoring companies were cited in nine cases after longshore employees handled cargo without required protective hats. The employers had supplied hats and repeatedly instructed workers to wear them, but they did not discipline noncompliant employees because they feared crews would…
River Terminal Railway Co.
Tower egress and electrical citations affirmed
River Terminal Railway was cited at its Cleveland facilities for lacking two remote means of egress from a bridge tower and for unguarded electrical equipment without warning signs. The railroad argued that Federal Railroad Administration authority displaced OSHA jurisdiction over the work. The…
Burlington Northern, Inc.
Railroad exemption rejected and amended citation affirmed
Burlington Northern argued that Department of Transportation authority over railroad safety exempted it from the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Commission rejected that position because no Department of Transportation regulation covered the specific working conditions in the citation. It…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Serious radial-saw violation and $600 penalty affirmed
Boise Cascade's pulp and paper facility used a 16-inch radial arm saw whose lower blade was unguarded. Employees used the saw daily, their hands and bodies came within four to twelve inches of the blade, and the blade rotated at 3,600 revolutions per minute. The employer challenged the guarding…
Boise Cascade Corporation
Serious radial-saw guarding citation affirmed
Boise Cascade was cited for failing to guard the lower exposed portion of a radial-saw blade. The administrative law judge affirmed the citation as serious and assessed $250. The employer challenged the validity of the woodworking-machine standard. Relying on its Noblecraft decision, the Commission…
Johnson Brothers Planing Mill, Inc.
Millwork machine-guarding citations affirmed
Johnson Brothers manufactured wood products using radial and table saws, sanding equipment, belt-driven machinery, and electrical equipment with several cited guarding or grounding deficiencies. The serious citation involved unguarded lower portions of two radial-saw blades and an unguarded…
The Wirth Corporation
Serious radial-saw citation affirmed with reduced penalty
The Wirth Corporation operated a small millwork plant that primarily made studs for mobile homes. Two radial arm saws lacked guards over the lower exposed blade, although the employer had ordered guards months earlier and knew they had not arrived. The Commission upheld the validity of the guarding…
Shar Lo Homes
Nonserious radial-saw guarding violation affirmed
Shar Lo Homes was cited for failing to comply with the radial-saw lower-blade guarding standard. The administrative law judge classified the violation as nonserious and assessed $40. On review, the only identified issue was whether the cited standard had been validly promulgated. Applying its…
W. N. Couch Construction Co.
Trench citation vacated for lack of soil proof
W. N. Couch Construction excavated a 10-to-12-foot-deep pipeline trench with vertical lower walls, horizontal benches, and vertical upper walls. OSHA cited the trench under the rule for soft or unstable soil, but the compliance officer described the material as soft and crumbly while the…
Emery Smiser Construction Co.
Serious scaffold citation vacated, nonserious item affirmed
Emery Smiser Construction used scaffolds while repairing a church steeple in Oklahoma City. The judge affirmed a nonserious item for an unguarded material-hoist scaffold platform but reduced the proposed $55 penalty to $25 because exposure was brief, injury was unlikely, and the employer showed…
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Co.; Winston-Salem Southbound Railway Co.
Railroad safety citations affirmed
Seaboard Coast Line admitted three nonserious safety violations, and Winston-Salem Southbound was cited because employees used a stationary caboose office without a fire extinguisher reliably available within 50 feet. Both railroads argued that Federal Railroad Administration authority exempted the…
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company
Posting citation reversed and remanded after stipulation set aside
Seaboard Coast Line was cited for failing to post the notice informing employees of their rights and duties under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The railroad and the Secretary stipulated to noncompliance and agreed that the only disputed issue was whether railroad safety regulation…
Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Co.
Railroad exemption rejected and citations affirmed
Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad admitted the cited working conditions and agreed that the proposed penalties were reasonable. Its remaining defense was that Department of Transportation authority over railroad safety exempted it from OSHA. The Commission rejected that industry-wide exemption…
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Co.
Housekeeping and posting items remanded for a hearing
Seaboard Coast Line received five nonserious items for poor housekeeping, failure to post the OSHA notice, and recordkeeping deficiencies. The judge vacated the three recordkeeping items because railroad recordkeeping was exempt, but affirmed the housekeeping and posting items without holding a…
Central Steel & Tank Co.
Press-brake guarding affirmed, shear item vacated
Central Steel custom-fabricated steel using two hydraulic press brakes, three mechanical power presses, and a mechanical shear cited for inadequate point-of-operation guarding. Operators held and aligned metal by hand close to the press-brake dies, which descended slowly but with enough force to…
W. N. Couch, Inc.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Atlantic Coast Development Corp.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Jack Moorman Electrical Contractor, Inc.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., Inc.
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in these consolidated Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company cases. It explained that the issue Commissioner Moran raised on the Commission's own initiative had not been raised, tried, or argued by the parties. The Commission also characterized the…
Atlas Construction Company
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Crescent Wharf & Warehouse Co.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in these consolidated cases. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question…
Ocean Electric Corp.
Serious electrical citation and $700 penalty affirmed
Ocean Electric was installing switchgear beside energized equipment when a foreman left a cabinet door open, exposing energized bus bars. An apprentice following the foreman's direction contacted a bus bar and was electrocuted. The company admitted that the electrical-safety standard was breached…
Weinap Construction Corp.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under the…
Noblecraft Industries, Inc.
Radial-saw guarding violation affirmed with reduced penalty
Noblecraft manufactured kitchen cabinets and used a radial-arm saw whose lower blade lacked the automatic guard required by 29 C.F.R. § 1910.213(h)(1). The judge had vacated the citation after concluding that the Secretary improperly adopted the rule from an ANSI standard without an advisory…
R. Zoppo Co., Inc.
Commission review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in this case. It explained that the issue had been raised by a Commissioner rather than by the parties and had not been tried or argued. The issue concerned publication policy, which the Commission held was not an adjudicative question under 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.