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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Robert Lettrick Roofing Co.
Commission approves a settlement after directing the case for review, cutting the roofing citations to a $5,600 package
Robert Lettrick Roofing Company did roofing work in the Albany, New York area. After an OSHA inspection of a steep mansion-roof job in Saratoga, New York in September 1993, the Secretary issued serious, repeat, and other-than-serious citations, and Administrative Law Judge Barbara L…
General Cutlery Co., Inc.
Knife maker loses on almost every safety and health citation, including a willful hazard-communication violation
General Cutlery makes bayonets and household knives in Fremont, Ohio. After complaint inspections in May 1994, OSHA issued two sets of citations, later consolidated: safety violations (Docket No. 94-2015) and health violations (Docket No. 94-1933). The company, represented by its president, argued…
Well-Tech, Inc.
Removed platform guardrail and missing site records produced $2,850 in penalties
Well-Tech, Inc. was a well-servicing contractor replugging and sampling wells at a chemical plant in Barberton, Ohio. Employees removed an eight-foot section of guardrail from a 16-foot-high drilling platform and placed caution tape across the opening; within about 15 minutes, an employee fell…
LaForge & Budd Construction Co., Inc.
Two items affirmed by stipulation after remand
OSHA cited LaForge & Budd Construction Co., Inc. after inspecting an Oklahoma construction project. The Commission reversed an earlier ruling that had suppressed the inspection evidence and remanded the case for a hearing on the merits. The parties then stipulated that a nylon-sling item would be…
Atlantic Battery Company, Inc.
Mixed lead, hazard-communication, fire-safety, and posting rulings reduced penalties to $7,240
Atlantic Battery manufactured and sold batteries at a small Massachusetts plant where OSHA cited lead exposure, medical removal, housekeeping, hazard communication, fire safety, eyewash, respiratory protection, and posting conditions. The Commission affirmed willful violations for allowing a…
G. Pugni & Son, Inc.
Demolition head-protection and engineering-survey items affirmed, $3,500
G. Pugni & Son was a demolition and rehabilitation subcontractor at the Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington, New York. On August 18, 1993, a suspended concrete and plaster ceiling collapsed onto two workers who were tearing it down, and OSHA inspected after a news-media referral. The agency issued…
Pit-Stop, Inc. (Uniroyal Pitstop)
Unguarded service pit affirmed as a serious violation, $100
Pit-Stop, Inc., operating as Uniroyal Pitstop in Midwest City, Oklahoma, ran an automotive shop where workers used floor pits about 3 feet wide, 5 feet deep, and 10 feet long to reach the underside of vehicles for oil changes and grease jobs. OSHA cited the shop after an inspection found several of…
Jeanette M. Gould, d/b/a Gould Publications
Exit violations affirmed and poster item vacated
Gould Publications operated a law-book publishing facility with a basement pressroom containing large quantities of paper, ink, and flammable cleaners. The Commission found that a locked door intended as an exit could delay employees escaping a fire even though other routes were available. It also…
Cisneros Packing Co., Inc.
$2,550 assessed for stair, exit, lockout, and posting violations
Cisneros Packing processed pork skins at a Texas plant and contested only the proposed penalties, not the underlying violations. The remaining penalized conditions involved a nonconforming kettle stairway, a boarded and obstructed exit, cleaning an energized slicer without a lockout program, and…
Forrest Electrical Services
Fan, live-wire, and posting items affirmed
Forrest Electrical Services was an electrical subcontractor on a medical-clinic project in Spring, Texas. A temporary foreman brought an inadequately guarded floor fan to the site, where it was available for use in an area employees passed through. The ALJ affirmed the fan item as serious because…
Potomac Iron Works, Inc.
Roof-edge fall protection violation affirmed
Potomac Iron Works performed steel erection work on a building in Washington, D.C. OSHA observed an employee signaling a crane at the roof edge about 68 feet above the ground without effective fall protection. The employee wore a safety belt and lanyard but was not tied off, and his superintendent…
W. Kramer Associates
OSHA-poster citation vacated, other items settled
W. Kramer Associates is a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractor. OSHA inspected its worksite at the Northeastern Pennsylvania Veterans Home construction project in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and issued a serious citation and a second citation with two other-than-serious items, with…
Daak Corporation
Default order remanded for good-cause determination
Daak Corporation did not appear for its scheduled hearing, and the ALJ granted the Secretary a default judgment. After hearing the Secretary's evidence, the judge affirmed 14 construction citations and assessed $7,200 in total penalties. Daak's vice president then petitioned for review and made…
Alaska Trawl Fisheries, Inc.
OSHA jurisdiction over factory vessels affirmed
Alaska Trawl Fisheries and Golden Age Fisheries operated vessels that caught and processed fish near Dutch Harbor, Alaska. OSHA cited machine guarding, passageway, recordkeeping, welding-gas storage, and hazard-communication conditions aboard the vessels. The companies stipulated to the violations…
Loomis Cabinet Company
Cabinet workers held to be employees
Loomis Cabinet Company manufactured wooden cabinets and was cited after a follow-up inspection for repeat, other-than-serious, and failure-to-abate violations. Loomis stipulated to the violations but argued that its former employees had become partners in Eastview Cabinet Company, leaving Loomis…
All Phase Electric & Maintenance, Inc.
Informal-conference request did not contest citations
OSHA cited All Phase Electric for two serious electrical violations and one other-than-serious posting violation, with $240 in proposed penalties. The company received the citations on December 18, 1989, but did not submit a written notice of contest within the 15-working-day period ending January…
Capra Industries, Inc.
Settlement withdrew machine, electrical, and chemical citations
Capra Industries manufactured jewelry and music boxes and was cited after OSHA inspected its workplace. The citations addressed an unguarded pulley, an ungrounded receptacle, hazard communication deficiencies, and failure to post an OSHA notice. After review was directed, the parties reached a full…
The Specialist of the South, Inc.
$3,000 penalty affirmed for 39 serious items
The Specialists operated a small furniture repair, refinishing, and upholstery business using flammable and toxic materials. OSHA cited 39 serious violations, primarily involving fire and explosion hazards, and proposed $9,900 in penalties. An ALJ affirmed every serious item but assessed a combined…
Mikel Company, Inc.
Grounding item settled for $1 after mixed plant ruling
Mikel Company manufactured furniture at a Bronx plant where OSHA cited flammable-liquid storage, spray-finishing, hazard communication, posting, and injury-recordkeeping conditions. The ALJ affirmed several storage-room and spray-booth ventilation items with $375 in penalties, vacated several…
Green Duck Corporation
Machine-safety settlement reduces penalties to $660
Green Duck, a novelty-products manufacturer, was cited for machine guarding, an unguarded belt drive, a repeat power-press violation, posting, and hazard communication conditions. OSHA initially proposed $1,730, and the judge assessed $1,600. In settlement, one machine-guarding sub-item was…
Harrison Furniture Manufacturing Company
Commission approves withdrawal of all citations
OSHA cited Harrison Furniture Manufacturing Company for numerous conditions at its Arkansas furniture plant after an inspection conducted under a warrant. The earlier litigation addressed whether evidence from a plant-wide inspection should be suppressed when the warrant application was based on…
J.L. Foti Construction Company
Scaffold-block issue remanded for stability finding
J.L. Foti Construction Company, a masonry contractor, used concrete blocks as part of the support for a scaffold at a wastewater-treatment-plant project. Following a Sixth Circuit decision, the Commission remanded the alleged violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(a)(2) to the administrative law judge…
William B. Hopke Company, Inc.
Attorney-fee award affirmed for flagman citation
William B. Hopke Company sought attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act after prevailing against flagman and trench-box citations. The Commission held that the Secretary was not substantially justified in pursuing the flagman citation because the incorporated ANSI provision used…
Synkote Paint Company, KDK Upset Forging Company
Citations affirmed despite warrant challenges
Synkote Paint and KDK Upset Forging challenged programmed-inspection warrants as broader than the administrative plans used to establish probable cause. Each company stipulated that it had committed the cited violations while preserving its warrant and suppression arguments. The Commission read…
K.D.K. Upset Forging, Inc.
Attorney-fee entitlement recognized after withdrawal
OSHA cited K.D.K. for failing to post the required employee notice, then withdrew the citation before hearing. K.D.K. applied for $600 in attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commission held that K.D.K. was the prevailing party because withdrawal gave it the principal relief…
Anderson Excavating and Wrecking Company
Life-jacket item affirmed, poster item vacated
Anderson employees worked on a barge beside water at least five or six feet deep without enough life jackets available. The Commission affirmed that violation and its $200 penalty over Chairman Rowland's dissent. It vacated a separate OSHA-poster item because the Secretary did not prove OSHA had…
Clarence M. Jones, d/b/a C. Jones Co.
Ladder, protective equipment, and posting violations affirmed
Clarence M. Jones was renovating an apartment building with workers under a foreman's supervision. OSHA cited defective ladders, the failure to use head and eye protection, and the failure to post the required OSHA notice. The Commission held that Jones was an employer covered by the Act, his local…
Puget Sound Tug & Barge; Mission Viking, Inc.; Northwestern Construction, Inc.
Maritime citations affirmed despite Coast Guard authority
Three maritime employers argued that Coast Guard authority displaced OSHA requirements for work on vessels and barges. The cited conditions included respiratory and flotation protection, crane and deck hazards, recordkeeping, unguarded rigging, unsecured propane tanks, and unsafe passage between…
C. R. Burnett and Sons, Inc. and Harllee Farms
Farm labor camps covered by OSHA standards
C. R. Burnett and Sons and Harllee Farms operated rent-free temporary camps for migrant farm workers. The judge vacated citations for shelter, heating, sanitation, lighting, and OSHA-notice violations because the workers were not required to live in the camps. The Commission held that camp…
O.E.C. Corporation
Three violations affirmed without warrant review
An OSHA inspection conducted under a warrant produced three nonserious citations against O.E.C. Corporation. The judge affirmed the violations and assessed penalties of $100 and $175 for two items, while concluding that the Commission lacked authority to evaluate the warrant. Review was directed on…
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…
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.