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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Hercules, Inc. and Alliant Techsystems, Inc.
Recordkeeping failure-to-abate notices vacated
OSHA issued Hercules failure-to-abate notices after a settlement required correction of old injury logs and certifications. The underlying citation listed only broad injury categories and counts, while OSHA repeatedly declined to identify the employees and incidents that had to be added. The…
Coastal Paving, Inc.
Twenty-three items affirmed after contest withdrawal
OSHA issued Coastal Paving three citations containing 23 serious, willful, and other-than-serious items against its asphalt manufacturing operation. Before the hearing, Coastal withdrew its contest and stated that it was no longer in business, had no employees, and could not refute the Secretary's…
Kaspar Wire Works, Inc.
Commission upholds most willful recordkeeping violations but vacates unsupported items
Kaspar Wire Works manufactured formed wire products at a Shiner, Texas facility with roughly 850 to 900 employees. After a 1990 inspection, OSHA cited more than 400 alleged violations and proposed $1,236,000 in penalties; the ALJ affirmed most items and assessed $257,700. The Commission found that…
Trico Technologies Corp.
Failure-to-abate notice restored and remanded, while recordkeeping violations stay other-than-serious rather than willful
Trico Technologies ran a manufacturing plant in Brownsville, Texas, with a press room where workers handled parts coming off power presses. In 1988 OSHA cited the company for a personal protective equipment violation (29 C.F.R. § 1910.132(a)) after press-room employees developed skin rashes from…
El Paso Crane and Rigging Co., Inc.
Mixed ruling on steel-erection fall protection
An El Paso Crane and Rigging employee fell 27 feet from a roof-level steel beam while trying to remove a kink from metal banding and was fatally injured. The Commission agreed that safety nets were infeasible for the tilt-wall building, but the company did not prove that a scissor lift was…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Housekeeping item affirmed and eyewash item vacated
Trinity Industries manufactured railcars at its Bessemer, Alabama, plant. Commission review focused on materials and tools left on elevated work walkways and the availability of water for employees exposed to corrosive paint materials. The Commission affirmed the housekeeping item because Trinity…
Aluminum Coil Anodizing Corp.
Multi-item citation upheld in part after inspection challenge failed
OSHA inspected Aluminum Coil Anodizing's Illinois plant after receiving a complaint from someone who was not an employee or employee representative. The Commission held that the complaint's source and purpose did not invalidate the inspection because OSHA also had broad general authority to inspect…
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.