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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
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…
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…
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…
Keystone Body Works
Paint-room citations affirmed in part
Keystone Body Works operated an automobile repair and spray-painting shop in Lubbock, Texas. OSHA alleged several combined fire and health hazards in the paint room, including inadequate ventilation, spraying near a heater, non-explosion-proof lighting, excess stored paint, and failure to use an…
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…
Cooper Industries, Inc.
Spray-booth penalty restored to proposed amount
Cooper Industries operated a small Ohio metal fabrication, welding, and painting plant. The citation included items involving respirators, a dip-tank railing, a forklift horn, spray-booth ventilation, and combustible residue in a spray booth. On review, the Commission declined to decide whether the…
Hydrate Battery Corp.
Lead overexposure affirmed as nonserious
Hydrate Battery manufactured lead-acid batteries at a small Virginia plant. OSHA sampled five employees for one eight-hour shift and found that each was exposed above the airborne-lead limit, with one result more than five times the limit. The Commission agreed that the standard was violated but…
Charles A. Davison & Margaret S. Davison, dba Davison Wood Products
Machine-guarding items affirmed without penalties
OSHA cited a small woodworking business for unguarded sanding machines, a jointer, saw belts and pulleys, and a rip saw, along with alleged electrical, spray-booth ventilation, and first-aid violations. The judge affirmed the four machine-guarding items without penalties. He vacated the electrical…
Frohlick Crane Service
Leased-crane violation and citation items affirmed
Frohlick Crane Service leased a crane and operator to an elevator subcontractor at a construction site. The crane contacted an uninsulated 7,620-volt power line, and a laborer employed by another company was electrocuted. The Commission held that the operator remained Frohlick's employee because…
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.