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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Dana Container, Inc.
Confined-space program and willful entry violations affirmed
Dana Container employees entered truck tanks when mechanical washing left residue. A supervisor entered a dirty tank without atmospheric testing, an entry permit, or a retrieval system and was found unconscious. The Commission found his deliberate rule violations foreseeable because management had…
Greenleaf Motor Express
Confined-space items affirmed with willful classifications reduced
Greenleaf employees entered tanker trailers to pressure-wash them after transporting titanium dioxide slurry. An employee died inside a tanker whose oxygen level measured 11 percent after nitrogen had been used to pressurize it during unloading. The Commission held that Greenleaf should have asked…
Active Oil Service, Inc.
Fatal tank-vault violations affirmed, with one item reduced to serious
An Active Oil Service employee was killed and a foreman was seriously burned when an oxy-acetylene torch ignited vapors while they worked in an underground vault above a pyro-oil tank. The Commission held that the shallow vault was still a permit-required confined space because entry and exit were…
Suttles Truck Leasing, Inc.
Seven violations affirmed with reduced penalties
Suttles washed tank trailers that had carried hazardous chemicals, and employees sometimes entered the washed tanks for inspection or residue removal. The Commission held that the tanks remained permit-required confined spaces after washing because the washing process was part of the company's…
United Erie, Div. of Interstate Chemical Co., Inc.
Confined-space items affirmed as serious
A United Erie production employee died from oxygen deficiency after entering a 4,000-gallon chemical kettle. Judge G. Marvin Bober found that United lacked a site-specific permit-space program, atmospheric testing equipment, adequate attendant practices, entry permits, and complete rescue…
Trinity Industries, Inc.
Railcar lining compartments were permit-required confined spaces
Trinity employees entered hopper railcar compartments and spray-applied flammable protective linings while forced-air ventilation operated. OSHA measured flammable vapor at 24 to 26 percent of the lower explosive limit at the lower compartment openings, more than twice the permit-space threshold…
The Timken Company
Confined-space training violation affirmed but cut from willful to serious, penalty reduced to $3,000
The Timken Company makes tapered roller bearings and employs about 1,000 workers at its Canton, Ohio bearing plant. After an OSHA inspection, Timken was cited for confined-space violations in a heat-treat department where two vertical pit furnace areas were designated permit-required confined…
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.