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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Petroplex Pipe and Construction, Inc.
Commission dismisses lockout case after settlement
The case arose after a fire during maintenance on oil-field equipment in Stanton, Texas, killed two Petroplex employees. OSHA pursued five lockout/tagout items involving equipment-specific procedures, inspections, training, employee lock control, and coordination with the host employer. The…
Darling Ingredients, Inc.
Repeat hydrolizer lockout violations affirmed
Darling Ingredients operated a chicken-rendering facility where a pressurized hydrolizer became clogged. After normal pressure-relief methods failed, maintenance employees loosened bolts on a flange, which blew off and released steam and hot material; two employees died. The judge found that…
Angelica Textile Services, Inc.
Confined-space and lockout items affirmed as serious
Angelica operated interconnected commercial laundry equipment, including large combined batch washers that employees sometimes entered as permit-required confined spaces. The Commission reversed the judge and affirmed violations involving the company’s written lockout and confined-space procedures…
Matsu Ohio, Inc.
Lockout and power-press citation items vacated
Matsu Ohio manufactured stamped automotive parts using partial-revolution mechanical power presses. OSHA alleged several lockout/tagout and power-press violations involving servicing procedures, employee training, lock identification, die-setting procedures, and operating-mode selectors. The judge…
Jacobs Field Services North America
Four lockout items vacated for lack of knowledge and applicability proof
A Jacobs employee volunteered to help a chemical-plant operator replace a leaking valve, and a flange failure released about 750 pounds of butylene oxide. The Commission agreed that lockout requirements applied to that valve-replacement work because the release caused burns, chemical pneumonia, and…
General Motors Corp., CPCG Oklahoma City Plant
Widespread lockout failures produced serious and willful violations
OSHA issued 57 lockout/tagout citation items after a millwright was killed when a motor rail conveyor activated during servicing work at General Motors' Oklahoma City plant. The Commission found that GM did not adequately implement or enforce its energy-control program, conduct the required annual…
Buckeye Ready Mix, Inc.
Mixer lockout violations result in $8,000 penalty
A Buckeye Ready Mix crew entered a concrete mixer drum to remove hardened concrete. After the drum was repositioned, the circuit breakers were not locked out again, and the drum closed while an employee remained inside, fatally crushing him. The judge found Buckeye's written energy-control…
Lourdes Hospital
Bloodborne items vacated, lockout items affirmed
OSHA cited Lourdes Hospital for operating-room practices under the bloodborne-pathogens standard and maintenance procedures under the lockout/tagout standard. The judge found that Lourdes' neutral-zone policy, including a limited exception for hand-to-hand sharps transfers, satisfied the…
BF Goodrich Hilton Davis, Inc.
One PPE citation affirmed after a boilout burn injury, remaining items vacated
BF Goodrich Hilton Davis makes color pigments and dyes at a Cincinnati plant, where large dryers are periodically cleaned with a hot, corrosive soap-and-water "boilout." A third-shift operator was burned over 47 percent of his body when boilout contents at about 116 degrees Celsius splashed on him…
C-Post
Willful lockout and guarding citations cut to serious after a small fence-post maker's amputation injury
C-Post is a small Montana company that makes wooden fence posts and furniture legs from logs, employing about 10 people. After a worker's left hand was severed in a doweler machine, OSHA inspected and issued a long list of serious, willful, repeat, and other-than-serious citations covering…
Akzo Nobel Chemicals, Inc.
Emergency-action and lockout violations yield $12,000
OSHA inspected Akzo Nobel Chemicals' organic peroxide plant and initially proposed $240,000 for serious, willful, repeat, and other-than-serious violations. The Secretary withdrew most items, and Judge Robert A. Yetman vacated several remaining allegations for insufficient proof. Akzo intended…
Turnbull Metal Products, Inc.
Press and facility violations produce $9,450 penalty
Turnbull Metal Products manufactured metal furniture and other products at a Mississippi facility using press brakes and mechanical power presses. OSHA cited missing platform and stair midrails, an inadequate lockout program, unguarded machine parts, deficient press inspections, and electrical…
National Envelope Corporation d/b/a New York Envelope Co.
All remaining machine-safety citations vacated
OSHA issued National Envelope Corporation citations after two inspections of its envelope manufacturing plant. One case alleged inadequate training after a machine operator injured a finger while attempting to address a chip-collector problem. Judge Richard DeBenedetto found that the operator had…
Drexel Chemical Co.
Generic safety programs found inadequate
OSHA cited Drexel Chemical's manufacturing plant for permit-space, lockout, and material-storage violations. The Commission vacated the workplace-evaluation item because a qualified manager familiar with the plant had evaluated its spaces, and it vacated the warning-sign item because access was…
DCS Sanitation Management, Inc.
Willful lockout violations affirmed after fatal cleaning incident
DCS Sanitation Management cleaned operating meat-processing equipment at an IBP plant in Nebraska. OSHA cited five willful lockout/tagout violations after an employee was killed while cleaning a running loin saddle table. Administrative Law Judge James H. Barkley found that supervisors knew…
General Motors Corporation, Delco Chassis Division
Lockout citations vacated
General Motors employees serviced automated manufacturing equipment without locking out its energy sources, relying instead on interlocked gates, emergency stops, and machine controls. The Commission held that the lockout/tagout standard applied only when unexpected energization, startup, or…
McCain Foods, Inc.
Willful asbestos violations and $165,000 in penalties affirmed
McCain Foods operated a food-processing plant in Easton, Maine, while a major renovation project removed old piping and other material containing asbestos. The judge found that management knew asbestos was present, misled an OSHA inspector about the work, failed to train or protect employees, 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.