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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Ward Vessel & Exchanger Corporation
Lockout and injury-reporting citations vacated
Ward Vessel used a cord-and-plug plate roller to form metal cylinders at its Texas workshop. A supervisor troubleshooting an energized power problem activated the rollers without clearing the area, pinching an employee's fingertips and causing injuries later classified as amputations. The judge…
Action Electric Company, Inc.
Lockout citation reinstated on remand
Action Electric employees entered a steel mill's cooling-bed basement to prepare for fan replacement before the required lockout procedure was completed. A counterweight moved to its de-energized position, striking and killing an apprentice and narrowly missing the lead worker. An earlier judge had…
Action Electric Company
Lockout citation reinstated and remanded
An administrative law judge vacated a lockout/tagout citation item against Action Electric Company. That ruling became the Commission’s final order after review was discontinued. The Eleventh Circuit later vacated the final order and directed that the citation item be reinstated. After receiving…
Action Electric Company
Divided Commission leaves lockout citation vacated
An Action Electric apprentice was fatally struck by a steel mill cooling-bed counterweight before the facility's lockout process was complete. The judge vacated the group lockout citation after finding the cited rule did not apply to the fan-replacement work. The two Commission members disagreed on…
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…
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.