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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Sanderson Farms, Inc.
Unstable freezer pallet storage resulted in a $6,300 penalty
Sanderson Farms stored 2,200-to-2,500-pound pallets of frozen chicken on an aging freezer rack system with frequently damaged legs and little margin for placement error. A maintenance employee died from smoke inhalation and burns after beginning to cut a damaged rack leg while loaded pallets…
St. Lawrence Food Corp., dba Primo Foods
Most dairy-plant health and safety citations affirmed
OSHA conducted health and safety inspections at Primo Foods, a kosher dairy, and cited hazards involving ammonia refrigeration, respirators, confined spaces, chemical training, noise, machine guarding, electrical work, lockout/tagout, powered industrial trucks, and recordkeeping. The ALJ found that…
Lewis County Dairy Corp.
Widespread safety violations result in $72,750 penalty
OSHA found extensive safety deficiencies at Lewis County Dairy's kosher dairy plant, including missing safety programs, inadequate lockout practices, unguarded equipment, electrical hazards, deficient fall protection, and insufficient hazard communication. Of the 33 serious citation items, the…
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…
A & B Tops
Three serious items downgraded to "other," one grounding item affirmed serious, $300
A & B Tops is a very small Ohio sole proprietorship, with one or two employees, that makes and installs kitchen countertops. After an employee complaint, OSHA got an inspection warrant, entered the Akron plant, and issued four serious citations: no exit sign on the assembly-room doors, an unguarded…
Dream Set Fashion, Inc.
$5,500 penalty affirmed for six serious violations
Dream Set Fashion manufactured women's apparel in New York City and contested only the $5,500 penalty for six serious violations. The conditions involved a covered exit sign, unguarded fan blades, an unguarded rotating shaft, an unguarded sewing-machine pulley, missing grounding pins, and an open…
Forrest Electrical Services
Fan, live-wire, and posting items affirmed
Forrest Electrical Services was an electrical subcontractor on a medical-clinic project in Spring, Texas. A temporary foreman brought an inadequately guarded floor fan to the site, where it was available for use in an area employees passed through. The ALJ affirmed the fan item as serious because…
Waste Processing Equipment, Inc.
Eleven of twelve serious items affirmed, one vacated, penalty cut to $4,600
Waste Processing Equipment, Inc. runs a manufacturing plant in Rainsville, Alabama, with about 28 employees making paper balers and other waste-handling equipment. A September 1991 OSHA inspection led to a serious citation with 12 items and a proposed penalty of $12,500, plus an "other" citation…
Conagra Flour Milling Co. & Its Successors
Flour-mill electrical and blowdown violations affirmed
Conagra operated a seven-story flour mill in Sherman, Texas, where combustible grain dust made the milling floors Class II, Division 2 hazardous locations. The Commission affirmed serious violations for using a grain tester and pedestal fan with exposed motor components that did not meet the…
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…
Horn & Gladden Lint Cleaner Co., Inc.
Machine-guarding citations remain vacated
OSHA cited Horn & Gladden Lint Cleaners for repeated and nonserious machine-guarding violations involving belts, shafts, and a fan. The Administrative Law Judge vacated all three citations because the Secretary did not prove that employees were exposed to the alleged hazards. Neither party sought…
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., Store No. 86
Unguarded compressor fan blades in a locked motor room upheld as a violation
In the motor room of a Winn-Dixie retail food store, two cooler and freezer compressor fans had unguarded blades within seven feet of the working level, and OSHA cited the store for a nonserious machine-guarding violation under 29 C.F.R. § 1910.212(a)(5). The store argued its employees were not…
Union Pacific Railroad Co.
Proposed FRA rules do not displace OSHA
Union Pacific faced a failure-to-correct matter and citations involving machine guarding, woodworking equipment, respiratory protection, posting, and other conditions. It argued that an advance notice of proposed Federal Railroad Administration rulemaking exempted it from OSHA requirements. The…
Chicago and North Western Transportation Co.
Railroad coverage upheld and four items affirmed
Chicago and North Western Transportation challenged a seven-item citation at its railroad facility in Boone, Iowa. The Commission rejected the company's claim that the railroad industry was exempt from OSHA jurisdiction because the Federal Railroad Administration had not exercised authority over…
American Bag Co., Inc.
Failure-to-abate penalties reduced
American Bag was a 17-employee leather bag manufacturer in Puerto Rico. After the company did not contest an initial citation, OSHA reinspected and alleged that multiple violations had not been corrected, that the citation had not been posted, and that an injury log had not been maintained. The…
Ricardo Correa, Jr., d/b/a Ricardo's Mexican Enterprises of Omaha
Masa-feeder failure-to-abate penalties vacated
Ricardo's Mexican Enterprises produced Mexican food in Omaha, Nebraska. OSHA initially cited conditions involving a masa feeder after a young employee was fatally injured while cleaning the machine, and the uncontested citation became final. In the later failure-to-abate case, the Commission found…
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company
Railroad exemption and bankruptcy defenses rejected
OSHA cited the railroad after inspections at its Kansas City and Joliet workplaces, and the company argued that Department of Transportation authority displaced OSHA jurisdiction and that a bankruptcy injunction barred the proceedings. The Commission held that the statutory exemption for another…
Kay-Townes, Inc.
Manufacturing violations and penalties affirmed
Kay-Townes manufactured television antennas and masts at a plant where OSHA cited numerous machine-guarding, electrical, exit-marking, and housekeeping conditions. The Secretary withdrew seven point-of-operation items at the hearing. The judge affirmed the remaining 18 nonserious violations…
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…
St. Mary's Cotton Mill, Division of Leshner Corporation
Nineteen plant violations affirmed
St. Mary's Cotton Mill admitted 19 nonserious conditions involving compressed air, machine guards, fire extinguishers, electrical grounding, exits, floor openings, storage, housekeeping, and other plant equipment. OSHA proposed penalties on ten of the items, totaling $375, and no penalties on the…
Sigman Meat Co.
Stair and sanitation items restored under OSHA jurisdiction
Sigman Meat operated a pork slaughterhouse and contested multiple non-serious safety and health items. The judge affirmed four of nine disputed items, vacated five, and assessed $117. The Commission held that Department of Agriculture meat-inspection rules did not displace OSHA jurisdiction over…
Smith and Company, Inc.
Seven non-serious items and $95 penalty affirmed
Smith and Company manufactured clothing at a plant with about 162 employees. It admitted non-serious violations involving an elevated and unmarked exit, fire extinguishers mounted too high, inadequately guarded fans, a bench grinder lacking complete guarding and a work rest, and flexible cord used…
Frankford Woolen Mills, Inc.
Tenant floor-load item vacated and $335 assessed
Frankford Woolen Mills was cited for 24 non-serious conditions involving housekeeping, stairs, ladders, exits, eye protection, fire extinguishers, machinery, compressed air, welding equipment, electrical grounding, and aisles. The administrative law judge affirmed 19 items, vacated five, and…
Vitamin Premixers of Omaha, Inc.
Six safety violations affirmed with $400 penalty
Vitamin Premixers of Omaha produced and distributed premixed animal feed. The company admitted six nonserious violations involving fire extinguishers, unguarded fan blades, emergency drenching or eyewash facilities, a weak stair handrail, compressed-air cleaning, and electrical motors in a…
Jaso-Carol Dress Co., Inc.
Dismissal reversed after proof of service was found
OSHA cited Jaso-Carol Dress for four non-serious violations involving fan guards, exit signs, sewing-machine drives, and an electrical junction box, with a $30 penalty on one item. The judge dismissed the company's contest because the case record appeared not to contain proof that its filings had…
Jaso-Carol Dress Co., Inc.
Contest reinstated after filing oversight
Jaso-Carol Dress timely contested four nonserious items involving fan guards, exit-sign illumination, exposed sewing-machine drives, and an uncovered junction box. The judge dismissed the contest because the record appeared not to contain proof that the contest and answer had been served on the…
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.