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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Joel Patterson Air Conditioning Recycling
Workplace violations resulted in $4,100 in penalties
Joel Patterson Air Conditioning Recycling paid workers daily to dismantle used air conditioners at its warehouse but labeled them subcontractors. Applying the economic-realities test, the judge found they were employees because the business controlled the workplace, pay, hours, equipment, hiring…
North Atlantic Fish Company, Inc.
Broad fish-plant safety violations affirmed
OSHA's safety and health inspections of North Atlantic's Massachusetts fish-processing plant identified extensive fire, machine, electrical, chemical, respiratory, noise, storage, and powered-industrial-truck hazards. The judge affirmed most of the serious items, including general duty violations…
Ohio Cellular Products Corp.
Machine-guarding citation affirmed after fatal rotating-arm accident
Ohio Cellular Products Corp. molds polyethylene foam sports and automotive padding at a plant in Wauseon, Ohio, using large rotating "Rotocast" ovens. In October 1996 a relief operator was fatally injured when her clothing caught on an oven's rotating mold arm while she unloaded foam. OSHA cited…
Tidewater Pacific, Inc.
OSHA jurisdiction upheld on uninspected tugboat
OSHA cited working conditions on an uninspected tugboat operating within Alaska's three-mile territorial waters. The Commission held that a vessel in those waters is a workplace in a state under the OSH Act. Coast Guard regulation did not preempt OSHA's confined-space, machine-guarding…
General Cutlery Co., Inc.
Knife maker loses on almost every safety and health citation, including a willful hazard-communication violation
General Cutlery makes bayonets and household knives in Fremont, Ohio. After complaint inspections in May 1994, OSHA issued two sets of citations, later consolidated: safety violations (Docket No. 94-2015) and health violations (Docket No. 94-1933). The company, represented by its president, argued…
Pit-Stop, Inc. (Uniroyal Pitstop)
Unguarded service pit affirmed as a serious violation, $100
Pit-Stop, Inc., operating as Uniroyal Pitstop in Midwest City, Oklahoma, ran an automotive shop where workers used floor pits about 3 feet wide, 5 feet deep, and 10 feet long to reach the underside of vehicles for oil changes and grease jobs. OSHA cited the shop after an inspection found several of…
Kaspar Electroplating Corp.
Commission affirms three machine-guarding violations and vacates drill-press items
OSHA cited Kaspar Electroplating after inspecting its Shiner, Texas facility. On review, the Commission rejected Kaspar's argument that the citation was untimely, finding that OSHA issued it within six months of discovering the uncorrected conditions. It also held that a compliance officer may…
Quick-Cast Limited
Seven serious citation items settled for $675
OSHA cited Quick-Cast Limited, an aluminum casting and engraving business, for safety conditions involving portable fire extinguishers, bench grinders, oxygen and acetylene cylinder storage, flexible electrical wiring, and its written hazard communication program. An ALJ had affirmed most of the…
Art Specialty Company
Lamp manufacturer receives mixed ruling and $5,700 penalty
OSHA cited Art Specialty Company, a 29-employee lamp manufacturer, for numerous serious and other-than-serious conditions. The judge vacated a stairway citation because the Secretary did not prove employees used the stairs, and vacated the metal-shear portion of a machine-guarding item because the…
LT Precision Heat Treating d/b/a Precision
Bench-grinder violations affirmed with reduced penalties
LT Precision Heat Treating used a bench grinder for spark testing metal at its Brooklyn facility. The grinder's tongue guard was too far from the wheel, and the work rest had been pivoted away so that it provided no support. The company argued that spark testing was not grinding, but the judge…
Alaska Trawl Fisheries, Inc.
OSHA jurisdiction over factory vessels affirmed
Alaska Trawl Fisheries and Golden Age Fisheries operated vessels that caught and processed fish near Dutch Harbor, Alaska. OSHA cited machine guarding, passageway, recordkeeping, welding-gas storage, and hazard-communication conditions aboard the vessels. The companies stipulated to the violations…
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…
Armour Food Company
Two guarding items affirmed and six items vacated
OSHA cited multiple conditions at Armour's meat-processing plant, and the Commission reviewed selected personal-protective-equipment, machine-guarding, power-transmission, centrifuge, and compressed-gas items. It vacated the mesh-glove item because OSHA did not prove that sharpening slicer blades…
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…
The Duriron Company, Inc.
Foundry case severed from heat-stress review
Two cases from concurrent inspections of Duriron's foundry were consolidated for hearing and decision. The judge resolved several molten-metal, machine-guarding, and grinding-machine items in Docket 77-2846, and the Commission corrected a clerical error to reflect that two grinding-machine items…
Hamilton Foundry Division
Grinder case remanded to reconstruct missing testimony
OSHA cited Hamilton Foundry over a grinder work rest that allegedly exceeded the one-eighth-inch maximum gap from the wheel. After the hearing transcript omitted portions of a witness's testimony, the judge dismissed the citation rather than reconstructing the record or determining whether the…
Braswell Motor Freight Lines, Inc.
Commission distinguishes recurring violations from failure to abate
Braswell Motor Freight Lines operated a freight terminal that OSHA reinspected after several uncontested citations became final orders. The Commission affirmed a failure to abate the missing stair handrail but assessed no penalty because the company made substantial good-faith efforts and the…
Consolidated Freightways Corporation
OSHA applies to unguarded truck maintenance pits
Consolidated Freightways operated a truck terminal maintenance shop with seven service pits and about 300 employees. The company argued that federal motor-carrier regulation displaced OSHA jurisdiction, but the Commission found no other federal regulation governing maintenance-shop safety and held…
Allied Equipment Company
Numerous shop violations affirmed with a one-cent total penalty
Allied Equipment manufactured horse and stock trailers and repaired truck bodies and frames with five employees. The judge affirmed numerous nonserious violations involving flammable-liquid storage, fire extinguishers, machine and power-transmission guarding, grinder adjustments, a portable saw…
Optical Die & Tool Corp.
Grinder work-rest citation affirmed with no penalty
Optical Die & Tool manufactured dies for plastic eyeglass frames and operated three offhand abrasive-wheel grinders without work rests. The company installed rests on two grinders and withdrew its contest as to those machines. It argued that a work rest on the third specialty grinder would…
Stephenson Enterprises, Inc.
Eight plant-safety items reinstated
Stephenson Enterprises manufactured men's and boys' pants at a Georgia plant cited for several housekeeping, fire-protection, electrical, storage, machine-guarding, and sewing-machine conditions. The judge vacated the contested items after finding OSHA's evidence too conclusory. The Commission held…
The Weatherhead Co.
Grinder-blotter citation reinstated
A Weatherhead employee operated an abrasive-wheel grinder without blotters between the wheel and its flanges. The company had previously been cited for the same condition on the same machine and had supplied blotters, but it showed no enforced work rule or instructions ensuring their use. The…
Stowe Canoe Company
Twenty-one safety items affirmed
Stowe Canoe operated a small Vermont canoe-manufacturing facility. OSHA cited 22 conditions involving machine guarding, eye protection, flammable-liquid handling, fire extinguishers, compressed air, electrical equipment, aisle marking, and injury-record posting. The judge affirmed the first 21…
Midwest By Products, Inc.
First-aid and LP-gas items reinstated, ladder item vacated
OSHA cited hazards at Midwest By Products' rendering plant, including unguarded screw conveyors, defective ladders, inadequate first-aid preparation, an unsafe grinder, electrical defects, and an unprotected propane tank. The company admitted most of the nonserious violations and later acknowledged…
Allstate Trailer Sales, Inc.
Penalties reassessed after citations became final
Allstate Trailer Sales manufactured recreational vehicles at a Seattle plant. OSHA issued a serious citation involving unguarded saws and an eleven-item nonserious citation covering posting, recordkeeping, machine guarding, electrical grounding, and eye protection. Allstate's timely notice…
Tobacco River Lumber Co.
Mixed ruling on thirty sawmill citation items
Tobacco River operated a Montana sawmill and planing mill that received a thirty-item citation covering housekeeping, stairs, protective equipment, fire safety, tools, gas cylinders, machinery, and electrical conditions. The Commission upheld the inspection because a company employee with authority…
Irvington Moore, Division of U.S. Natural Resources, Inc.
Press-brake guarding violation reinstated
Irvington Moore manufactured sawmill machinery and used a press brake, an ironworker, and two saws at its Oregon plant. The Commission held that the general point-of-operation guarding standard applied to the press brake even though the specific mechanical power-press standard excluded press brakes…
Bouma Post Yards, Inc.
Split mill-safety ruling affirmed with no penalties
Bouma Post Yards operated a small Montana mill that processed logs into fence posts. OSHA cited a broad group of conditions involving tanks, fuel dispensing, defective equipment, industrial trucks, machinery, welding cables, electrical grounding, wire rope, vehicle alarms, and fire extinguishers…
Kemmerlin Meats, Inc.
Seventeen plant violations affirmed with $235 penalties
Kemmerlin Meats admitted 17 violations at its South Carolina meatpacking plant involving compressed-gas cylinders, machine guarding, electrical wiring and grounding, housekeeping, ladders, knives, sanitation, and equipment labeling. Penalties were proposed for six items, including raw wires…
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…
Metals Selling Corporation, Inc.
Combustible-liquid cabinet item vacated
Metals Selling Corporation manufactured metallic chemicals and structures, with much of its business involving magnesium grinding. OSHA issued 20 nonserious items covering housekeeping, aisles, stairs, exits, gas cylinders, personal protective equipment, fire protection, machine guarding…
Lake Butler Apparel Company
Electrical-grounding penalty restored
Lake Butler Apparel manufactured clothing and continuously used six ungrounded portable electrical tools or appliances. The judge affirmed the electrical-grounding, fire-extinguisher color, and OSHA-notice posting violations, but vacated a grinder work-rest item for lack of factual proof. The judge…
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…
Stevens Equipment Co.
Old power-press guarding item vacated
Stevens Equipment fabricated and sold metal products at an Oregon plant. OSHA cited an unguarded mechanical power press and an unguarded chain-and-sprocket drive as serious, along with eight other conditions that the company admitted. The Commission agreed that the press lacked a point-of-operation…
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.