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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Southern Scrap Materials Co., Inc.
Lead, cadmium, first-aid, and guarding violations yield $114,500 penalty
Southern Scrap Materials operated a Louisiana scrap-recycling facility where workers torch cut metal and used industrial machinery. The Commission rejected the company's broad challenges to OSHA's inspection, testing, and the validity of the lead and cadmium standards. It found that Southern…
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…
Trinity Marine Products, Inc.
Five plant-safety items affirmed with $3,050 penalty
OSHA inspected Trinity's Louisiana barge-building plant under a warrant after the company initially denied entry. The judge rejected Trinity's constitutional and inspection-procedure challenges. Safety violations were affirmed for improperly spaced grinder tongue guards, misuse of a junction box…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Conagra Flour Milling Company
Commission splits flour-mill safety citations and assesses $500
Conagra operated a flour-milling facility in Martins Creek, Pennsylvania, where OSHA cited battery servicing, powered industrial trucks, machine guarding, compressed-air cleaning, and grain-handling practices. The Commission vacated the personal-protective-equipment and eyewash items because OSHA's…
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…
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…
Synkote Paint Company, KDK Upset Forging Company
Citations affirmed despite warrant challenges
Synkote Paint and KDK Upset Forging challenged programmed-inspection warrants as broader than the administrative plans used to establish probable cause. Each company stipulated that it had committed the cited violations while preserving its warrant and suppression arguments. The Commission read…
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…
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…
Leader Evaporator, Inc.
Incorporated electrical requirements upheld
Leader Evaporator manufactured maple-sugar equipment and admitted that its plant wiring and portable electric tools were not grounded. It argued that the electrical standards were invalid because they incorporated National Electrical Code provisions instead of printing the full requirements in 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…
Illinois Central Gulf Railroad Co.
Forty-six citation items vacated as untimely
OSHA cited 46 alleged safety, health, recordkeeping, and posting violations at Illinois Central Gulf Railroad's locomotive repair facility in Paducah, Kentucky. The inspection was coordinated with the Federal Railroad Administration, and the proposed citation moved through regional and national…
Gerry Division of Outdoor Sports Industries, Inc.
Machine-guarding items affirmed and rivet-machine item vacated
Gerry manufactured outdoor equipment and apparel using industrial sewing machines, a rivet machine, and an abrasive grinder. The company admitted four items involving compressed-air cleaning, stair railings, fan guarding, and a separate rivet-machine guarding condition, with a single $30 penalty…
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.