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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Luna Tech, Inc.
Settlement approved with $50,000 in combined penalties
The two cases arose from OSHA inspections of Luna Tech's fireworks-manufacturing plant, including an inspection after explosions and fires injured three employees and one later died. While the cases were under Commission review, the parties settled all remaining issues. The Secretary withdrew…
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…
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…
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…
Loomis Cabinet Company
Cabinet workers held to be employees
Loomis Cabinet Company manufactured wooden cabinets and was cited after a follow-up inspection for repeat, other-than-serious, and failure-to-abate violations. Loomis stipulated to the violations but argued that its former employees had become partners in Eastview Cabinet Company, leaving Loomis…
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…
Spot-Bilt, Inc.
Locked former-exit citations vacated
Spot-Bilt permanently locked a door from its packing area to an interior courtyard, removed its exit sign and handle, and placed materials in front of it. The packing area had a separate outside exit and four doorways leading to nearby rooms with other exits. The Commission held that the exit rule…
Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., Inc. d/b/a WBZ TV Group Westinghouse Broadcasting
Locked-door and exit-sign violations affirmed
OSHA cited conditions at Westinghouse's Boston television and radio station, including wet newsroom housekeeping, alcohol storage, locked or obstructed doors, and an unmarked FM-studio exit. The Commission affirmed vacatur of the newsroom item because it duplicated an uncontested wet-floor…
Idaho Travertine Corporation
Most stone-processing citations affirmed with penalties reduced to $125
Idaho Travertine Corporation processed quarried stone at a small plant in Idaho Falls. OSHA issued one serious radial-saw citation and 13 nonserious items covering noise, personal protective equipment, machinery, compressed gas, emergency flushing, exits, and housekeeping. The judge affirmed the…
Request Records, Inc.
Ladder, exit-sign, and storage violations affirmed
OSHA cited Request Records for leaving an unmarked defective ladder accessible near high storage shelves, failing to mark an exit route, and stacking boxed records so they leaned toward an employee aisle. The judge found that buying a replacement ladder did not remove the old ladder from service…
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…
Robert W. Blanchette, Richard C. Bond & John H. McArthur, Trustees of Penn Central Transportation Co.
Five facility violations affirmed and three vacated
OSHA inspected Penn Central’s engineering department at Boston’s South Station while the railroad was in bankruptcy reorganization. The judge added the three bankruptcy trustees as respondents because they controlled the railroad’s property, knew of the case from the beginning, and actively…
Mercury National Life Insurance Co.
Late contest dismissed and OSHA coverage upheld
Mercury National Life challenged OSHA jurisdiction after being cited for poster, recordkeeping, exit, and electrical conditions at its Oklahoma office. Although almost all policyholders, agents, employees, income, and shareholders were in Oklahoma, the company used out-of-state equipment and…
Alpha Poster Service, Inc.
Most failure-to-abate and liquid-handling items upheld
Alpha Poster Service operated a small silk-screen printing business that OSHA reinspected after an earlier citation became final. The judge affirmed ten failure-to-abate items at $45 each, vacated two others, and affirmed two housekeeping and exit-obstruction violations as nonserious at $115 each…
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…
Collator Corporation
Press-brake subitems vacated and remaining citation affirmed
Collator Corporation manufactured collating machines at a Seattle plant. Its notice of contest referred only to the proposed penalties, but its answer and statements at the hearing showed that it also intended to contest two press-brake guarding subitems. The Commission therefore treated those…
Worcester Pressed Steel Company
Duplicate aisle item vacated, higher penalties sustained
Worcester Pressed Steel Company operated a large metal-stamping plant cited for 40 nonserious safety violations. The cited conditions included poor housekeeping and floors, obstructed and unmarked aisles, missing exit signs and eye protection, forklift hazards, inadequate machine guarding, and…
Idaho Travertine Corporation
Mine-safety jurisdiction dismissal reversed and case remanded
Idaho Travertine quarried large stone blocks at remote sites and transported them to an Idaho Falls plant for cutting, honing, polishing, and finishing. OSHA issued one serious citation and 12 nonserious citations with $1,290 in proposed penalties, but the judge vacated them because he placed the…
Chamberlain Manufacturing Corp.
Nine violations affirmed, penalties set at $1,292.50
Chamberlain operated an Iowa manufacturing plant producing ammunition components, appliance shelving, and aluminum ladders. The judge affirmed nine nonserious items involving damaged hoist ropes and a distorted hook, missing electrical covers, excessive compressed-air pressure, emergency washing…
Empire Art Products Co., Inc.
Failure-to-abate penalties reduced to $375
Empire Art Products assembled decorative products at a small New York workplace. A reinspection found that several electrical tools and machines remained ungrounded and that one of two cited exit-sign conditions remained uncorrected. OSHA did not prove that a compressed-air item remained unabated…
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…
Lundell Manufacturing Co., Inc.
Gasoline vent classified as serious with a $25 penalty
Lundell Manufacturing had an underground gasoline tank whose vent ended 6 feet 7 inches above the ground instead of the required 12 feet. The vent was outside, about 75 feet from the building, protected by a guard and fence, and away from regular employee work, and the company had it extended…
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…
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…
Colonial Craft Reproductions, Inc.
Seven items affirmed but all penalties vacated
Colonial Craft, a very small wooden-giftware manufacturer, was cited for nine non-serious violations, with $165 in penalties proposed for spray-area electrical wiring, exit signs, machine belts, and radial saws. The Commission agreed that the penalized conditions were not minor and ordinarily would…
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.