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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.

5,577 decisions and counting · Latest decision July 17, 2026
6 decisions 29 C.F.R. § 1910.38(a)(1)

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ALJ

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…

July 9, 2001 ·Michael H. Schoenfeld
Mixed result
ALJ

Dillard Texas Operating Limited Partnership, and its successors

Floor and emergency-preparedness items affirmed

OSHA cited a Dillard's store for damaged floors and walls, locked or poorly fitting exits, emergency-planning deficiencies, inadequate fire-extinguisher training, machine guarding, and electrical conditions. Judge James H. Barkley affirmed an other-than-serious passageway violation because…

February 8, 1999 ·James H. Barkley
Mixed result
ALJ

Dillard Department Store, Inc. d/b/a Dillard's, and its successors

Emergency-plan and delayed-exit sign items affirmed

Dillard's locked several customary store exits outside business hours, leaving two available exits more than 450 feet from some work areas. OSHA issued overlapping items requiring unlocked egress and procedures for opening the doors during an emergency. Judge James H. Barkley vacated the…

February 8, 1999 ·James H. Barkley
Mixed result
ALJ

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…

November 27, 1995 ·Paul L. Brady
Mixed result
COMM

EBAA Iron, Inc.

Silica overexposure and control citations vacated

EBAA Iron operated a foundry in Cordele, Georgia, where OSHA sampled the breathing zone of an inner-diameter grinder operator and calculated exposure above the limit for respirable crystalline silica. EBAA showed that the grinding wheel contained 40 percent zirconium oxide and that OSHA's own…

February 7, 1995
Citations vacated
COMM

Trinity Industries Inc.

Machine and electrical case settled for $800

OSHA inspected two Trinity Industries railcar fabrication plants in Dallas and cited numerous machine guarding, crane, electrical, tool, fire extinguisher, sling, and hazard communication conditions. An OSHRC judge affirmed several serious and other-than-serious items and vacated others. During…

February 10, 1992
Settled

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.