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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E.C. Stokes Mechanical Contractor, Inc.
Misplaced citation did not excuse late contest
E.C. Stokes was installing plumbing and air-conditioning systems at a Florida hospital project when OSHA cited two serious oxygen and acetylene cylinder-storage violations. The proposed penalties totaled $4,760. An experienced office employee received the certified citation, scanned it, believed it…
CB&I Constructors, Inc.
Gas-cylinder item withdrawn and fall item corrected to serious
The Commission reviewed a decision involving access, fall-protection, scaffold-platform, ladder, and compressed-gas-cylinder conditions during construction of a water tower. The Secretary withdrew the compressed-gas-cylinder item, and the Commission granted that withdrawal. It also corrected the…
Star Brite Construction Co., Inc.
Willful roof-edge violations and cylinder items affirmed
Star Brite replaced large low-pitched roofs at a New Jersey bus complex where employees worked near 25-foot-high unprotected edges and handled roofing materials at the roof edge. The Commission affirmed violations of the general built-up-roofing and roof-edge material-handling fall-protection…
Big Apple Wrecking and Construction Corp.
Willful scaffold fall-protection citation affirmed at $56,000, most serious items upheld
Big Apple Wrecking & Construction is a New York City demolition contractor. In mid-1998 OSHA inspected its demolition of a six-story theater building, where crews worked on the top level of scaffolding surrounding the structure. OSHA issued a serious citation, a repeat citation, and a willful…
A. J. McNulty & Company, Inc.
Mixed ruling on fall protection during precast concrete erection
A. J. McNulty & Company was erecting a precast concrete parking garage in White Plains, New York, when OSHA cited numerous fall-protection and other safety violations. The Commission rejected McNulty's request to exclude inspection evidence, finding that OSHA substantially honored the company's…
AIA Environmental
Unsecured-cylinder item affirmed, two items vacated
AIA Environmental performed interior demolition at an office building in Connecticut. OSHA found unsecured oxygen and acetylene cylinders, cited their close placement, and alleged that AIA did not make its written hazard-communication program available upon request. The judge affirmed the…
LaForge & Budd Construction Co., Inc.
Two items affirmed by stipulation after remand
OSHA cited LaForge & Budd Construction Co., Inc. after inspecting an Oklahoma construction project. The Commission reversed an earlier ruling that had suppressed the inspection evidence and remanded the case for a hearing on the merits. The parties then stipulated that a nylon-sling item would be…
Dover Elevator Company
Unsecured-ladder item reduced to de minimis by settlement
Dover Elevator was an elevator subcontractor on a renovation project in New York City where OSHA issued serious, repeat, and other-than-serious citations. The Commission directed review only of an unsecured portable ladder item that the ALJ had affirmed as repeated with a $1,000 penalty. In a…
Fluidics, Inc.
Mixed construction ruling assesses $13,600
Fluidics performed mechanical-system renovations at a Philadelphia public-housing project with unusually difficult site-security conditions. The judge affirmed serious violations involving unsecured and improperly separated compressed-gas cylinders, missing GFCI protection, exposed energized…
Dover Elevator Company
Unsecured oxygen cylinder did not meet the carrying exception
Dover Elevator left an oxygen cylinder unsecured for 15 to 30 minutes near an elevator shaft while employees tried to repair a hoist. The Commission rejected OSHA's view that a cylinder must be secured whenever it is not physically moving, recognizing that brief, necessary pauses during carrying…
Shank-Ohbayashi
One tunnel docket severed, leaving $600 in penalties
Shank-Ohbayashi faced citations from two inspections of its Los Angeles Metro-Rail tunneling project. The cases were tried together, but Commission review was sought only for Docket 88-2674. The Commission severed Docket 88-1711 after finding no party or public interest that warranted further…
Novak & Co., Inc.
Multi-employer worksite citations vacated
Novak, a plumbing subcontractor, was cited for allegedly inadequate overhead protection, improperly stored gas cylinders belonging to another contractor, unguarded floor perimeters, and an open floor hole. The Commission vacated every item. The Secretary did not prove that the entrance canopy was…
Austin Building Company
Gas-cylinder item affirmed and fall-protection issue remanded
Austin employees welded near an unguarded edge on top of a precipitator where a fall could be nearly 80 feet. OSHA also found an acetylene cylinder ready for use and an oxygen cylinder lying unsecured on the floor. The Commission held that the compressed-gas rule requires cylinders to remain…
Daniel International Corp.
Pre-Barlow's inspection evidence remained admissible
OSHA inspected Daniel International's Missouri power-plant construction project in 1977 without a warrant, before the Supreme Court's 1978 decision in Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. Daniel sought to suppress the inspection evidence, arguing that its project manager had not voluntarily consented and had…
Constructora Maza, Inc.
Construction violations and $4,455 penalties affirmed
Constructora Maza was building a three-building complex in Puerto Rico. OSHA cited missing stair railings, scaffolds supported by concrete blocks, a weakened scaffold plank, unguarded floor edges, unsecured compressed-gas cylinders, and improperly built ladder cleats. The Commission relied on…
Savina Home Industries, Inc.
Thirteen construction violations affirmed
At a retail-store construction site, the judge affirmed thirteen nonserious items involving missing hard hats, deficient mobile-scaffold rails, planking and bracing, frayed drill cords, an unapproved receptacle, a knotted winch cable, reversed wire-rope clips, a damaged ladder, a mushroomed…
State, Incorporated
Guardrail item upheld with increased penalty
State, Incorporated performed construction work at a steel plant where a furnace eruption killed two employees working above the operating area. The judge vacated OSHA's general duty clause citation because the evidence did not establish that the charging operation presented a recognized hazard…
A. Munder & Son, Inc. and Robert Catino, Inc.
Accessible hazards separated from remote conditions
A. Munder & Son was a sheet-metal subcontractor, and Robert Catino was a carpentry subcontractor, at a New York City building project. Both companies' employees passed near unsecured oxygen and acetylene cylinders that lacked valve caps, so the Commission affirmed the cylinder-storage violations…
David Neiss, d/b/a Neiss Engineering Company
Fall-hazard penalties reduced
Neiss Engineering was cited for 12 nonserious conditions at a concrete apartment-building project, including ladder defects, unguarded floor openings and platforms, housekeeping, unsecured gas cylinders, and other guarding issues. The judge affirmed the violations and adjusted the proposed…
Gumina Building & Construction Co.
Mixed construction-site ruling affirmed
Gumina was the general contractor on a college construction project where employees worked without hard hats, debris created tripping hazards, and oxygen cylinders were not secured upright. A separate eye-protection item was vacated because the evidence did not establish that safety glasses were…
Bechtel Power Corporation
Construction-manager safety violations affirmed
Bechtel managed construction of a Missouri power plant but did not perform craft labor. Its engineers, timekeepers, safety representatives, and other employees regularly worked throughout the construction site. The Commission held that this management and inspection work was directly tied to…
W. J. Barney Corporation
Direction for review vacated
The Commission vacated its direction for review in the W. J. Barney Corporation case by referring to Francisco Tower Service. The attached judge's decision concerned a construction manager whose employees regularly inspected and traversed a construction site. The judge found the company subject to…
Alcap Electrical Corp.
Subcontractor citations affirmed for employee exposure
Alcap Electrical was an electrical subcontractor at a building project where employees encountered unguarded floor openings, unguarded stairs, unsecured gas cylinders, and other construction hazards. Alcap argued that it did not create or control the hazardous conditions. The Commission held that a…
Laster and Fingeret, Inc.
Penalties imposed for eight admitted construction violations
Laster and Fingeret was the general contractor at a building project and admitted three serious and five nonserious construction violations. The cited conditions included missing stair and perimeter railings, unguarded floor openings, fire-extinguisher and first-aid deficiencies, unsecured gas…
Peter Bratti Associates, Inc. & D'Adderio Construction Co., Inc.
Cylinder and fire-protection citations vacated
Bratti performed stonework and D'Adderio performed brickwork on a 15-story construction project where compressed-gas cylinders were found lying on their sides without valve caps. OSHA also alleged that required fire extinguishers were missing. The judge found insufficient evidence that either…
Martin Iron Works, Inc.
Crane inspection violations added without penalties
Martin Iron Works used a crane beyond the manufacturer's rated lifting radius and capacity during structural steel erection at a Nevada casino project. The judge affirmed that serious violation for $850, along with an inadequate ladder for $55, unsecured gas cylinders for $55, and an improperly…
O'Dell Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, Inc.
Serious trenching violations affirmed
O'Dell Plumbing, Heating & Cooling was installing a storm drain at a hospital construction project in Liberty, Missouri. OSHA cited the company after employees worked in an approximately 14-foot-deep trench whose unstable sides were not adequately supported or sloped and whose spoil piles were…
H. K. Ferguson Co.
Seven construction violations affirmed and two vacated
H. K. Ferguson was the contractor on a project to expand an Anheuser-Busch facility in Columbus, Ohio. The judge affirmed seven nonserious items involving debris, flammable-liquid storage, smoking warnings, compressed-gas cylinders, elevated runways, and safe access between elevations. He vacated a…
Brown-Lane Company
Settlement vacates cylinder items and affirms scaffold penalties
Brown-Lane was constructing additional facilities for an affiliated open-pit clay mining operation in Louisiana. OSHA cited five conditions involving gas cylinders and scaffolding, with proposed penalties of $40 each for the two scaffold items. In a settlement, the Secretary agreed to vacate the…
Otis Elevator Company
Shared-site fire and cylinder violations partly affirmed
Otis Elevator employees worked at a construction site where fire protection was deficient and compressed-gas cylinders lacked valve caps or were not secured upright. Otis argued that it did not own the cylinders or control the fire equipment. The judge held that an employer remains responsible when…
Bayside Pipe Coaters, Inc.
Subcontractor remains responsible for its trench crew
Bayside Pipe Coaters sent a foreman and two employees to waterproof pipe in a trench excavated by a general contractor. The company admitted that the trench, spoil-pile, and compressed-gas-cylinder conditions violated OSHA standards but argued that its contract made the general contractor solely…
W. B. Meredith II, Inc.
One contested item affirmed and others vacated
W. B. Meredith II was a general construction contractor building a five-story reinforced concrete building. OSHA issued three serious and fourteen non-serious citation items with $1,750 in proposed penalties. The Commission upheld the judge's vacatur of the contested electrical-box, guardrail…
Hawkins Construction Co.
Excavation citation vacated for lack of employee exposure
Hawkins Construction was the general contractor on an industrial-park project and had excavated an area for sewer work. The excavation was not properly sloped and excavated material was stored too close to its edge, but only a subcontractor's employees were present when OSHA inspected. The…
H-E Lowdermilk Company
Backup observer and cylinder violations upheld
H-E Lowdermilk Company was building a Colorado highway when OSHA cited six construction-safety violations. The Commission found that trucks with obstructed rear views lacked alarms and were backed while bulldozer operators assigned as observers were not always free to watch and signal, so it…
Beall Construction Co.
Construction penalties reduced to $620
Beall Construction was the general contractor on a 12-story building project and faced serious, other-than-serious, and failure-to-abate allegations with proposed penalties totaling $35,442. The Commission adopted the judge's mixed disposition of the citations, including a serious violation for a…
Dore Wrecking Co.
Eye-protection item vacated and two penalties reduced
Dore Wrecking was demolishing a building with its own employees and specialized subcontractors. The Commission vacated an eye-protection item because the unprotected drill operator worked for a subcontractor, Dore did not control him, and no Dore employee was shown to be exposed to the condition…
Genco, Inc.
Construction citation vacated after inspection violations
OSHA issued Genco a 13-item non-serious citation after inspecting its construction work at Honolulu International Airport. The judge vacated the citation because the compliance officer began the inspection before presenting credentials to the owner, operator, or agent in charge as required by 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.