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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Red Lobster Inns of America, Inc.
Site control creates liability for an ungrounded generator
Red Lobster coordinated subcontractors constructing a new restaurant through its on-site superintendent. A rented generator was used without grounding, exposing two subcontractor employees to possible death or serious injury. Although Red Lobster's own employee was not exposed, the Commission held…
4G Plumbing & Heating, Inc.
Open-ground citation vacated
4G Plumbing & Heating was one of three prime contractors on a Montana prison-farm construction project. OSHA found that a temporary receptacle installed by the electrical contractor had an open ground and cited 4G under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.401(c) because its employees used the outlet. The defect was…
Otis Elevator Company
Scaffold-access violation reduced to de minimis
Otis employees installing elevators worked from a 30-foot scaffold inside an elevator shaft and climbed built-in scaffold rungs spaced 18 inches apart. The judge found that the rungs were not equivalent to a proper access ladder under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(a)(13), affirmed a nonserious violation…
4G Plumbing & Heating, Inc.
Grounding item vacated and ladder item affirmed
4G Plumbing & Heating was a subcontractor at a building project in Anaconda, Montana. OSHA found that an extension cord serving a pipe buffer was missing its grounding prong. The judge vacated that item and its proposed $30 penalty because the cord had been new when brought to the job and 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review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.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.