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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Georgia Quality Masonry, Inc.
Electrical violations conditionally affirmed
Georgia Quality Masonry employees were exposed to unguarded temporary lights, unsafe temporary-light cords and connections, and inadequately protected extension cords. The masonry subcontractor did not dispute the conditions but argued that it lacked electricians and could not perform electrical…
Emerick Construction, a corporation
Commission reviews only the penalties, drops the bulb-guard fine, and cuts the repeated-violation penalty
Emerick Construction was the general contractor building a hospital addition when two OSHA inspections produced four violations, later consolidated before Administrative Law Judge Thomas J. Donegan. Emerick did not dispute that the violations happened; it argued only that the penalties were too…
Mayfair Construction Company
Sears Tower citation items split
Mayfair performed concrete construction during the Sears Tower project and contested eight nonserious citation items. The Commission vacated a temporary-wiring item because OSHA did not connect Mayfair employees to the specific wiring hazards. It also vacated a ladder-cleat item because the spacing…
Illinois Bell Telephone Company
Wiring item vacated, light item de minimis
Illinois Bell worked on telephone systems during construction of the Sears Tower. OSHA cited temporary wiring that was allegedly too low or insufficiently fastened and temporary lights that lacked guards. The Commission found no proof that Illinois Bell employees had access to the specific wiring…
Eliason & Knuth Drywall Company
Drywall citation rulings left in effect
Eliason & Knuth received citations at two Omaha construction sites for housekeeping, scaffold, electrical, and guarding conditions. The Commission declined to review the judge's rulings on most items because no party objected and no compelling public-interest issue was shown. The disputed issue was…
George Hyman Construction Company
Six repeated classifications stand after a divided Commission
George Hyman admitted six construction violations involving material storage, electrical grounding, temporary-light guards, ladder clearance, floor-edge guarding, and crane operation. Each standard had been cited previously at another nearby Hyman worksite, and those earlier citations had become…
Anthony Izzo Company, Inc.
Unguarded masonry scaffolds and seven other items affirmed
Anthony Izzo Company was a masonry contractor with employees working on two tubular welded-frame scaffolds. The platforms were 15 and 19 feet above concrete, lacked guardrails, midrails, and toeboards, and had employees working below them where bricks or debris could fall. The judge found a serious…
Southwestern Acoustics & Specialty, Inc.
Scaffold item made serious and light-guard item remanded
Southwestern Acoustics installed acoustical and drywall materials at a school auditorium construction project. Employees used a two-point suspension scaffold about 25 feet above the ground without safety belts attached to lifelines. The Commission held that the scaffold met the regulatory…
Consolidated Interior Systems, Inc.
Six site-safety items affirmed with reduced penalties
Consolidated Interior Systems was a drywall subcontractor at a New Jersey shopping-center project. Employees used ungrounded power tools and defective extension cords, worked around unguarded temporary bulbs and debris, and used a narrow mobile scaffold without guardrails or caster locks. The judge…
Bertrand Goldberg Associates
Construction-manager citations reinstated with reduced penalties
Bertrand Goldberg Associates served as architect and construction manager for a State University project in Stony Brook, New York. One of its employees used a stairway without required railings near temporary light bulbs that lacked contact guards. The company argued that it acted as an…
Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.
Electrical and passageway items affirmed
Chicago Bridge & Iron was one of many contractors building nuclear-reactor containment vessels. OSHA cited improper attachment plugs, unguarded temporary bulbs, temporary lights suspended by unsuitable cords, 110-volt portable lighting in moist metal vessels, and hoses and cables obstructing…
Larry D. Mack, General Contractor
Three construction items affirmed without penalties
OSHA cited six conditions at a small construction project. The judge affirmed a technical open-wiring violation because a partially covered energized panel remained accessible, a stair-railing violation because carpenters were using the stairs, and a fire-extinguisher violation because travel…
R. H. Bishop Co.
Unguarded-light and grinder penalties assessed
R. H. Bishop was the heating and plumbing subcontractor on a dormitory project at Chanute Air Force Base. The Commission affirmed an unguarded-temporary-light violation because Bishop's employees were exposed, even though another contractor installed and controlled the lighting. It also affirmed an…
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…
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.