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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CH2M Hill, Inc., f/k/a CH2M Hill Central, Inc.
Forty willful tunnel electrical violations yield $200,000
CH2M Hill provided engineering and program-management services for a Milwaukee wastewater tunnel project. After methane ignited in a tunnel explosion that killed three employees of the tunneling contractor, OSHA cited CH2M for unapproved electrical equipment and nonreversible ventilation. The…
S.A. Healy Co.
Double-jeopardy defense rejected and penalties remanded
S.A. Healy Co. was the tunneling contractor on a Milwaukee sewer project where a methane explosion killed three employees. OSHA issued 68 willful citation items under its instance-by-instance policy, and 49 of those items covered conduct for which the company was also criminally convicted and fined…
Baker Tank Co./Altech, a Div. of Justiss Oil
Tank-entry training and electrical violations affirmed
Baker Tank employees entered an emptied crude-oil storage tank to cut apart an internal aluminum roof using electric saws. Residual sludge contained volatile solvent, and an explosion after the crew reentered the tank killed three employees. The Commission found that Baker had not adequately…
McNally Construction and Tunneling Co.
Tunnel standard preempts general electrical rule
McNally was constructing part of a Cleveland sewer tunnel in shale where methane could be encountered. OSHA alleged that the tunnel's lighting equipment and wiring were not intrinsically safe under the general construction electrical standard for hazardous locations. The Commission found that the…
K M & M, a Joint Venture
General electrical citation preempted by tunnel standard
K M & M was constructing a sewer tunnel in Cleveland shale, a formation known to contain combustible methane. OSHA alleged that lighting and other electrical equipment in the tunnel was not approved as intrinsically safe under the general construction electrical standard for hazardous locations…
Mosser Construction Company
Crane gear violation affirmed after storage-area exposure
A Mosser crane operator regularly entered a confined crane compartment containing moving gears, fuel gauges, tools, oils, and other stored materials. After completing lubrication work and restarting the gears, a rag and then his hand became entangled, severing his hand. The Commission held that 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.