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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JMT Services, Inc.
Six citations vacated because workers were independent contractors
JMT Services supplied a crew for framing and roofing work at an airport hangar project in Chillicothe, Missouri. OSHA issued six citations covering eye protection, scaffold support, equipment safety, fall protection, ladders, and forklift training, with $30,675 in proposed penalties. The parties…
Elite Builders, Inc.
Willful residential fall violation affirmed
Elite Builders' owner and four workers were framing the owner's two-story house in Gretna, Nebraska. OSHA found workers without eye protection, on an unsecured forklift-supported platform without fall protection, using an unguarded stairway, and framing on a roof without fall protection. The judge…
Magnum Contracting, Inc.
Unsecured forklift platform violation affirmed
Two Magnum Contracting foremen used a rough-terrain forklift to raise an employee on a work platform for welding. They did not secure the platform with the provided chain and moved the occupied forklift horizontally, causing the platform to slide off the forks and fall about 12 feet. The judge held…
Richard Hargrove d/b/a R. H. Construction
Five repeat construction items vacated for lack of employer coverage
OSHA cited R. H. Construction after observing framing work from a narrow, unsecured forklift-supported platform nearly ten feet above the ground. The workers also lacked cited head, eye, and fall protection, and OSHA alleged that one worker had not received required scaffold training. All five…
Salco Construction, Inc.
Attorney-fee application denied
Salco Construction prevailed on one scaffold fall-protection item after the judge found that the Secretary had not proved a platform moved more than 14 inches from a building's eaves. Salco then sought $29,735.82 in fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commission found that…
SALCO Construction, Inc.
Steel and platform violations result in $3,000 penalty
A SALCO employee bolted purlins while sitting on a steel beam about 18 feet above a concrete floor without fall protection. The judge found that he was not a connector because he was not working with hoisting equipment, so the 15-foot steel-erection fall rule applied. Two other employees worked…
Commercial Painting, Inc.
Forklift-supported work-platform violations affirmed
Commercial Painting used a rough-terrain forklift to support an employee-built work platform about 21 feet above the ground. The judge held that rough-terrain forklifts are equipment similar to front-end loaders under the scaffold standard and may support personnel platforms only when 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.