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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Harbert-Yeargin, Inc.
Seven electrical and scaffold items affirmed serious, four vacated, $4,500
Harbert-Yeargin was the general contractor building a cogeneration power plant in Fort Myers, Florida, that would turn municipal solid waste into steam and electricity for Lee County. While inspecting the site over another contractor in June 1994, an OSHA compliance officer also cited…
Lawrence B. Wohl, Inc.
Mobile-scaffold penalties increased to $1,000
Lawrence B. Wohl employees installed lathing and sprayed fireproofing from small mobile scaffolds at a Yonkers waste-transfer-station project. One scaffold had unlocked casters and exposed an employee to a four-foot fall, while another lacked a midrail and toeboard and exposed two employees to a…
John J. Smith Masonry Co.
Two scaffold violations affirmed and one vacated
John J. Smith Masonry used a mobile scaffold while replacing a limestone window sill at the Cervantes Convention Center in St. Louis. The ALJ vacated the allegation that the scaffold was not erected under competent-person supervision because the Secretary did not identify who supervised its…
Heaton Erecting, Inc.
Mobile-scaffold citation items vacated
OSHA cited Heaton Erecting after an employee fell about 40 feet to his death while using a mobile scaffold near a building perimeter. The citation alleged missing guardrails and failure to plank the scaffold's full width. The judge vacated both items, finding that the guardrail rule did not apply…
Heaton Erecting, Inc.
Mobile-scaffold guardrail issue remanded
OSHA alleged that Heaton Erecting violated the mobile-scaffold guardrail standard because an unguarded scaffold was more than 40 feet above the ground. The judge vacated the item because the scaffold platform was only 50 to 70 inches above its base and relied on a Commission interpretation that was…
Schwarz-Jordan, Inc.
Serious scaffold citation reinstated after court reversal
The Commission had previously vacated a citation alleging that Schwarz-Jordan violated the scaffold standard by using an unguarded scaffold. The Fifth Circuit reversed that decision and directed the Commission to reinstate the citation. Following the court’s mandate, the Commission reinstated…
Schwarz-Jordan, Inc.
Scaffold item vacated, laser item affirmed, and tool-label item reduced
Schwarz-Jordan, a drywall subcontractor, faced citations involving an unguarded mobile scaffold, a missing laser warning placard, and an unmarked double-insulated screw gun. The Commission vacated the scaffold item because the scaffold platform itself was less than 10 feet above its base, even…
Automatic Sprinkler Corporation of America
Repeat-serious mobile-scaffold violation affirmed
An Automatic Sprinkler employee worked from another subcontractor's mobile scaffold about 11 to 12 feet above a concrete floor without required guardrails or toeboards. The company had supplied a ladder and generally instructed employees not to use other employers' equipment, but it had not…
Automatic Sprinkler Corporation of America
Mobile-scaffold penalty reduced to $750
An Automatic Sprinkler employee worked on an unguarded mobile scaffold with a platform only 6.5 feet above its base. Because the scaffold was placed beside lower concrete walkways, an employee falling from two sides could drop 12.5 or 14.5 feet. The Commission held that the guardrail standard…
The Lane Construction Corporation
Safety-belt violation affirmed, net and guardrail items vacated
Two Lane Construction employees stood and leaned over a bridge parapet more than 25 feet above a lower deck while attaching scaffold members to a mobile stripping wagon without personal fall protection. The judge affirmed the personal protective equipment violation because safety belts were…
Childress Painting Company, Inc.
Scaffold violations affirmed with $275 penalty
Childress Painting employees worked from a narrow aluminum platform about 17 feet above a concrete floor without standard guardrails, and two employees traversed it without remaining continuously tied off. The judge held that the company's safety-belt system did not excuse the missing guardrails…
General Supply Company, Inc.
Mobile-scaffold guardrail citation vacated
General Supply used a manually propelled mobile scaffold while installing an acoustic ceiling in a fire-damaged store. A superintendent stood briefly on a board placed across the scaffold’s end guardrails, about nine feet above the floor, while holding a ceiling joist to check a laser level. OSHA…
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…
Jack Shelton, d/b/a Jack Shelton Painting Contractor
Sandblasting item reduced to nonserious
Jack Shelton Painting Contractor used a rented sandblaster and a mobile scaffold at an Idaho construction project. The sandblasting nozzle lacked a manual operating valve, so the worker holding it had to signal another employee to shut off the equipment. The judge found a violation but reclassified…
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.