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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
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…
Ireland Contracting, LLC
Roofing citations vacated because subcontractors controlled the work
Ireland Contracting sold and scheduled two residential roof replacements in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, then hired separate subcontractors to supply and supervise the roofing crews. OSHA cited Ireland Contracting for fall protection, eye protection, powered-industrial-truck, and scaffold violations…
Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc.
Controlling-employer scaffold citation vacated
A contractor employee fell about 25 feet from an unguarded scaffold platform inside a refinery heater while not using personal fall protection. Suncor was the controlling employer but had no employees performing the work inside the confined space. The Commission found that the violative condition…
LM Sanderson Construction, Inc.
Three residential fall violations affirmed
LM Sanderson Construction employees framed townhomes while working about 20 feet above lower levels. Employees stood on stacked roof sheathing supported by an elevated telehandler fork, a foreman worked from the top plate of an exterior wall, and other employees installed sheathing on a steep roof…
Georgia Carolina Stucco, Inc.
Three repeat scaffold violations affirmed
Georgia Carolina Stucco used another contractor's scaffolds while applying stucco to an assisted-living facility in Evans, Georgia. Three employees, including the company's foreman and competent person, worked as high as 20 feet 9 inches on platforms that were not fully planked and had no…
DeMouy General Contracting, Inc.
Scaffold fall-protection item affirmed against owner and employee
The owner of DeMouy General Contracting and an employee worked about 20 feet above ground on a pump-jack scaffold without effective fall protection. The judge held that the owner was an employee under the OSH Act while performing construction work for the corporation, despite his belief that owners…
Absolute Roofing & Construction, Inc.
Four scaffold and fall-protection items affirmed
Absolute Roofing's worker repaired a steep church roof without fall protection above a scaffold that lacked base plates and guardrails. The judge treated Absolute Roofing and Absolute Exteriors as a single employer because they shared ownership, management, an office, employees, work, and their…
D & D Masonry Services, Inc.
Scaffold violations largely affirmed with reduced penalties
D & D Masonry used a multilevel scaffold for masonry work at a Georgia construction site. OSHA found wide platform gaps, damaged planks, unsecured scaffold legs, missing fall protection and a midrail, and a closed stepladder used as access. The judge affirmed those scaffold and ladder conditions as…
P.J. Spillane Company, Inc.
Respirator and scaffold citation items split
P.J. Spillane employees performed masonry tuck-pointing from scaffolds at a Boston worksite. The judge affirmed a serious respirator-program item after OSHA found a dirty, deteriorated respirator and facial hair that interfered with face seals. A missing safety data sheet for a corrosive cleaner…
Virginia Construction & Management Company, Inc.
Willful canopy fall violation affirmed
Two Virginia Construction employees chipped concrete on a canopy 16 feet 7 inches above a sidewalk without fall protection, safety-toe footwear, hard hats, or eye protection. They accessed the canopy by climbing an inadequately configured scaffold, and the company lacked qualified scaffold…
Frazier Masonry Corporation
Scaffold fall citation vacated for lack of employee proof
An OSHA compliance officer observed three people working near an unguarded opening on a 38-foot scaffold for about fifteen minutes without other fall protection. The judge found that the scaffold standard applied and that the observed condition violated its terms. OSHA did not identify the three…
Denny Maize Construction
Eight serious construction items affirmed
Denny Maize Construction did not appear at the hearing, and OSHA's inspection evidence was undisputed. Workers lacked hard hats and eye protection, used circular saws with blade guards wedged open, and used damaged or improperly spliced extension cords. OSHA also documented an undersized scaffold…
Masonry Arts, Inc.
Scaffold planking, access, and repeat guardrail items totaled $12,500
Masonry Arts employees performed block repair work from a scaffold platform approximately 12.5 feet above the ground at a new Florida high school gymnasium. The judge found a five-inch gap between planks, no safe ladder access, and no guardrail or other fall protection on the platform. He rejected…
Standard Building Company, Inc., and Standard Systems, Inc.
Three items affirmed against one company and all items vacated against the other
Standard Building managed a restaurant renovation, and Standard Systems was identified as a related stucco contractor. The judge found that a subcontractor owner acted in part as Standard Building's site superintendent but lacked scaffold and powered-industrial-truck safety training. Standard…
Africo Manufacturing, Inc.
Missing scissor-lift guardrails exposed workers to a 20-foot fall
Two Africo employees installed sprinkler piping from a scissor lift about 20 feet above a concrete floor with guardrails missing from one side and one end. The ALJ credited the OSHA officers' testimony and rejected the company president's claim that the employees had switched lifts without his…
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…
Cipriano Martinez d/b/a Martinez Masonry
Illness did not excuse late contest and $38,000 penalty
OSHA issued Martinez Masonry serious, repeat, and other-than-serious citations involving scaffolds and hazard communication. The owner filed the notice of contest after the 15-working-day deadline and argued that flu-like symptoms prevented timely action. The medical records did not show that he…
Martin C. Heck Brick Contracting Co.
Scaffold fee request partly granted and remanded
OSHA cited Heck for repeat scaffold fall-protection violations after observing employees on an unguarded scaffold about 21 feet above the ground. The underlying citation was vacated because testimony showed the employees were raising the scaffold, an activity governed by a different provision. In…
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…
Benson Associates
Scaffold foundation, inspection, and fall-protection items affirmed
Benson Associates used a pump-jack scaffold and planks 13 to 14 feet above the ground while installing soffit and fascia on a Denver house. OSHA found that the scaffold legs lacked proper base plates and that the makeshift fall protection consisted of an Alumibench and boards attached with…
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…
S. A. Storer and Sons Co.
Repeat scaffold violation narrowed on remand
After court and Commission review, the judge was directed to narrow a repeat scaffold fall-protection citation. He vacated the allegation concerning a window-opening area but affirmed the violation at a materials-staging area. One employee there was exposed to a fall of about 19 to 20 feet, and the…
S.A. Storer and Sons, Co.
Court-directed scaffold remand ordered
The D.C. Circuit vacated part of the Commission's earlier order concerning scaffold fall protection at two work areas. The court affirmed the violation at the materials-staging area but vacated it at the window-opening area. The Commission remanded the case to the ALJ with directions to enter those…
Artistic Enterprises, Inc.
Five scaffold and hard-hat violations affirmed
Two stucco workers used a two-level scaffold without hard hats, full planking, safe ladder access, fall protection, or toeboards at an Alabama hotel project. Artistic Enterprises argued that another company employed the workers, but the judge rejected that claim based on the workers' statements…
Summit Contractors, Inc.
Subcontractor fall-hazard citations vacated for lack of knowledge
OSHA cited Summit, the general contractor for a large apartment project, for several fall hazards affecting subcontractor employees. The judge held that Summit's broad contractual and practical authority made it a controlling employer under the multi-employer worksite doctrine. She vacated the…
Kenny Industrial Services, LLC, d/b/a Kenny Manta Industrial Services
Scaffold fall-protection item affirmed
A Kenny Industrial Services employee applied fireproofing from a mobile scaffold near an unprotected fourth-floor edge. Although the scaffold platform itself was under 10 feet high, the worker could have fallen 20 to 24 feet to the second floor, and the scaffold's low toprail did not provide…
S. A. Storer and Sons Company
Repeat scaffold fall violation affirmed with reduced penalty
S. A. Storer employees performed masonry work from scaffolding about 19 to 20 feet above the ground. The judge found that the overhand-bricklaying exception did not cover an open window or the materials staging area because employees were not laying block at those openings. A controlled access zone…
North Dallas Acrylic & Stucco, Inc., and its successors
Scaffold footing citation vacated, ladder-access and fall-protection citations affirmed
North Dallas Acrylic & Stucco was applying stucco from a three-tier scaffold at a WalMart construction site in Keller, Texas, when an OSHA officer inspected and cited three scaffold violations. One item claimed the scaffold legs lacked base plates and mud sills; the judge credited the crew leader's…
A & W Construction Services, Inc.
Willful scaffold fall-protection citation affirmed at $20,000
A & W Construction, a Florida stucco and drywall contractor, was inspected while its crew did stucco work from a four-tier scaffold on a Daytona Beach building. Two 10-foot center sections at the second and third tiers, roughly 12 and 20 feet up, had no guardrails, and five employees worked there…
Bredshall Plastering, Inc.
Unguarded table saw and missing scaffold guardrail affirmed, infeasibility and greater-hazard defenses rejected
Bredshall Plastering is a small Ohio contractor doing exterior insulation and stucco work. During work on a historical society office addition in Wilmington, an OSHA officer driving by saw a foreman on scaffolding without fall protection and stopped to inspect. OSHA issued a serious citation for an…
Watkins Engineers & Constructors, Inc.
General contractor's scaffold citations vacated because the scaffold was being taken down
Watkins Engineers & Constructors was the general contractor building its own office in Tallahassee, Florida. A glass subcontractor's crew was up on a scaffold near a corner of the finished building when an OSHA compliance officer inspected. OSHA cited Watkins, the general contractor, for three…
North West Handling Systems, Inc., and its successors
Scissor-lift and fall-training violations affirmed, willful items reduced to serious
North West Handling Systems used a scissor lift while relocating warehouse pallet racks in Sandpoint, Idaho. A company installer removed part of the lift's guardrail, provided little safety training to two temporary workers, and used a forklift to push up the lift platform after it stopped rising…
Big Apple Wrecking and Construction Corp.
Willful scaffold fall-protection citation affirmed at $56,000, most serious items upheld
Big Apple Wrecking & Construction is a New York City demolition contractor. In mid-1998 OSHA inspected its demolition of a six-story theater building, where crews worked on the top level of scaffolding surrounding the structure. OSHA issued a serious citation, a repeat citation, and a willful…
McDevitt Street Bovis, Inc.
General contractor liable for a subcontractor's scaffold violations
McDevitt Street Bovis was the general contractor building a two-story medical center in Douglas, Georgia. During a 1997 inspection, OSHA found that a scaffold used by employees of subcontractor CPD Plastering was not fully planked, lacked cross-bracing, guardrails, and safe access, and had not been…
The Haskell Company
Scaffold items affirmed for hazards exposing its own employee
The Haskell Company was the general contractor expanding a pilot training center in Savannah, Georgia. OSHA found Haskell's employee working 12 feet above the ground on an exterior tubular-frame scaffold with wide gaps in the planking, missing guardrails, and no access ladder. The superintendent…
Hollywood Pool & Spa
Scaffold violations grouped with a $1,500 penalty
Hollywood Pool & Spa maintained swimming pools and was constructing its own building in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. OSHA cited five serious scaffold conditions involving incomplete planking, inadequate support, improper access, lack of a competent-person inspection, and missing fall protection. The…
A. Hansen Masonry, Inc.
Repeat scaffold violation affirmed, forklift item vacated
A. Hansen Masonry performed construction work in San Antonio, Texas. OSHA observed an employee making repeated trips on a twelve-foot scaffold whose southwest corner lacked guardrails, and the employee used no other fall protection. The judge found employer knowledge because the foreman knew the…
Homes by Bill Simms, Inc.
All seven items vacated because the builder did not control its subcontractors
Homes by Bill Simms was a residential general contractor in Springboro, Ohio, that built custom homes using subcontractors. During an August 1999 inspection of three of its home sites, OSHA saw subcontractor employees committing scaffold and fall protection violations and issued Simms a seven-item…
Malu Construction Co., and its successors
Jury-rigged scaffold items affirmed for $8,000
Malu called its framing workers independent subcontractors, but it supplied their scaffold and safety equipment, assigned their work, provided training, and retained authority to stop work. Judge Stanley M. Schwartz therefore treated them as Malu employees under the common-law control test. OSHA…
North Pacific Enterprises
Unprotected 25-foot scaffold work affirmed for $525
Two North Pacific employees worked from a narrow board on a wooden scaffold more than 25 feet above a concrete parking lot without guardrails or personal fall protection. The company president had seen the same conduct the previous day but did not stop or discipline the workers, and the foreman…
Groesbeck Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold decking, guardrail, and training items affirmed
Two Groesbeck Masonry employees washed an acid-cleaned brick wall from a scaffold 10 to 12 feet high while straddling two planks, without full decking or guardrails. A third employee dismantled the level above, but the workers had not been specifically trained to wait until the lower level was…
The Pike Company, Inc.
Edge, scaffold, and ground-fault items affirmed
At a prison construction project, Pike employees worked near a 13-foot unguarded edge, and another employee poured concrete from an unguarded outrigger scaffold about 20 feet high without a proper access ladder. Judge Ann Z. Cook rejected infeasibility because the edge work did not require removal…
Bast Hatfield, Inc.
Scaffold and ladder items affirmed
Bast Hatfield employees performed masonry work from scaffolds at a church construction project in New York. Judge Robert A. Yetman denied Bast's Fourth Amendment challenge because the OSHA inspector observed the work from a parking area that remained open to church visitors and the public. He…
New England Synthetic Systems, Inc.
Scaffold and electrical violations affirmed for $30,000
New England Synthetic Systems replaced exterior walls at an apartment complex in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Judge Robert A. Yetman affirmed violations involving unprotected temporary electrical wiring, lifelines tied to vent curbing and exposed to sharp edges, incomplete scaffold planking, unsafe…
New Age, Inc.
Mandatory $500 penalty assessed for scaffold fall hazard
New Age performed masonry work from a four-tier scaffold at a construction site in New Braunfels, Texas. Five to seven employees were finishing masonry work or preparing to dismantle the scaffold while required guardrails were missing or replaced by loose, incomplete cables. The administrative law…
Easthaven Masonry, Inc.
Denial of E-Z Trial procedure reversed
Easthaven Masonry requested the Commission's simplified E-Z Trial procedure for a scaffold case. The Secretary objected only that some discovery might be needed, and the Chief Administrative Law Judge denied the request. The Commission held that the stated need for discovery was not enough on the…
West Winds Construction, Inc.
Scaffold planking and fall-protection violations affirmed
West Winds Construction employees repaired plaster from partially dismantled scaffold platforms that were not fully planked and had no guardrails. The workers faced falls of about 18 to 20 feet, and the site foreman directed and observed the work. Chief Judge Irving Sommer imputed the foreman's…
Island Lathing & Plastering, Inc.
Scaffold and ladder violations affirmed with $55,000 in penalties
Island Lathing & Plastering was performing interior plastering work at a multistory theater project. OSHA found an employee working from an unlocked mobile scaffold beside a balcony edge without fall protection, then descending a ladder while facing away from it. The judge found that the foreman…
Western Waterproofing Co., Inc.
Five suspension-scaffold items affirmed
Western Waterproofing employees sprayed a building from a two-point suspension scaffold supported by outrigger beams at heights up to 22 feet. The judge found that the outrigger supports lacked required bearing, anchorage, and bracing, and that the scaffold lacked a secondary tieback, safety belts…
Elmer Vath, Painting Contractor
Lifeline and fatality-reporting violations affirmed
Elmer Vath hired two painters to paint a building cornice from a two-point suspended scaffold and supplied the scaffold materials. One painter fell about 60 feet and died after a supporting beam slipped; he had removed his safety belt shortly before the incident. The judge found that the painter…
The Austin Co., Inc.
Scaffold and ladder violations affirmed
The Austin Company was constructing a hospital addition where two employees worked from a suspension scaffold without safety belts or lifelines. Two other employees worked on a 12-foot scaffold without guardrails. The judge treated those conditions as a serious violation and assessed $550. He…
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.