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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.

5,577 decisions and counting · Latest decision July 17, 2026
19 decisions 29 C.F.R. § 1926.451(g)(1)(vii)

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ALJ

Link General Contracting Corp.

Scaffold access and fall-protection citations affirmed

Link General Contracting employees performed facade repairs from scaffold platforms at the fifth and sixth floors of a Brooklyn building. OSHA observed an employee using scaffold crossbracing and building formwork to move between platforms more than two feet apart. Employees also wore harnesses but…

February 16, 2023 ·Keith E. Bell
Citations affirmed
ALJ

E&N Construction, Inc.

Four scaffold items affirmed and penalties reduced

E&N Construction employees installed brick veneer from a two-tier scaffold at an apartment project. OSHA cited inadequate platform planking, unsafe frame climbing, failure to inspect the scaffold before the shift, missing fall protection above 10 feet, and a missing cross-brace. The judge affirmed…

February 15, 2018 ·Dennis L. Phillips
Mixed result
COMM

Manson Construction Company

Platform-securing item withdrawn and remaining rulings left unreviewed

Manson Construction Company was cited after OSHA inspected work at the Vashon Island Ferry Terminal, where employees used a crane-suspended personnel platform and worked atop a group of pilings called a dolphin. The judge vacated three scaffold-based items but affirmed fall protection violations…

April 27, 2017
Mixed result
ALJ

Flintlock Construction Services LLC

Willful scaffold violations and $249,920 affirmed

OSHA found workers using inadequately planked, braced, accessed, and guarded scaffolds at a hotel construction project. Flintlock controlled the worksite and had authority to stop work, but its managers repeatedly ignored documented scaffold warnings from the onsite safety manager. The judge found…

July 6, 2016 ·Covette Rooney
Citations affirmed
ALJ

Mast Climber Manufacturing, Inc., d/b/a American Mast Climbers

Scaffold items split, design violation willful

Mast Climber Manufacturing erected and serviced a mast-climbing work platform on a 21-story construction project. Four contractor employees fell when one side of the platform collapsed, and three died. The judge held that the system was a scaffold, not an aerial lift, because it was not…

March 8, 2013 ·Ken S. Welsch
Mixed result
ALJ

NLJ Builders, Inc.

Controlling contractor held responsible for unsafe scaffold

NLJ Builders subcontracted carpentry work at a Florida bank project and supplied the subcontractor with a scaffold owned by NLJ. A subcontractor employee worked about 15 feet above the ground on a platform that was less than half planked, lacked a firm base and guardrails, and had not been erected…

July 16, 2012 ·Ken S. Welsch
Citations affirmed
ALJ

Todd Joseph Properties

Fall and scaffold violations affirmed

Todd Joseph Properties was demolishing a church when OSHA observed two employees working near an unprotected second-floor edge about 15 feet above the ground. One employee also climbed a scaffold frame without a ladder and worked on its top platform without adequate fall protection. The judge found…

February 21, 2012 ·Covette Rooney
Citations affirmed
ALJ

Acies Group, LLC

Five repeat scaffold violations affirmed

An OSHA officer observed a worker on the unguarded upper level of an Acies scaffold at a New Jersey exterior-finishing project. The scaffold was not fully planked, lacked proper access and cross bracing, had no fall protection, and had not been adequately inspected by a competent person. Acies…

October 13, 2009 ·Covette Rooney
Citations affirmed
COMM

Summit Contractors, Inc.

General contractor liable for a subcontractor's unprotected scaffold work

Summit was the general contractor for a college dormitory project where a subcontractor's employees worked on scaffolds more than ten feet above a lower level without fall protection. OSHA cited Summit under its multi-employer citation policy even though Summit did not create the condition and its…

July 27, 2009
Citations affirmed
COMM

Summit Contractors Inc.

Controlling-employer scaffold citation vacated

Summit was the general contractor for a college dormitory project where a masonry subcontractor's employees worked on scaffolds without fall protection. OSHA cited Summit as a controlling employer even though Summit did not create the condition and none of its own employees were exposed. A…

April 27, 2007
Citations vacated
ALJ

Stuck in the Mud

Scaffold violations affirmed after jurisdiction challenge

Thomas Slingluff, doing business as Stuck in the Mud, performed stucco work from an inadequately protected scaffold in Colorado. He admitted the scaffold conditions but argued that he was not an employer engaged in commerce and therefore was outside the OSH Act. The judge found that Slingluff hired…

March 1, 2004 ·Sidney J. Goldstein
Citations affirmed
ALJ

D. Allen Bros., Inc.

Scaffold fall-protection violation affirmed after fatal fall

A bricklayer fell 42 feet to his death while crossing between scaffold sections that lacked end rails, and neither he nor his coworker wore personal fall protection. The construction manager's safety official had documented missing end rails on D. Allen scaffolds ten times before the accident and…

February 28, 2003 ·Covette Rooney
Citations affirmed
ALJ

AJP Construction, Inc.

Fall and scaffold violations resulted in $87,400 in penalties

AJP Construction performed concrete superstructure work at a residential construction site in Hoboken, New Jersey. OSHA conducted one inspection after a referral and another after falling form material struck an outrigger scaffold, causing it to collapse and killing an employee. The judge affirmed…

December 13, 2002 ·Covette Rooney
Mixed result
ALJ

Ingram Plastering and Company, Inc.

Scaffold and hard-hat violations resulted in $10,800 in penalties

Ingram Plastering employees performed exterior stucco work from scaffolding up to about 23 feet high. The judge found that work levels were not fully planked, no qualified competent person inspected the scaffold before shifts, employees did not consistently wear hard hats, and one employee lacked…

July 5, 2002 ·Ken S. Welsch
Modified
ALJ

Rodriquez Cornice Construction Co., and its successors

Five construction violations affirmed

Rodriquez Cornice contested OSHA's citation but did not appear for the scheduled hearing. OSHA's compliance officer testified that employees installing cornice worked about 21 feet above the ground without guardrails or personal fall arrest systems and had not received scaffold training. The…

August 13, 2001 ·Sidney J. Goldstein
Citations affirmed
ALJ

Nu-Waay Enterprises, Inc.

Safety-program, first-aid, and fall-protection citations affirmed after a 24-foot fall

Nu-Waay Enterprises is a small construction company that built an elevated walkway and observation platform at a national wildlife refuge in Mississippi. While a crew was removing the formwork under the finished platform, a stuck I-beam broke loose, catapulting a worker who fell about 24 feet and…

January 12, 2001 ·Ken S. Welsch
Citations affirmed
ALJ

Corna/Kokosing Construction Co., Inc.

Brief open scaffold gate violated fall rule

Corna/Kokosing Construction worked on a middle-school construction project in Ohio. Two employees unloaded materials from a forklift pallet onto a scaffold about 28 feet above the ground. After the pallet was removed, a five-foot gate remained open for several seconds while the employees used…

April 19, 2000 ·Ann Z. Cook
Citations affirmed
ALJ

Texas A.C.A., Inc., and its successors

Scaffold citations vacated for foreman misconduct

Texas A.C.A. employees performed stucco work from an incomplete scaffold with missing bracing, incomplete planking, unstable supports, unsafe access, and inadequate fall protection. The foreman knew the crew was assigned to roof work and that the scaffold was unfinished, but moved them onto it…

August 13, 1999 ·Stanley M. Schwartz
Citations vacated
ALJ

Megan Construction Company

Subcontractor scaffold violation affirmed

A masonry subcontractor employee worked on a third-level scaffold without guardrails at a project controlled by Megan Construction. Judge Covette Rooney vacated an allegation that Megan lacked a program of frequent and regular inspections because its daily and weekly inspection evidence showed…

August 21, 1998 ·Covette Rooney
Mixed result

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.