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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Excel Modular Scaffold & Leasing Company dba Excel Scaffold & Leasing
Skiff violation affirmed, anchorage item vacated
Excel employees erected hanging scaffolds a few inches above Galveston Bay, and one employee drowned after a scaffold component collapsed and pulled him underwater. The company stipulated that it lacked an immediately available lifesaving skiff, and the judge held that the violation was serious…
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…
Anderson Masonry, Inc.
Scaffold access and locking-pin violations affirmed
Employees erecting Anderson Masonry's scaffold climbed cross bracing because no ladder or other safe access had been provided, and scaffold frames lacked locking pins despite repeated forklift deliveries that could cause uplift. Those serious violations were affirmed with penalties totaling $3,000…
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…
Gilles & Cotting, Inc.
General contractor scaffold citation vacated
Gilles & Cotting was the general contractor on a construction project where a scaffold used and controlled by a glass subcontractor collapsed, killing two subcontractor employees. OSHA cited the general contractor under three scaffold standards because it controlled the jobsite and other…
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.