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.
Palacios Marine & Industrial Coating, Inc.
Six scaffold-related citation items vacated
Palacios Marine employees were erecting a scaffold-based shelter at a Texas petrochemical plant when a wooden plank broke and a scaffold builder fell seven feet, suffering broken bones that required reconstructive surgery. OSHA cited the company for alleged failures involving employer-provided and…
Keenan, Hopkins, Suder and Stowell Contractors, Inc., dba KHS&S Contractors
Case dismissed after full settlement
KHS&S Contractors was cited after an employee fell through a covered opening while performing framing and drywall work at a construction site. The citations alleged inadequate jobsite inspections, scaffold and aerial-lift training, and fall-hazard training under three construction standards. An…
Guzzo Masonry Inc.
Scaffold safety items mostly affirmed
Guzzo Masonry employees performed stucco repair from a two-level scaffold at a Delaware home. OSHA observed an employee working about 14 feet above the ground on a partially planked platform without guardrails, and another employee used the scaffold cross-braces for access because no ladder was…
Elite Builders, Inc.
Fall and forklift violations partly affirmed
Elite Builders was a residential roofing contractor inspected at two Nebraska worksites where employees worked on elevated roofs without conventional fall protection. At the second site, employees were lifted on an oversized, unguarded personnel platform attached to a rough-terrain forklift…
A.C. Castle Construction Co., Inc. / Daryl J. Provencher, d/b/a Provencher Home Improvement
Roofing violations yield $173,500 in penalties
A.C. Castle Construction contracted with homeowners for roofing work and assigned projects to Provencher Home Improvement. At a Massachusetts house, at least two roofers fell about 20 feet after a wooden scaffold plank snapped, and OSHA cited scaffold, ladder, training, anchorage, and fall…
Juan Guillen
Scaffold-training citation affirmed on summary judgment
OSHA cited Juan Guillen for failing to provide required scaffold-hazard training under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.454(a). An employee working from a mobile scaffold fell and died from his injuries. Guillen did not answer the Secretary's complaint or requests for admissions, so the material allegations were…
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…
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…
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…
Joseph Watson, d/b/a Joseph Watson Masonry
Employer receives $11,275 EAJA fee award
Joseph Watson Masonry sought attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act after prevailing on parts of an OSHA case involving scaffold, fall-protection, training, and recordkeeping citations. The Commission had ruled that the Secretary lacked substantial justification only for one ladder…
Joseph Watson, D/B/A Joseph Watson Masonry
Attorney-fee case partly reversed and remanded
Joseph Watson Masonry sought fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act after several construction citations were vacated, reclassified, or assessed at lower penalties. The Commission held that an employer can be a prevailing party on a discrete issue when it succeeds in reducing a…
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…
Inglett & Stubbs, Inc.
Mishandled citation did not excuse late contest
Inglett & Stubbs was an electrical contractor whose employee died after being caught between a scissor lift guardrail and a structure. OSHA cited the company for moving the lift without a competent person and for inadequate scissor-lift training. The citation reached the company's office, but it…
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…
R.G. Bigelow Electrical Company, Inc.
Electrical and aerial-lift violations affirmed
A Bigelow electrician was assigned to tighten a connection on an energized 480-volt circuit from an aerial lift at a Connecticut printing company. The supervisor rejected the employee's suggestion to de-energize the box and did not provide insulated tools, electrical protective equipment, or…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.