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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PM Construction & Rehab, L.P., a Subsidiary of Inland Pipe Rehabilitation, LLC
Manhole safety citations and $14,700 vacated
A pipe-replacement crew member suffered a fatal injury after entering a manhole against instructions, but the record did not establish the accident's cause. The judge found that the Secretary did not prove other workers were exposed to the manhole edge and that the worker inside used a fall-arrest…
Double "A" Industries, Inc.
Roofing subcontractor's safety citations affirmed under the multi-employer worksite rule
Double "A" Industries is a small south Florida shell contractor that took a $38,000 contract to build a guardhouse and subcontracted the roofing labor out. An OSHA officer inspecting a nearby site watched roof workers for about 40 minutes without fall protection or hard hats and improperly using…
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…
Freeze Technology International, Inc.
Mixed ruling after nitrogen asphyxiation at pipeline freeze site
Freeze Technology used liquid nitrogen to form ice plugs in an underground water pipeline so Enerpipe could perform hydrostatic testing at a remote Oklahoma ranch. Two night-shift workers were found dead inside the freeze excavation after nitrogen gas displaced the oxygen. The judge affirmed…
CMC Electric, Inc.
Electrical-hazard and worksite-safety items affirmed
CMC Electric sent three journeyman wiremen to install electrical service at a cellular-telephone construction site near Andover, Ohio. An employee died after climbing a utility pole and contacting an energized 7,200-volt line that was not shown on the work schematic. CMC had not inspected for…
Kenny Niles, d/b/a Kenny Niles Construction & Trucking Company
Business closure did not moot OSHA penalties
OSHA cited Kenny Niles for two willful and nine serious violations after a trench collapse injured an employee. The ALJ dismissed the case as moot after Niles closed his excavation and trucking businesses, sold equipment, and no longer employed anyone. Reconsidering its prior precedent, the…
Snyder Well Servicing, Inc.
Respirator item affirmed and other well-site items vacated
Snyder used a mobile service rig to swab a newly drilled Texas oil well, removing material from the well bore. The Commission held that swabbing had not been shown to be construction work, so construction standards did not apply. It nevertheless affirmed a serious general-industry respiratory…
Hughes Drilling Company Inc.
Drilling citations partly vacated without substantive Commission review
Hughes Drilling operated an oil and gas drilling rig where an employee was caught in a catline and cathead after the line was used without being attached to a load. The judge vacated a general duty clause citation because the Secretary did not prove that the driller's absence from the controls was…
R. L. Dixon, Inc.
First-aid and circuit-breaker citations vacated
R. L. Dixon was cited at a Richmond, Virginia, construction site for lacking a person with verified first-aid training and for not marking circuit breakers to show their purpose. The company waived a hearing and asked for a decision based on its written submissions. It stated that a clinic, two…
J. D. Blum Construction Company
Serious trench citation reinstated
J. D. Blum Construction excavated a water-main trench that was up to 7.5 feet deep, contained wet clay and loam, and was sloped at about 65 degrees without shoring or bracing. The Commission found the soil soft and unstable based on water seepage, sloughing, photographs, and witness testimony. It…
Cox Brothers, Incorporated
Power-line and fall violations affirmed
A Cox Brothers foreman stood atop a 14-foot masonry wall without a safety belt or scaffold while inserting 13-foot reinforcing bars beneath an overhead power line. A bar contacted the line, and the foreman fell and died. The judge held that the company failed to inspect for the plainly visible…
United States Steel International, Ltd.
Amended citation accepted and contest withdrawn
A judge dismissed the citation because it had been issued 52 calendar days after inspection. Immediately before the dismissal order arrived, however, the parties had resolved the case. The Secretary amended the complaint to allege a violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.50(c) with a $155 penalty, and…
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.