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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J.A. Jones Construction Co.
Commission affirms item-specific fall-protection penalties
This case returned to the Commission after an earlier decision affirmed numerous serious, rather than willful, fall-protection violations at J.A. Jones Construction's Chicago high-rise project and remanded for item-specific penalties. On remand, the ALJ evaluated the fall distance, degree of…
Kulka Construction Management Corp.
Construction manager held liable for fall hazards
Kulka Construction Management managed a three-story office-building project without performing construction trade labor itself. The Commission found that Kulka substantially supervised the work because it coordinated contractors, acted as the owner's on-site representative, addressed safety…
Lewis & Lambert Metal Contractors, Inc.
Electrical item affirmed and guardrail items vacated
Lewis & Lambert was a sheet-metal subcontractor at a building project in Fort Worth, Texas. The Commission affirmed a ground-fault-protection violation because the company could have installed a portable ground-fault circuit interrupter for its employees' electric tools. It vacated three guardrail…
Weisblatt Electric Company, Inc.
Multi-employer fall-hazard citations vacated
Weisblatt, an elevator subcontractor, sent two employees to a renovation site to determine whether conditions had improved enough for work to resume. They encountered unguarded openings, floors, ramps, stairs, and unfilled pan-type stair treads that Weisblatt neither created nor controlled. The…
E. M. Duggan, Inc.
Stair-rail citation conditionally affirmed
E. M. Duggan was a plumbing and heating subcontractor whose employees regularly used nine unguarded stairways at a multi-employer construction site. The company did not create or control the missing railings, and the judge vacated the citation under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(e)(1)(ii). The Commission…
Limbach Co.
Subcontractor stairway-rail violation affirmed
Limbach Company employees used an open-sided stairway without the required railing for about one week at a multi-employer construction site. The mechanical subcontractor did not create or control the hazard, but it took no action to protect its employees or ask the general contractor to install…
Constructora Maza, Inc.
Construction violations and $4,455 penalties affirmed
Constructora Maza was building a three-building complex in Puerto Rico. OSHA cited missing stair railings, scaffolds supported by concrete blocks, a weakened scaffold plank, unguarded floor edges, unsecured compressed-gas cylinders, and improperly built ladder cleats. The Commission relied on…
Data Electric Company, Inc.
Three items affirmed and one stairway item vacated
Data Electric was an electrical subcontractor on construction of a municipal services building in New York. It did not create or control the unguarded stairways and floor perimeters, but the Commission held that a noncontrolling subcontractor must take realistic measures to protect its own…
Howard P. Foley Co.
Debris and stair citations vacated under multi-employer defense
Howard P. Foley was the electrical subcontractor on a sewage-plant construction project in Newport News, Virginia. OSHA cited construction debris, hollow metal stair treads that were not filled, and open-sided stairs without railings, proposing $860 in penalties. The judge found that the general…
Star Circle Wall Systems, Inc.
Three site-hazard items affirmed, four vacated
Star Circle Wall Systems worked on a New York City construction project where debris obstructed work areas and stairways and materials were dropped more than 20 feet without an enclosed chute. The judge found that the company's employees worked throughout the buildings and were exposed to those…
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.