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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Pettengill Family Restoration, LLC
Four construction citations vacated
Pettengill Family Restoration subcontracted crews to assemble panelized houses at residential construction sites. Four OSHA inspections produced serious and repeat-serious citations involving head and eye protection, fall protection, scaffolds, and ladders, with proposed penalties totaling $78,701…
Dish Network, L.L.C.
Willful rooftop fall-protection citation vacated
A DISH technician installed a satellite antenna on a flat restaurant roof about 14 feet above the ground in Syracuse, New York. Two OSHA compliance officers observing from a restaurant 175 to 200 feet away believed the technician was not attached to fall protection and OSHA issued a willful…
Miller Insulation Co., Inc.
Mezzanine fall citation vacated
A Miller Insulation employee fell from an unprotected mezzanine edge onto the floor below and later died. OSHA cited the company under a general-industry fall standard and, in the alternative, a construction fall-protection standard. The judge found that the general-industry standard did not apply…
RJCL Corp., d/b/a RNV Construction
Fall and footwear citations affirmed
An OSHA compliance officer observed an RNV Construction employee painting from a ladder placed on an elevated mall overhang without effective fall protection. The employee wore a harness, but the judge credited photographs and the officer's testimony showing that it was not connected to a lanyard…
SIP Insulation Professionals, LLC
Three construction items vacated because company was not the employer
Workers were erecting a building with structural insulated panels at an Alabama construction site when OSHA observed alleged aerial-lift, roof fall-protection, and equipment-modification violations. OSHA issued the three-item citation to SIP Insulation Professionals, LLC. The central issue was…
Shelly & Sands, Inc.
Remaining bridge fall-protection item vacated for lack of knowledge
Shelly & Sands employees worked on bridge false work with unprotected edges without tying off, even though horizontal lifelines were available. An administrative law judge affirmed one repeat fall-protection instance and assessed a $25,000 penalty. The Commission majority found that the Secretary…
Turner Construction, Inc. of Naples
Repeat fall-protection citation affirmed
An employee of Turner Construction handled a concrete hose on a narrow upper-level surface without a harness, guardrail, safety net, or other fall protection. The employee was 11 feet 5 inches above the next concrete surface and near an outside edge approximately 20 to 22 feet above the ground. The…
Dade Builders Contractors, Inc.
Inspection and fall-protection citations vacated for insufficient proof
Dade Builders subcontracted a masonry crew that worked near an unprotected edge about 16 feet above ground. OSHA cited Dade as a controlling employer for inadequate jobsite inspections and lack of fall protection, proposing $13,260 in total penalties. The judge found that the Secretary did not show…
Gate Precast Company
Repeat fall-protection violation affirmed beyond red warning tape
Gate Precast assigned two temporary employees to work on a hotel roof about 24 feet above ground without personal fall arrest systems. The foreman told them to remain behind red tape placed about six feet from the unprotected edge. One temporary employee then helped guide a swinging overhead load…
Bergelectric Corp.
Fall-protection items vacated, recordkeeping item affirmed
Bergelectric employees installed electrical conduit above a casino ceiling 24 feet above the floor. One employee disconnected from fall protection, fell through the ceiling, and suffered broken ribs and spinal fractures; OSHA also found two improper lanyard-connection practices. The judge found…
All Wall Builders, LLC
Roof fall protection and ladder citations affirmed
All Wall Builders was installing metal trusses on a commercial building roof in Cooperstown, New York. OSHA observed employees working on the roof without properly using fall protection and found an access ladder that did not extend three feet above the landing. The judge found that company…
Ovation Plumbing, Inc.
Case remanded for settlement review
An administrative law judge had affirmed a fall-protection violation and assessed a $1,000 penalty, and that decision became a final Commission order. Ovation Plumbing petitioned the Tenth Circuit for review. The court granted the parties’ joint request for a limited remand so their settlement…
Ovation Plumbing, Inc.
Fall-protection citation affirmed with reduced penalty
Ovation Plumbing worked on a multi-unit residential construction project where a foreman and another employee crossed a guardrail onto an unprotected second-floor balcony more than 10 feet above the ground. They entered the balcony area to measure for a future regulator-vent installation. The judge…
CME Corporation
Pit fall and reporting items affirmed
A CME Corporation employee fell more than 10 feet through an unguarded opening into a construction pit and required multiple surgeries. CME argued that the opening was an access point that did not require a guardrail, but the judge found it was not being used for access when the employee worked…
Bergelectric Corp.
Roof fall-protection violation partly affirmed
Bergelectric employees installed photovoltaic panels on a hangar roof using warning lines and a safety monitor instead of guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems. The judge found that installing solar panels was not roofing work under the standard, so Bergelectric could not use the…
Empire Roofing Company of Georgia, Inc.
Roof and aerial-lift fall violations affirmed
An Empire Roofing crew repaired a hotel roof about 40 feet above the ground using an aerial lift for access. Near the end of the day, the four workers removed their harnesses and continued working on the sloped metal roof for about 10 to 15 minutes, then descended in the lift without being tied…
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…
Evergreen Construction Company
Fall protection citation left affirmed after split vote
Evergreen Construction Company was the general contractor for an Atlanta hotel project where a subcontractor's employees worked near fourth-floor edges without fall protection. OSHA cited Evergreen as the controlling employer under 29 C.F.R. § 1926.501(b)(1), and the judge found constructive…
AAA Roofing
Unprotected awning work draws $1,600 penalty
An AAA Roofing worker installed flashing while sitting on an incomplete steel awning without guardrails, a safety net, or a personal fall-arrest system. He was about seven feet above a scaffold and thirteen feet above the ground. The judge credited the workers' and supervisor's contemporaneous…
Peck Brothers, LLC
Roof fall-protection citation vacated
Peck Brothers was replacing a deteriorated gutter and reflashing a low-slope roof at a Home Depot store. OSHA alleged that employees near the roof edge lacked fall protection and cited the general rule for unprotected sides and edges, with the low-slope roofing rule pleaded in the alternative. The…
E.C. Concrete, Inc.
Four construction-safety items vacated after shoring accident
E.C. Concrete was erecting shoring on the seventh floor of a Florida resort project when crane chains unexpectedly caught a scaffold brace, tipped the scaffold, and sent aluminum beams to the ground, injuring two employees. OSHA withdrew one fall-protection item and pursued allegations involving an…
Quinlan Enterprises
Fall and ladder items remanded for employment and knowledge findings
Two workers associated with Quinlan Enterprises installed embedded angles at a Georgia school project without tying off and used a closed, unsecured stepladder for access. The judge affirmed serious fall-protection and ladder items but addressed only in a footnote Quinlan's claim that the workers…
D.W. Caldwell, Inc.
Steep-roof fall violation affirmed as serious
D.W. Caldwell employees installed metal panels on a steep roof with an eave 32 feet above the ground. The crew wore harnesses but, with one temporary exception, did not connect them to anchor points, and the foreman knowingly allowed the practice after the general contractor warned him the previous…
Bryan Martin, d/b/a Terra Reclamation
Demolition fall and survey items affirmed
Terra Reclamation was demolishing a three-story building in New Holland, Pennsylvania. Two workers used an aerial lift about 28 feet high without lanyards or harnesses, and other workers performed demolition near an unprotected upper-floor edge without fall protection. The company also began…
J4 Welding, Inc.
Contest filed nearly a year late was dismissed
J4 Welding performed mobile welding work at a Florida strip-mall remodeling project where OSHA observed the owner cross from an aerial lift to a building without proper fall protection. OSHA issued three serious items and proposed $9,000 in penalties. The company filed its contest almost a year…
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…
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…
Nuprecon, LP d/b/a Nuprecon Acquisition, LP
Fall citation affirmed for work near open edge
Nuprecon employees were demolishing an aircraft hangar beside a 21-foot-wide unprotected opening with a 36-foot drop. The Commission rejected the judge's exposure finding for a Bobcat operator because the fall standard's definition of a walking or working surface excludes vehicles, and the record…
NRG Sound & Communications, LLC.
Worker found to be an employee
NRG Sound & Communications installed speakers on a school football stadium roof using an aerial lift. NRG claimed that the second worker was a silent partner or independent contractor rather than an employee, but both men initially identified him as an employee and described NRG's owner as the…
Central Building & Preservation
Unprotected 200-foot roof edge results in serious citation
A foreman and laborer worked inches from the edge of a Chicago building about 200 feet above the ground with their harnesses unattached. OSHA personnel observed and photographed the condition from an office across the street. The foreman's participation established employer knowledge, and the…
Framers R Us, Inc.
Ladder violations affirmed and repeat fall item vacated
Framers R Us employees used a closed A-frame ladder as the only access to the third level of a motel construction project. The judge held the company responsible even though it did not own or place the ladder because its employees used it and the company took no alternative protective steps. The…
Sanchez Arango Construction
Four violations affirmed and two vacated
OSHA cited Sanchez Arango Construction after an inspector saw an employee working about twenty-five feet above the ground without tying off. The judge affirmed serious violations for using a damaged synthetic sling and failing to provide fall protection, rejecting the employee-misconduct defense…
Altor, Inc., and/or Avcon, Inc.
Eight willful items affirmed with $412,000 penalty
OSHA cited extensive hard-hat, open-edge, and floor-hole hazards during construction of a sixteen-story concrete building. The Commission held that Altor and Avcon operated as a single employer because they shared a worksite, management, ownership, office support, and integrated operations. The…
Avcon, Inc., Vasilios Saites, and Nicholas Saites
Fall-protection violations largely affirmed with $77,350 penalty
OSHA cited numerous hazards during construction of an eighteen-story concrete building. The Commission dismissed Bill and Nick Saites individually because the Secretary added them after the six-month limitations period and did not show that their original omission resulted from a mistake that would…
Paramount Advanced Wireless, LLC
$19,276.65 EAJA award granted
Paramount prevailed after a fall-protection citation arising from a fatal tower accident was vacated, then sought fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge found the Secretary's litigation position was not substantially justified because it rested on a readily correctable…
Nuprecon LP dba Nuprecon Acquisition LP
Fall-protection citation remanded
Nuprecon employees used a Bobcat to push demolition debris through a 21-foot-wide open edge about 36.5 feet above a lower level. OSHA cited the company for inadequate fall protection and failure to retrain employees. The judge vacated both items, ruling on his own that the work was demolition…
Texas Erectors, Inc.
Steel-erection fall citation affirmed after connector exception rejected
OSHA observed two Texas Erectors employees working more than 16 feet above the ground with harnesses that were not tied off. The company argued that the employees were connectors who did not need fall protection until 30 feet, but the judge found they were not placing or connecting structural…
Guamcell Communications
Supervisor's parapet shortcut was unpreventable misconduct
An acting Guamcell supervisor stood without fall protection on the parapet of a ten-story building while adjusting a cellular antenna. Guamcell admitted the standard applied, the supervisor violated it, and a fall could cause death or serious injury. The judge found that the company nevertheless…
Stark Excavation, Inc.
Documented safety program proved supervisory misconduct defense
A Stark Excavation superintendent and two laborers stripped bridge forms without fall protection while exposed to a 14-foot, 10-inch drop to rocks below. The company did not dispute the unsafe condition but argued that the supervisor's lapse during a 10-to-15-minute task was unforeseeable…
Masonry Arts, Inc.
Scaffold planking, access, and repeat guardrail items totaled $12,500
Masonry Arts employees performed block repair work from a scaffold platform approximately 12.5 feet above the ground at a new Florida high school gymnasium. The judge found a five-inch gap between planks, no safe ladder access, and no guardrail or other fall protection on the platform. He rejected…
Prime Roofing Corporation
Late amendment denied and repeat fall citation remained vacated
OSHA cited Prime Roofing under the general unprotected-edge fall standard after observing an employee working on a parapet wall about 22 feet above the ground. The judge initially found the employee was performing roofing work governed instead by the low-slope-roof standard and vacated the…
Standard Building Company, Inc., and Standard Systems, Inc.
Three items affirmed against one company and all items vacated against the other
Standard Building managed a restaurant renovation, and Standard Systems was identified as a related stucco contractor. The judge found that a subcontractor owner acted in part as Standard Building's site superintendent but lacked scaffold and powered-industrial-truck safety training. Standard…
Prime Roofing Corporation
Amendment request returned to the judge for a ruling
The ALJ vacated a repeat fall-protection citation against Prime Roofing. Before the decision was docketed, the Secretary moved to amend the complaint to allege a different fall-protection provision in the alternative. The judge received the motion only one day before docketing and did not rule on…
Southern Masonry Construction, LLC
Unguarded second-floor access results in $1,200 penalty
Southern Masonry employees used a stairway that opened beside an unguarded edge on the second floor of a building under construction. Workers passed within roughly two to three feet of the edge and could have fallen 11 to 12 feet. Although the general contractor was responsible for installing…
W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co., Inc., Hvy. Div.
Supervisor-knowledge issue remanded
Yates employees installed grass matting on a slope above a 65-foot drop. The foreman worked without fall protection, while two crew members wore their harnesses backward with the foreman's permission. The judge affirmed two serious fall-protection items and assessed $9,000 in total penalties. The…
Diamond Installations, Inc.
Willful forklift and fall violations reduced to serious
Diamond installed exterior wall panels on a high-rise construction project in New York City. A gang foreman gave a forklift key to an employee who had not completed the required operator training, and the employee died when the forklift tipped over. OSHA also observed three Diamond employees…
Midwest Roofing & Custom Metals
Parapet work without fall protection results in $1,000 penalty
Two Midwest Roofing employees stood on a narrow parapet wall while installing metal capping about 23 feet above the ground. Midwest argued that the roof and an exterior scaffold were less than six feet below the workers. The judge found that the scaffold was at least six feet below and, because it…
Thos. S. Byrne, Ltd.
Ladderway fall hazards result in $1,750 penalty
Byrne employees used unguarded ladderway openings on the roof and third floor of a theater restoration project, with falls of about 13.5 feet possible. The judge affirmed the opening-protection item for those ladderways but dismissed an instance involving smaller floor holes because OSHA cited the…
Caretti, Inc.
Masonry-block stacking citation vacated
Caretti was a masonry contractor at a Pennsylvania prison project where OSHA found a stack of blocks about 11 to 12 feet high that was not tapered above six feet. The judge allowed OSHA to correct a typographical error in the cited standard because the factual allegation was unchanged and Caretti…
Caretti, Inc.
Control-room deck fall citation vacated
Caretti performed masonry work near an unguarded control-room deck that was 15 feet, 4 inches above an auditorium floor. Its foreman placed yellow caution tape across the rear of the deck and instructed employees not to enter the area. OSHA observed employees working beside the deck and one foreman…
Allstate Painting & Contracting Co., Inc.
All citations vacated because Allstate was not the employer
OSHA cited Allstate Painting for numerous toxic-exposure and fall-protection violations on an Ohio bridge project. Although Allstate held the subcontract, it had assigned its rights and obligations to American Painting, whose long-term employees performed and supervised the work. Applying the…
Caretti, Inc.
Canopy fall-protection citation vacated
A Caretti apprentice bricklayer climbed onto an unguarded school entrance canopy 11 feet above the ground and laid brick without fall protection. The superintendent had assigned him work below the canopy and had directed another crew to add a second scaffold stage that would provide protection for…
Carson Concrete Corp. and Carco Construction Corp.
Citations affirmed after refusal to proceed
Carson Concrete and Carco Construction sought a continuance four days before a long-scheduled hearing after changing counsel and disavowing earlier discovery responses. The judge found that the companies had known the hearing date for months, had not opposed key motions, and had waited until the…
W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co., Inc., Heavy Division
Slope fall-protection violations affirmed
A Yates crew installed grass matting on a slope ending at a 65-foot drop. The foreman worked without any fall protection, while two crew members wore their harnesses backward with the foreman's permission because the supplied lanyards were too short for the work. The judge found that the foreman's…
Major Construction Corp., Inc. and Michael J. Polites
Fall citations largely affirmed with $223,200 penalty
Major Construction was the concrete subcontractor on a 32-story structure where OSHA documented extensive fall-protection and related violations, including violations after an imminent-danger notice was posted. The Commission largely upheld the judge's findings on feasibility, employer…
Tradesmen Group, Inc.
Two fall-protection violations affirmed
Tradesmen Group performed renovation, remodeling, and historical restoration work at a site in Peninsula, Ohio. OSHA cited the company after two employees worked from an aerial lift and on a working surface without required fall protection. After a hearing, the judge issued a bench decision finding…
Central Building & Preservation, L.P.
High-rise fall-protection violation affirmed
Central Building & Preservation assigned two employees to mix mortar and stage materials on the 24th floor of a Chicago building. They worked within a foot of parapets as low as 15 to 17 inches without a guardrail, safety net, or personal fall arrest system. The company admitted technical…
RK Hydro-Vac, Inc.
Roof-edge fall violation affirmed
An RK Hydro-Vac employee leaned over the unprotected edge of a 30-foot roof without tying off after returning from lunch. The company had adequate written fall-protection rules, supplied each worker with equipment, and provided extensive initial and twice-yearly training. The judge nevertheless…
MJP Construction Co., Inc.
Citations affirmed after case abandoned
OSHA cited MJP Construction after inspecting a Hoboken, New Jersey worksite. MJP's counsel reported that the company had gone out of business and would no longer defend the case. The judge treated the complaint's allegations as admitted and affirmed a serious stairway violation with a $2,000…
Coppell Construction Company, Inc.
Fall-protection citation vacated for lack of employer knowledge
A videotape showed two Coppell Construction employees near the unprotected edge of an automated people mover about 50 feet above the ground. One employee admitted briefly unclipping his lanyard to move around coworkers, while the evidence did not establish that the second employee was untied. The…
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.