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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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…
B & L Drywall & Acoustical, Inc.
Fall-arrest and training items affirmed
B & L Drywall was installing exterior studs and drywall when a newspaper photographed an employee standing on a scissor-lift basket rail about 24 feet above the ground. The employee wore a harness, but his six-foot lanyard was attached below shoulder level and could have allowed a free fall longer…
Metric Constructors, Inc.
Scaffold guardrail violations affirmed
Metric was the general contractor for an Army barracks project where its masonry subcontractor used scaffolds with missing or deficient fall protection. The judge held Metric responsible as the controlling employer because it conducted daily inspections, paid for the scaffolding, and could require…
Dover Elevator Company
Access and fall-protection citations vacated
Dover Elevator Company was installing elevators in an addition to a federal courthouse and post office in Victoria, Texas. OSHA cited floor holes, inadequate guardrails, improper elevated access, and portable ladders at the site. Because the citation and complaint alleged violations only on 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.