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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Harry C. Crooker & Sons, Inc.
Excavator had to maintain clearance from an energized service line
A foreman operated an excavator with its boom six to seven feet from an energized 240-volt service drop while performing street reconstruction work. The applicable construction standard required at least ten feet of clearance. The ALJ held that the general-industry electrical rule did not displace…
Kelly-Hill Company
Crane violations affirmed with $17,000 in penalties
Kelly-Hill Company maintained railroad construction equipment at its Missouri shop. An employee was electrocuted when a crane lifting a tie inserter contacted energized overhead power lines. The judge affirmed violations involving the crane manufacturer's operating limits, missing load information…
Mica Corporation, and its successors
Power-line crane citations affirmed after a fatal electrocution
Mica Corporation was moving concrete traffic barriers along Interstate 35 near Hillsboro, Texas, using a leased crane. The crane cable came within a few inches of a 14,400 volt overhead power line and made contact. Two workers, the leased crane operator and a Mica foreman, were electrocuted and…
Walker Crane & Rigging Corporation
Crane-near-power-line citation affirmed, $3,500 penalty
Walker Crane & Rigging is a small Connecticut crane company. In October 1999 its operator was using a crane to set the sections of a modular house in Higganum, Connecticut, working on a narrow street with overhead power lines along the far side. While moving the fourth house section, the crane's…
Halmar Corp. and DeFoe Corp., a Joint Venture
Power-line crane penalties assessed separately
Halmar Corp. and DeFoe Corp. used a crane to place concrete catch basins along the New York Thruway. While the crane backed about 400 feet with its boom fully extended, the boom contacted an overhead electrical line and an employee was electrocuted. The Commission found that the foreman knew or…
Stein, Inc.
Crane inspection and power-line clearance items affirmed
Stein provided a crane and crane operator for installation of a truck scale at an Ohio steel-mill site. A ground worker employed by the scale contractor was electrocuted when the crane boom contacted a 13,000-volt power line. The judge found that Stein remained an employer responsible for its…
L.G. Defelice, Inc.
Overhead-line violations affirmed as serious
L.G. Defelice was rehabilitating a section of Interstate 70 near Washington, Pennsylvania, where heavy equipment regularly passed beneath overhead electrical lines. Two machines contacted the lines in separate incidents, and the judge found that Defelice had not trained employees on the specific…
Central Florida Underground, Inc.
Crane and rigging violations affirmed after fatal power-line contact
Central Florida Underground was an underground pipe contractor whose crew used a crane to move a trench box near energized overhead electrical lines. During the work, the crane boom contacted the lines and an employee touching the crane was electrocuted. The judge found that Central failed to train…
Concrete Construction Co., Inc.
Backhoe power-line violations affirmed for $500
Concrete Construction used a backhoe to lay large pipe beneath energized power lines. The backhoe’s knuckle joint contacted a 7,620-volt line while an employee assigned to watch clearance was also steadying the pipe, and the employee was electrocuted. The Commission held that the crane…
Gates & Fox Company, Inc.
Two willful findings reversed and penalties reduced
Gates & Fox was a subcontractor building part of the Washington, D.C., subway system. The judge found willful violations because a truck crane operated within ten feet of a 4,000-volt line and because self-rescuers were not provided in a tunnel area without an advancing face. The Commission members…
Suffolk County Contractors, Inc.
Backhoe power-line case remanded under crane precedent
OSHA alleged that Suffolk County Contractors willfully violated the ten-foot power-line clearance rule while operating a backhoe. The judge vacated the citation because he found the crane-and-derrick standard inapplicable to backhoes and did not reach the merits. After that ruling, the Commission…
H.B. Zachry Company
Crane power-line clearance violation affirmed
H.B. Zachry used a mobile crane to carry pipe beneath energized power lines at a construction site. The crane jib contacted the lines, fatally injuring one employee and hospitalizing another. The Commission held that the 10-foot clearance requirement applied to mobile cranes traveling with a load…
Springfield Steel Erectors
Crane power-line citation affirmed
Springfield leased a crane and operator to a painting contractor whose employee spray-painted from the crane basket near a 13,800-volt transformer system. The spray hose contacted an energized line, allowing current to travel through the liquid paint to the nozzle, and the painter was fatally…
Danco Construction Company
Crane power-line violation and $600 penalty affirmed
Danco used a crane to unload pipe beneath electrical lines without maintaining the required 10-foot clearance. Two employees guiding pipe from the ground were injured when the boom came too close to the line, and one injury was fatal. The company argued that the event resulted from unforeseeable…
United Telephone Company of the Carolinas
Crane-clearance citation affirmed
A United Telephone construction crew was moving telephone poles and lines out of the path of Interstate 95 in South Carolina. A truck-mounted boom came into contact with, or close enough to arc to, an energized 8-kilovolt power line, and two linemen touching the truck were electrocuted. OSHA cited…
Lidstrom, Inc.
Crane power-line clearance violation affirmed
Lidstrom leased a crane and its operator to another company for moving concrete pipe near energized power lines. The crane came within ten feet of the lines, and an employee of the lessee who was attaching the hook to pipe was electrocuted. The Commission held that Lidstrom remained the crane…
Ames Crane & Rental Service, Inc.
Power-line clearance violation and $600 penalty affirmed
Ames Crane rented a crane with its own operator for work at an Iowa State University power plant. The crane operated between a doorway and energized transmission lines less than 10 feet away, and the load line became energized, killing another contractor's employee. Ames had given only general…
Wayne Taysom & Eli Taysom, d/b/a Taysom Construction Company
Crane power-line violation affirmed with a $300 penalty
Taysom Construction was building a concrete bank vault and used a crane to move cement from a delivery truck to the vault. The crane boom contacted an energized 12,000-volt power line, and the delivery-truck driver was killed when current traveled through the crane cable and bucket. The judge found…
Greguson's Nursery, Inc.
Limited contest made power-line citation final, penalty set at $100
Greguson's Nursery performed landscaping work, and one of its employees was electrocuted when the boom he was operating contacted an energized power line while he moved boulders. The employer's notice of contest expressly challenged only OSHA's proposed $600 penalty. The Commission held that the…
Godwin-Bevers Co., Inc.
General-duty citation vacated because crane standard applied
Godwin-Bevers directed a leased crane and rigging crew while erecting precast concrete units beneath a 7,620-volt power line. A crane cable contacted the line, killing the contractor's foreman and injuring another employee and the crane lessor's oiler. OSHA cited Godwin-Bevers under the general…
J.M. Roofing Co.
Fatal crane power-line violation affirmed
A crane lowering roofing equipment contacted an energized 4,800-volt power line and electrocuted an employee. The foreman knew the crane was operating in the narrow area between the building and the line but took no effective action to maintain the required ten-foot clearance. The Commission…
Scotty Smith Construction Co., Inc.
Crane violation affirmed and saw allegation vacated
Scotty Smith Construction was the general contractor for additions to a YMCA building in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. A company employee was electrocuted while handling a concrete bucket after the boom of a leased crane contacted energized overhead power lines. The judge found that the company chose the…
White Oak Corporation
Crane power-line violations affirmed with $1,355 penalties
White Oak operated a crane near 13,200-volt power lines at a Connecticut highway project. The crane boom and ball contacted the lines, and an oiler at the outrigger controls was electrocuted. The judge found a serious violation for failing to maintain ten feet of clearance and a nonserious…
Frohlick Crane Service
Leased-crane violation and citation items affirmed
Frohlick Crane Service leased a crane and operator to an elevator subcontractor at a construction site. The crane contacted an uninsulated 7,620-volt power line, and a laborer employed by another company was electrocuted. The Commission held that the operator remained Frohlick's employee because…
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.