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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Centimark Roofing Systems
Suspended-load and crane-rigging items vacated
Centimark hired an independent crane company to hoist roofing materials and trash-chute parts to a warehouse roof. During the second chute-parts lift, the load shifted and an eight-foot steel bar slipped out and struck the crane operator. The crane operator had helped rig the load and signaled the…
Austin Bridge & Road, Inc.
Crane-overloading violation affirmed
An Austin Bridge & Road crane overturned while lifting a concrete bridge beam. Austin's lift plan used an engineered beam weight, but the plan left little margin for error, a bill of lading with the actual weight was available, and the crane operator had expressed concern that the lift could not be…
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…
Lampson International, Ltd.
Commission approves Miller Park crane settlement
Lampson supplied and operated the Big Blue heavy-lift crane at the Miller Park stadium project, where the crane collapsed during a roof-section lift. After Commission review was directed, the parties settled all remaining issues. The Secretary withdrew one crane-rating item, amended the…
CBI Services, Inc.
Willful crane-load riding violation affirmed
At a Massachusetts worksite, a CBI employee stood on a hollow steel ring while a crawler crane lifted, swung, and suspended the load into position. The Commission rejected CBI's challenge to the OSHA crane standard, holding that the incorporated 1968 ANSI safety code had been validly incorporated…
Sofco Erectors, Inc.
Crane-load citation vacated because operator was not hoisting
A steel connector stood on a beam while trying to align its free end with a column. One end was already bolted, the other was wedged low, and the crane line remained under tension; when the worker pried the beam loose, it sprang upward and bruised his leg. Judge Ken S. Welsch found that the crane…
Contour Erection and Siding Systems, Inc.
EAJA fee award reduced to $27,892.48
Contour obtained vacatur of crane-operation citations arising from a crane tip-over at a sports arena project in Buffalo, New York. The company then sought attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commission agreed that the Secretary's case ceased to be substantially…
TraCorp Construction and its successors
Crane-rope and suspended-load violations affirmed
TraCorp's crew was erecting a building when a hoist cable broke and a falling steel truss killed an employee working beneath it. Judge Stanley M. Schwartz found that TraCorp was the employer because it assigned and paid the crew, supplied most tools, and controlled the work. The wire rope showed…
National Engineering and Contracting Company
Boom-truck violation restored to willful
National Engineering and Contracting Company was building a highway sound wall and used a boom truck to place concrete traffic barriers. The truck tipped while a barrier was being moved without its front outriggers and rear stabilizers fully extended, killing one employee and seriously injuring…
Contour Erection & Siding Systems, Inc.
Crane-overload citation vacated
Contour Erection used a crawler crane to lift a large roof truss at a sports arena when the boom and load collapsed to the floor without injuring anyone. OSHA alleged that the crane exceeded the manufacturer's load limits and cited two duplicative crane standards. The judge found that OSHA relied…
Anthony Crane Rental, Inc.
Crane inspection and repair violations affirmed
Anthony Crane Rental leased a truck crane whose boom later collapsed at an airport construction site, killing the lessee's crane oiler. On court remand, the issue was whether Anthony Crane's own employees were exposed to hazards from missing inspection records, improperly adjusted components, and…
National Engineering & Contracting Company
Willful crane-overturn items vacated, seat-belt and ladder items affirmed serious, $2,500
National Engineering & Contracting was the general contractor on an Ohio Department of Transportation soil-erosion project along a ravine in Lakewood, Ohio. A 28-ton Grove crane overturned into the ravine on August 19, 1994, injuring the operator, which prompted an OSHA inspection and two…
Anthony Crane Rental, Inc.
Crane inspection and maintenance violations affirmed after court remand
Anthony Crane Rental leased a crane whose boom later collapsed at an airport construction project, killing another contractor's employee. After a court remand, the issue was whether Anthony Crane Rental's own employees had been exposed to the conditions involving missing annual-inspection records…
S.G. Loewendick & Sons, Inc.
Suspended-backhoe operation held willful
S.G. Loewendick suspended a seven-ton backhoe and its operator from a crane roughly 70 to 80 feet above the ground to demolish bridge piers. The Commission held that the backhoe was a load, not a personnel platform, so the operator was prohibited from riding it under the incorporated crane-safety…
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…
Blount International, LTD.
Storage and electrical items affirmed, crane item vacated
Blount International was the general contractor building an aircraft hangar at Westover Air Force Base. The Commission affirmed a material-storage item because heavy structural steel was stored on deteriorated supports in a way that could allow it to spread or tilt. It also affirmed two electrical…
Vergona Crane Co., Inc.
Crane lessor liable for broken boom stop
Vergona Crane supplied a crane, operator, and oiler to a construction contractor under a bare-rental arrangement. The Commission treated Vergona and its closely related affiliate as a single entity and found that Vergona remained the workers' employer because it controlled how the crane was…
Stone Container Corporation
Repeated crane manbasket violation affirmed
Stone Container used cranes to lift employees in personnel baskets under a prior settlement that required a full-cycle test lift carrying twice the intended load before employees were raised. Crane operators testified that the required weighted tests were not performed on several occasions and that…
Williams Enterprises, Inc.
Perimeter cable violation reinstated for $630
Williams Enterprises performed structural steel erection on a Washington, D.C., building project. Employees came within one foot of two unguarded edges on a mostly decked second-tier floor, with fall distances of 20 to 30 feet. The ALJ vacated the perimeter-cable citation after concluding that…
All Purpose Crane, Inc.
Broken-wire citation vacated for insufficient proof
All Purpose Crane operated a crane whose boom rope broke and whose boom collapsed at a Florida construction site, killing three workers. OSHA cited the company for several crane, wire-rope, recordkeeping, and fire-extinguisher conditions. The judge affirmed serious items for overloading the crane…
Cornell & Company, Inc.
Suspended-load general duty citation vacated
Cornell employees installing a lower beam worked beneath an upper beam suspended from the same crane hook. OSHA cited the general duty clause for exposing them to a suspended-load hazard. The Commission found that the crane was a truck crane and that 29 C.F.R. § 1926.550(b)(2) incorporated an ANSI…
O.K. Construction Company, Inc.
Crane, hard-hat, and recordkeeping items affirmed with penalties reduced
O.K. Construction was performing excavation work with a crawler crane at a West Virginia lift-station project. The judge affirmed a repeated fire-extinguisher violation and nonserious items involving missing crane information, an unbarricaded swing radius, absent annual-inspection records, an…
Rust Engineering Company; Allegheny Industrial Electric Company
Scaffold access item reduced to de minimis
A Rust Engineering employee climbed down a 15-foot scaffold using its end-frame bars instead of a separate access ladder. The Commission agreed that the bars were not equivalent to a proper ladder because their spacing varied from 19 to 21 inches and the record did not show slip-resistant…
Union Steel Erectors, Inc.
Willful crane-riding and fall violations affirmed
OSHA observed Union Steel employees riding a crane hook, headache ball, and suspended steel loads 50 to 70 feet above the ground. The foreman knowingly allowed the practice for about a week, the general contractor had warned him it violated safety rules, and the crane operator knew it was…
Pima Construction Company
Steel-erection citations affirmed in part
Pima Construction was the steel-erection subcontractor for a nine-story courthouse project in Tucson, Arizona. The Commission found that employees regularly traveled near an unguarded second-floor edge, uncovered floor openings, and stairways without railings. It replaced the cited general…
Candler-Rusche
Serious crane-riding citation affirmed
Candler-Rusche employees used crane rigging to ride over a 10-foot fence after unloading pile-driving tubing. The crane block contacted the boom, releasing the rigging and a 400-pound weight; one employee was killed and another sustained spinal and leg injuries. The employer argued that riding the…
Park Construction Co.
Crane-lubrication citation affirmed under excavating standard
Park Construction used a crawler crane for excavation work while an employee lubricated its suspension system. The revolving superstructure remained in operation, and the employee was struck by the rear of the cab and died. The Commission held that the crane standard originally cited applied to…
M-CO Equipment Co., Inc.
Crane fire-extinguisher item reinstated
M-CO Equipment was installing a sewer line at an Arizona construction site. A required fire extinguisher for a crane was kept in a pickup truck normally about 150 feet away, and the truck moved around the worksite. The Commission held that this did not make the extinguisher accessible and available…
Weicker Transfer & Storage Co.
Crane lessor remained employer of leased crew
Weicker leased a crane, operator, and oiler to a construction contractor under an agreement placing the crew under the contractor's exclusive supervision and control. The operator and oiler still reported to Weicker, punched its time clock, were paid by it, considered themselves its employees, and…
Sletten Construction Company
Unused-crane and bulldozer items vacated
Sletten Construction was building a bridge in Idaho and used cranes with damaged wire rope, defective booms, and broken cab glass. The judge also affirmed a canopy citation for a bulldozer used to grade ground and move rocks, plus two recordkeeping items, and assessed $750 in total penalties. The…
Winslow Crane Service, Inc.
Brace and power-line citations vacated
Winslow owned and operated a crane used near an energized power line during pipeline work. A worker employed by another company was electrocuted when the crane equipment contacted the line, but the administrative law judge vacated Winslow's serious citation because Winslow had a stricter 15-foot…
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.