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.

5,577 decisions and counting · Latest decision July 17, 2026

2 decisions 29 C.F.R. § 1926.59(e)(2)

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ALJ

Metric Constructors, Inc.

General contractor held liable for subcontractor hazards

Metric Constructors was the general contractor for a 29-building federal prison project covering about 200 acres in Estill, South Carolina. OSHA cited scaffold, trench, hazard-communication, fire-extinguisher, compressed-gas-cylinder, and trench-access conditions created by subcontractors whose…

January 31, 1994 ·James D. Burroughs
Mixed result

COMM

Compass Steel Erection, Inc.

Welding-cable citation settled as other-than-serious

OSHA cited Compass Steel after finding damaged arc-welding cable repaired with duct tape, an incomplete hazard communication program, and oxygen and acetylene cylinders placed together. An ALJ affirmed the welding-cable item as serious with a $360 penalty and found the four remaining items de…

November 19, 1990
Settled

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review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.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.

Browse decisions by cited standard

OSHA standards

29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1) (477) 29 C.F.R. § 1926.500(d)(1) (216) 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652(a)(1) (208) 29 C.F.R. § 1926.28(a) (178) 29 C.F.R. § 1910.132(a) (171) 29 C.F.R. § 1926.21(b)(2) (158) 29 C.F.R. § 1910.212(a)(1) (137) 29 C.F.R. § 1926.105(a) (130) 29 C.F.R. § 1926.501(b)(1) (113) 29 C.F.R. § 1926.100(a) (110) 29 C.F.R. § 1910.212(a)(3)(ii) (99) 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652(b) (94)

MSHA standards

30 U.S.C. § 815(a) (248) 30 U.S.C. § 820(i) (83) 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(2) (64) 30 C.F.R. § 2700.1(b) (49) 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(1) (49) 30 U.S.C. § 815(d) (49) 30 U.S.C. § 823(d)(1) (46) 30 U.S.C. § 820(k) (38) 30 U.S.C. § 823(d)(2)(A)(i) (37) 30 C.F.R. § 2700.28 (32) 30 U.S.C. § 814(d)(1) (30) 30 U.S.C. § 815(c)(3) (25)