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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James Eddy, d/b/a Eddy Roofing, Inc.
Roofing safety violations affirmed and penalties reduced for size
OSHA inspected Eddy Roofing after a fatal fall from a roofing worksite about 40 feet above the ground. The company withdrew its contest to violations involving its safety program, fall-hazard training, roof edges, skylights, guardrails, warning lines, access, and hazard communication. Judge…
Kenny Niles, d/b/a Kenny Niles Construction & Trucking Company
Business closure did not moot OSHA penalties
OSHA cited Kenny Niles for two willful and nine serious violations after a trench collapse injured an employee. The ALJ dismissed the case as moot after Niles closed his excavation and trucking businesses, sold equipment, and no longer employed anyone. Reconsidering its prior precedent, the…
Ralph Taynton d/b/a Service Specialty
EAJA fee request denied despite prevailing
Service Specialty sought $34,512.95 in attorney, agent, and other expenses after the Commission vacated its citation in full. The Commission had held that OSHA lacked jurisdiction because the sole proprietorship had stopped operating and no longer had an employee before the citation issued. The fee…
Louis Sinisgalli, d/b/a Metro Wrecking of Rochester, Inc., et al.
Willful cave-in violation affirmed
Workers were sent to remove pumps from a deep, water-filled excavation at a trailer park owned through one of Louis Sinisgalli's corporations. After the workers reported crumbling walls and unsafe conditions, Sinisgalli directed them to return and complete the work before he would pay them. A…
The Velotta Company
A general contractor must keep hazard-communication records for the lead paints its subcontractors use near its own workers
The Velotta Company was the general contractor on a bridge rehabilitation project, the Norwood Lateral, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Subcontractors did the lead-paint blasting and repainting inside containments, but Velotta's carpenters and laborers sometimes had to work right next to those areas, and on…
Southern Forming, Inc.
Broad safety violations affirmed at $69,150
Southern Forming, also known as Suncrete Construction, performed concrete formwork at construction sites in Sunny Isles and Delray Beach, Florida. At the Sunny Isles site, an employee fell to his death from a stairway, and OSHA's investigation identified numerous fall-protection, stairway…
Irwin Steel Erectors Inc.
Four contested construction items vacated
Irwin Steel Erectors performed steel erection and welding during construction of a Motorola facility in Austin, Texas. At the hearing, it resolved six serious citation items by withdrawing its contests in exchange for reduced penalties. The four remaining items concerned fire-extinguisher access…
Dover Elevator Company
Unsecured-ladder item reduced to de minimis by settlement
Dover Elevator was an elevator subcontractor on a renovation project in New York City where OSHA issued serious, repeat, and other-than-serious citations. The Commission directed review only of an unsecured portable ladder item that the ALJ had affirmed as repeated with a $1,000 penalty. In a…
Supermason Enterprises
Willful unprotected-trench violation affirmed
Supermason Enterprises installed a sanitary sewer in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, with two workers in an excavation eight to ten feet deep. The ALJ rejected the company's claim that the workers belonged to a subcontractor because the supposed agreement was unsigned, the alleged subcontractor had never…
Daak Corporation
Default order remanded for good-cause determination
Daak Corporation did not appear for its scheduled hearing, and the ALJ granted the Secretary a default judgment. After hearing the Secretary's evidence, the judge affirmed 14 construction citations and assessed $7,200 in total penalties. Daak's vice president then petitioned for review and made…
Tri-State Construction, Inc. and National Engineering & Contracting Company
Inspection upheld and bridge-edge item vacated
Tri-State and National worked on a multi-employer interstate-highway rehabilitation project in Cincinnati. The employers challenged OSHA's initial warrantless inspection of an outdoor bridge work area and the later project-wide inspection conducted under a warrant. The Commission held that 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.