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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Moorhead Brothers, Inc.
Backup-alarm citation vacated on evenly balanced evidence
Moorhead Brothers was clearing a utility right-of-way in Ohio when a company truck backed over and killed an employee who was on foot. OSHA cited the site-clearing contractor under the construction vehicle standard that requires either an audible reverse alarm or an observer when the driver's rear…
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…
J.L. Foti Construction Co., Inc.
Three construction items affirmed, one vacated
J.L. Foti performed masonry work as a subcontractor on a hospital project and objected when OSHA inspected its enclosed elevator-shaft work area without a warrant. The general contractor consented to the inspection, but the two Commission members divided on whether that consent overrode Foti’s…
O'Boyle Tank Lines, Inc.
Construction-site truck violations affirmed
O'Boyle delivered and unloaded cement at construction sites using tractor-trailers with an unguarded cycloblower pulley and, in one instance, backed a vehicle with an obstructed rear view without an alarm or signaler. The Commission held that delivery and unloading were integral to construction and…
West Allis Lime and Cement Company
Reverse-alarm citation vacated
A ready-mix concrete truck backed approximately 650 feet through a construction site without a reverse alarm or observer. The judge held that the truck driver's work was construction activity covered by the cited standard, but vacated because OSHA did not prove that the truck's rear view was…
Clarkson Construction Company
Subcontractor dump-truck violation affirmed
A subcontractor's dump truck backed along a highway-construction work area without a reverse alarm or an observer and fatally injured a Clarkson flagman. Clarkson directed where the subcontractor's trucks loaded and unloaded, controlled their operation within the project, and used them in its work…
Southeast Contractors, Inc.
Serious backing-truck violation affirmed
Southeast Contractors was a paving subcontractor that hired a trucking company to deliver hot asphalt. A dump trailer with an obstructed rear view continued backing after an observer stopped signaling and fatally struck a Southeast employee. The Commission held that an ordinary air horn was not a…
H-E Lowdermilk Company
Backup observer and cylinder violations upheld
H-E Lowdermilk Company was building a Colorado highway when OSHA cited six construction-safety violations. The Commission found that trucks with obstructed rear views lacked alarms and were backed while bulldozer operators assigned as observers were not always free to watch and signal, so it…
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.