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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Calhar Construction, Inc.
Trench and backup-alarm violations affirmed
Employees worked in a trench more than seven feet deep with the access ladder over 60 feet away and set at an improper angle. The trench lacked an adequate cave-in protection system, and laboratory testing confirmed that the soil was not stable rock. OSHA also observed a front-end loader backing…
Big Apple Wrecking and Construction Corp.
Willful scaffold fall-protection citation affirmed at $56,000, most serious items upheld
Big Apple Wrecking & Construction is a New York City demolition contractor. In mid-1998 OSHA inspected its demolition of a six-story theater building, where crews worked on the top level of scaffolding surrounding the structure. OSHA issued a serious citation, a repeat citation, and a willful…
Honey Creek Contracting Co.
Review vacated after employer failed to brief
Honey Creek Contracting petitioned for Commission review of two administrative law judge decisions concerning excavation work in Homer City, Pennsylvania. After directing the cases for review, the Commission ordered Honey Creek to file a brief or a letter in lieu of a brief within 40 days. Honey…
Linde Enterprises, Inc.
Trenching cave-in items affirmed serious, seat-belt item vacated, $1,800
Linde Enterprises is a Pennsylvania excavating contractor that was installing utility lines in Dunmore, Pennsylvania. Acting on an anonymous complaint, an OSHA compliance officer inspected the trench worksite and issued one serious citation with four items. Linde first argued the inspection was…
Calang Corporation
Willful trench violations affirmed with $8,000 penalty
Calang employees and the company president worked in a roughly nine-foot-deep sewer trench with sandy soil, inadequate sloping, no shoring, and a spoil pile at the trench edge. Before excavation began, the OSHA inspector told the president that the trench needed approximately one-to-one sloping or…
A. Amorello & Sons, Inc.
Backup-alarm violation affirmed as other-than-serious after court remand
On remand from the First Circuit, the Commission reconsidered whether a front-end loader operated in reverse without a working backup alarm. Two OSHA officials observed the loader backing without hearing an alarm, and a later demonstration showed that the alarm did not sound until an operator…
A. Amorello & Sons, Inc.
Front-end loader backup-alarm citation vacated
OSHA cited A. Amorello & Sons after inspectors observed a front-end loader operating in reverse without hearing its backup alarm. The loader's engine housing blocked the operator's view only for about two feet directly behind the machine, while the exhaust pipe did not block the rear view. Chairman…
P & A Construction Company, Inc.
Late contest reinstated for excusable neglect
P & A's attorney dictated a timely notice of contest, but a temporary secretary inadvertently merged the dictation into another matter and incorrectly said it had been mailed. Counsel promptly filed after discovering the mistake. Applying Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b), the Commission found…
Duquesne Light Company; Vecellio & Grogan, Inc.
Late-report dismissals reversed
Three cases were consolidated for review after the judge dismissed citations because the Secretary did not timely file reports of prehearing conferences. The cases involved a vehicle reverse-alarm item, first-aid-kit items and a failure-to-abate notification, and a lockout-related general duty…
Robert T. Winzinger, Inc.
Excavation and backup-alarm items affirmed
Robert T. Winzinger performed work around a 10-foot-deep excavation in sandy, damp, partly backfilled soil near a heavily traveled road. Employees had entered the excavation, its walls were unsupported, and spoil piles up to 40 inches high sat directly at the edges. The Commission affirmed 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.