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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Finley, LLC, and its successors
Two trench items affirmed and four items vacated
OSHA found five Finley workers leaving an excavation with water along most of its length. The judge found that Finley took no precautions in response to the accumulated water and did not perform an adequate competent-person inspection or reassess the soil after conditions changed. Those two serious…
Bardav, Inc., d/b/a Martha's Vineyard Mobile Home Park
Willful cave-in violation affirmed after excavation collapse
Bardav employees entered an excavation to repair a leaking water pipe after a plumbing technician warned that the unstable soil required shoring. Water flooded the excavation, its walls collapsed, and two employees were injured. The Commission affirmed a willful cave-in protection violation because…
Redline Pipeline, LLC
Trench items affirmed, water and asbestos items vacated
Redline Pipeline was the general contractor for replacement of water lines that likely contained asbestos. Two subcontractor employees entered a roughly 9-to-10-foot-deep trench after its protective box had been removed, although the previously disturbed Type B soil was not properly sloped. The…
Straight Ahead Construction, Inc.
Excavation water and cave-in items vacated
Straight Ahead Construction dug a street excavation in Miami to install drainage structures during intermittent rain. OSHA alleged that employees worked in accumulated water and lacked cave-in protection in an excavation more than 5 feet deep. The judge found no reliable measurement showing that…
Sand Cut Properties, LLC.
Willful excavation violations affirmed
Sand Cut Properties sent an employee into an excavation that was 6 to 9 feet deep, accumulating water, and repeatedly collapsing in unstable soil. A roughly 15-foot-high spoil pile overhung the edge, and the owner directed the employee to attach a sling to a concrete structure before the collapsing…
B & B Underground Contractors
Excavation and gas-cylinder violations yield $8,000 penalty
B & B Underground Contractors operated a deep boring pit for a wastewater pipeline project in Alabama. The judge affirmed a serious violation for unsecured gas cylinders and found that the pit's only ramp was unsafe and more than 25 feet from employees' work area. Water was accumulating in the pit…
A. G. Carter Construction Company
Repeated trench warnings supported two willful violations
A. G. Carter Construction installed underground utilities in trenches near Prattville, Alabama. After a fire marshal warned owner Alton Carter about the lack of cave-in protection, a ladder, proper spoil-pile placement, and water controls, similar conditions remained when OSHA inspected one week…
J. B. Coxwell Contracting, Inc.
Two excavation violations affirmed and two vacated
J. B. Coxwell Contracting was building an underground concrete junction box for a highway storm drain system in Florida. OSHA cited the company for four excavation violations after employees worked in an excavation about 6 feet 8 inches deep. The judge affirmed a serious violation because the…
North Texas Contracting, Inc.
Trench safety citations affirmed with $9,000 in penalties
North Texas Contracting was installing a box sewer line in a Dallas trench when OSHA found employees working near vertical walls, accumulated water, spoil piles, and an excavator at the trench edge. The judge credited OSHA's measurements and found that the approximately 10-foot-deep excavation was…
Haines & Kibblehouse, Inc. and E.P. Guidi, Inc.
Trench citation affirmed for subcontractor and dismissed for construction manager
Haines & Kibblehouse installed a sewer line at a Philadelphia construction site where a trench collapsed and seriously injured one of its employees. The judge found that employees worked in a vertical-walled trench that was at least five feet deep without a protective system. H&K's foreman treated…
E.P. Guidi, Inc. and Haines & Kibblehouse, Inc.
Trench citation affirmed for subcontractor and dismissed for construction manager
Haines & Kibblehouse installed a sewer line at a Philadelphia construction site where a trench collapsed and seriously injured one of its employees. The judge found that employees worked in a vertical-walled trench that was at least five feet deep without a protective system. H&K's foreman treated…
Darby Creek Excavating
Four excavation items vacated and one inspection violation affirmed
Darby Creek Excavating was installing a water line when OSHA found an employee in a deep excavation with accumulated water, no ladder, and no cave-in protection. The judge vacated the general duty clause item because the Secretary did not prove that failing to barricade the excavator's swing radius…
D.R.B. Boring and Drilling Construction Co., Inc.
Four excavation violations affirmed
D.R.B. Boring and Drilling used an excavation approximately 10 feet wide, 32 feet long, and nearly 10 feet deep. The judge found that the ladder and loose-earth ramp did not provide safe access, water had accumulated without adequate precautions, employees lacked protection from falling or rolling…
Dakota Underground, Inc.
Water-accumulation item remanded after court ruling
Dakota Underground performed excavation work in Fargo, North Dakota. The administrative law judge had affirmed willful violations involving trench egress, accumulated water, and cave-in protection, while vacating a competent-person inspection item. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the Commission's final…
Bovis Construction Corporation
Excavation citations vacated for lack of knowledge
A Bovis Construction subcontractor allowed employees into a deep excavation without a nearby safe exit, adequate water precautions, or cave-in protection. As general contractor, Bovis had enough supervisory authority to require subcontractor compliance, but its liability still depended on actual or…
Pentecost Contracting Corp.
EAJA fee application denied
Pentecost admitted willful excavation violations but successfully reduced proposed penalties from $105,000 to $42,000 by grouping related items at each trench. It then sought attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commission held that success on a significant penalty issue can…
Lu Mar Enterprises
Settlement of excavation citations approved
OSHA issued Lu Mar two citations alleging serious and willful excavation-related violations at a New Jersey worksite. After hearings on three dates, the parties reached a settlement and placed its terms on the record. The judge approved and incorporated the stipulated settlement in full. The…
Fluidics, Inc.
Mixed construction ruling assesses $13,600
Fluidics performed mechanical-system renovations at a Philadelphia public-housing project with unusually difficult site-security conditions. The judge affirmed serious violations involving unsecured and improperly separated compressed-gas cylinders, missing GFCI protection, exposed energized…
Philadelphia Construction Equipment, Inc.
Default affirms excavation citations for $16,650
Philadelphia Construction Equipment failed to appear for its scheduled hearing on serious and willful construction citations. After an initial remand gave the company another opportunity, the ALJ rejected its explanation for arriving late and found no good cause to reinstate the case. The record…
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.