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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Triumph Construction Corp.
Repeat cave-in violation affirmed and loose-soil item vacated
Triumph Construction replaced a water main in lower Manhattan using an excavation without a cave-in protective system. An employee was injured when part of the excavation collapsed. The judge found that the excavation was at least five feet deep where the employee worked, so the shallow-excavation…
Turpin, Inc.
Unprotected excavation violation reduced from willful to serious
A newly hired Turpin employee entered an 8.7-foot excavation in unstable soil to mark grade points before a trench box was installed. The judge found constructive employer knowledge because Turpin rarely inspected jobsites, inadequately trained workers, and showed no credible system for monitoring…
Penney's Construction Company, LLC
Willful trench violations affirmed after work continued
Penney's Construction replaced a sewer line in a 10-foot-deep trench with vertical, fissured walls and no cave-in protection. Employees also encountered flowing sewage, possible atmospheric hazards, an edge-side spoil pile, unprotected use of a cut saw, and public traffic without high-visibility…
Kandey Company, Inc.
Cave-in violation reduced from willful to serious
Kandey employees worked in an excavation to connect a new building to a water main in Clarence, New York. The judge found that a portable ladder used for access did not extend three feet above the landing and that the excavation exceeded five feet, was not entirely stable rock, and lacked cave-in…
R. Williams Construction Company
Five trench-safety violations affirmed
Two employees entered a waterlogged, unshored sewer trench to clean pumps, and the trench collapsed, killing one employee and severely injuring the other. The judge found that R. Williams provided almost no trench-safety training, lacked a safe egress route, and used supervisors who were not…
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…
Freeze Technology International, Inc.
Mixed ruling after nitrogen asphyxiation at pipeline freeze site
Freeze Technology used liquid nitrogen to form ice plugs in an underground water pipeline so Enerpipe could perform hydrostatic testing at a remote Oklahoma ranch. Two night-shift workers were found dead inside the freeze excavation after nitrogen gas displaced the oxygen. The judge affirmed…
B & B Plumbing, Inc.
Trench violations reduced from willful to serious
B & B Plumbing was installing sanitation plumbing at a school on the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona. Employees worked in a trench with vertical sides that reached about eight feet deep and had no protective system or adequate means of egress; an employee died in a cave-in. The judge…
Black Construction Corp
Trench egress affirmed, loose-soil item vacated
Black Construction employees installed formwork beside sewer lines in a trench at Camp Watkins Road in Guam. An inspector measured the excavation at about six feet deep and saw two employees inside without a ladder or other safe means of egress. The judge credited the inspector's unrebutted…
Kenko, Inc.
Two trench hazards affirmed and egress item vacated
Kenko employees were laying and connecting pipe in a trench more than 11 feet deep. OSHA cited the company for inadequate egress, loose rock or soil on the excavation face, and insufficient cave-in protection. The judge vacated the egress item because the backfill provided a safe way out and the…
Bruschi Brothers, Inc.
Most trenching citations affirmed, one vacated in sewer-line excavation case
Bruschi Brothers, Inc., a general contractor, was installing a sewer line in a roughly 13-to-15-foot-deep trench in Chicopee, Massachusetts, when OSHA inspected and found four employees working in it. OSHA issued several serious citations for failing to train workers on trenching and confined-space…
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.