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.
Montroy Development LLC
Excavation safety violations affirmed
Montroy Development was working in an excavation in Camillus, New York, when an OSHA compliance officer saw two people inside and directed them to exit. OSHA cited Montroy because a spoil pile and excavator were within two feet of the edge and because an employee worked in an excavation more than…
Arrow Plumbing, LLC
Three excavation violations affirmed, spoil-pile item vacated
Arrow Plumbing replaced a residential sewer line in Grain Valley, Missouri, using an excavation more than nine feet deep. Its owner and project supervisor worked inside without hard hats, with exposed utilities and a near-vertical wall but no trench box or other cave-in protection. The judge…
Speedy Rooter/Capital Plumbing, Inc.
Trench violations affirmed
Speedy Rooter replaced a residential sewer line using a trench more than six feet deep. The judge found that the two workers were company employees, not independent contractors, because Speedy Rooter obtained and assigned the work, paid them by the hour, and supplied tools and permits. OSHA proved…
Casale Construction Services, Inc., d/b/a Casale
Repeat trench violations affirmed
Casale Construction installed a pipeline using a trench about six feet deep near an active roadway. A foreman directed a laborer to work for up to three hours in the trench without cave-in protection while excavated material remained at the trench edge. The judge rejected the company's…
Florida Gas Contractors, Inc.
Three excavation violations affirmed
Florida Gas employees dug a trench beneath an adjacent concrete structure while installing a gas line. The Commission held that the structure was appurtenant to the sidewalk and that undermining it without support violated the standard without separate proof that collapse was likely. The Commission…
Insulation-N-Coatings d/b/a Force Enterprises
Spoil-pile violation affirmed, duplicate item vacated
Force Enterprises installed sewer pipe in a roughly 10-foot-deep trench while a spoil pile sat at the trench edge instead of at least two feet back. Based on inspection video, photographs, tools and footprints in the trench, and the foreman’s earlier statements, the judge found that employees had…
Stark Excavating, Inc.
One cave-in item held willful, another serious, and eyewear item vacated
OSHA cited Stark Excavating after finding unprotected excavations at two Illinois worksites, improper eyewear at one site, and spoil piles too close to an excavation. The Commission affirmed the Champaign cave-in item as serious because the competent person made an incorrect but not consciously…
ComTran Group, Inc.
Trench case remanded after supervisor-knowledge ruling
ComTran's project manager entered a 6-foot-deep excavation without cave-in protection after placing a 5-foot spoil pile at its edge. An administrative law judge affirmed serious excavation and spoil-pile violations by imputing the project manager's knowledge of his own conduct to the company. The…
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…
Mike Neri Sewer & Water Contractor
Trench violations affirmed with $5,000 penalty
Mike Neri Sewer & Water Contractor excavated a trench for water and sewer work. An employee entered the 5.6-foot-deep trench without a ladder, cave-in protection, or the required setback between the spoil pile and trench edge. The judge credited the compliance officer's testimony and photographs…
All American Concrete, Inc.
One excavation citation vacated and one affirmed as serious
All American Concrete was upgrading a storm-water system when an excavator bucket rolled into an excavation and broke an employee's ankle. OSHA cited the contractor for materials or equipment near the excavation edge and for inadequate cave-in protection. The judge vacated the falling-materials…
Teichert Construction
Truck inspection and trench-protection violations affirmed
A backing dump-truck fatality prompted OSHA to inspect Teichert's water-pipeline construction project. The judge found that the truck driver did not complete the required pre-shift vehicle check and that one brake push rod was out of adjustment when the truck was placed in service. He also found…
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…
Schaer Development of Central Florida
Improper excavation slope affirmed
Schaer Development installed a manhole in a Florida excavation that reached about 14 feet deep near a highway. OSHA cited spoil piles and a track hoe located within two feet of the edge, but the judge vacated that item because the Secretary did not prove the material or equipment could fall or roll…
Shawn Telsi, d/b/a Life Time Homes, Green Pines, and/or Telsi Builders
Excavation violations affirmed with $91,200 penalty
Telsi controlled a temple-construction site where subcontractor employees worked in a deep excavation with vertical walls, large spoil piles at the edges, no nearby safe egress, uncovered holes, defective ladders, and uncapped rebar. The judge found Telsi was both the controlling and creating…
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…
Martin Construction, Inc.
EAJA filing period began after the judicial-review window closed
Martin Construction prevailed when an administrative law judge vacated six excavation citation items. The company filed an Equal Access to Justice Act fee application 63 days after the merits decision became a final Commission order, and the judge dismissed it as untimely because neither party had…
West Valley Construction Company, Inc.
Two trench items affirmed and three vacated
West Valley Construction employees briefly entered a six-foot-deep trench at a naval air station in Washington while their superintendent watched. The trench had vertical walls in disturbed Type C soil and no cave-in protective system. The judge affirmed a repeat cave-in-protection violation…
Martin Construction, Inc.
Six trench items vacated for lack of knowledge or proof
Martin Construction was the general contractor on a sewer project where a subcontractor's owner was killed in a trench cave-in. OSHA cited Martin as the controlling employer for six alleged excavation violations, including unsafe access, an edge spoil pile, inadequate inspections, and deficient…
Performance Site Management
Excavation violations result in $4,000 penalty
Performance Site Management placed an employee in an excavation to remove a water-main cap while spoil and an eight-foot pile of ground asphalt stood at the excavation edges. The excavation exceeded five feet, and its narrow benches did not meet the dimensions required for Class B soil. The judge…
Decker Construction
Trench violations result in $5,625 penalty
Decker employees worked in a seven-foot excavation while relocating a fire hydrant. The company had not trained one crew member in excavation hazards, provided no ladder or constructed ramp, left spoil at the edge, and did not slope or shore the Type B soil as required. Those four items were…
D.R.B. Boring Drilling Company
Five serious trench violations affirmed
D.R.B. performed boring work from a trench approximately 9 feet deep with vertical, unprotected walls. The judge rejected the owner's claim that the business was a sole proprietorship without employees, finding under the economic realities test that a worker the owner paid and directed was D.R.B.'s…
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…
J. Mess Plumbing Co., Inc.
Five excavation violations affirmed and two vacated
J. Mess Plumbing sent crews to locate and repair a sewer line through an excavation more than nine feet deep in a residential yard. OSHA cited the company for seven alleged violations involving traffic protection, warning vests, atmospheric testing, spoil placement, training, competent-person…
Bridges Grading & Hauling, Inc.
Two trench violations affirmed and inspection item vacated
Bridges was laying storm pipe at a residential development while an employee worked in a trench more than eight feet deep. The judge found that the company provided no safe means of egress and allowed the spoil pile to rise directly from the trench edge without an adequate retaining device. She…
McLeod Land Services, Inc.
Four serious trench violations affirmed
McLeod Land Services installed underground drainage pipe at a retirement-community construction project in Sarasota, Florida. Two employees worked in a trench while an excavator's tracks extended over its unsupported vertical end wall. The judge found that McLeod did not adequately train its…
Galluzzo Equipment & Excavating, Inc.
Most excavation violations affirmed
Galluzzo Equipment & Excavating installed a concrete catch basin and pipe in a street excavation in Lodi, New Jersey. The judge affirmed serious violations involving trench-safety training, the lack of a competent person, missing hard hats, an unsecured pneumatic-hose coupling, an unprotected spoil…
Garney Construction, Inc.
Two trench items affirmed and two vacated
Garney Construction was installing large sewer pipe in an excavation nearly eight feet deep in Type B soil. The judge vacated the egress item because a gravel ramp and ladder provided a safe route out of the trench. He affirmed the item involving a 100,000-pound excavator and excavated soil at the…
Hill Brother Construction, Inc.
Late contest dismissed after owner failed to read notice
Hill Brothers' president received OSHA's citations well before the contest deadline but looked only at the proposed penalties and did not read the prominently stated filing instructions. He then consulted several attorneys and made no effort to contact OSHA until more than 40 days after the…
Tierdael Construction Company
Transite-pipe asbestos items partly affirmed
Tierdael removed asbestos-containing transite water pipe while lowering a water line in Colorado. The judge held that removing the buried pipe was Class II asbestos work even though the pipe remained non-friable and employee exposure stayed below OSHA limits. Tierdael failed to establish a…
Westar Mechanical, Inc.
Serious trench violations and $31,950 penalties affirmed
Westar and a subcontractor installed a sewer line in unprotected excavations on two consecutive days. On the second day, a trench wall collapsed, a water main broke, and two trapped workers drowned as the trench filled with water. The Commission held that separate cave-in and competent-person…
Reynolds, Inc.
Three excavation violations affirmed
Reynolds was installing sewer lines in Ohio when employees, including the foreman, worked in a trench more than six feet deep without sloping, shoring, or a trench box. Excavated material was piled at the trench edge, and the foreman did not complete the required competent-person inspection before…
Complete General Construction Co.
Spoil-pile citation stands, but cave-in item fails under the Secretary's admission
Complete General Construction was relocating water lines while widening a state highway in Waverly, Ohio. OSHA cited the company because a two-foot-high spoil pile sat directly at the edge of an excavation where two employees were working nearby. The judge held that § 1926.651(j)(2) requires spoil…
D.T. Construction Company, Inc.
Three willful trench violations affirmed, most other items upheld, $119,750 penalty
D.T. Construction is a Pennsylvania contractor that installs underground water and sewer lines. After OSHA inspected several of its dig sites in 1998, the agency issued three citations covering willful, serious, and other-than-serious violations. The heart of the case was three willful cave-in…
Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc.
Willful trench citation vacated, backhoe-bucket general duty violation affirmed
Joseph J. Magnolia, Inc. is a Washington, D.C. area utility contractor that was excavating and installing sewer lines during a hospital expansion. After an OSHA inspection it was cited for one willful and two serious violations. Administrative Law Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld reached a split result…
Rocky Mountain Materials & Asphalt
Trench items affirmed by default for $4,325
Rocky Mountain Materials & Asphalt said during a pretrial conference that it intended to defend two excavation citations but did not appear at the scheduled E-Z Trial hearing. OSHA presented testimony and video showing a nearly ten-foot-deep excavation in Type C soil with spoil material stored…
D.W.K. Contractors, Inc.
Trench-depth item vacated but spoil-pile violation affirmed
D.W.K. dug a trench to install a rainwater drain and placed excavated soil directly at both edges. OSHA measured one wall at eight and one-half feet by measuring from the top of the spoil pile, but Judge Covette Rooney held that trench depth must be measured from original ground level and OSHA had…
Yenter Companies
Excavation spoil violation affirmed with penalty cut to $100
Yenter Companies relocated historic buildings and had employees constructing a wall near the bottom of an excavation about 15 feet high. OSHA observed rocks and excavated material within two feet of the edge, creating a falling-material hazard, and the company foreman was present. Judge Robert A…
Specialized Grading Enterprises, Inc.
Attorney fees awarded for unsupported trench items
Specialized Grading sought fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act after prevailing on four trench citation items. Those items arose from an employee's brief, unauthorized entry into an unprotected trench while working alone. Judge Stanley M. Schwartz held that the Secretary's litigation…
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…
The Fishel Company
Willful trench citations vacated for employee misconduct
A Fishel Company crew leader entered an unshored Type C trench more than five feet deep while a spoil pile and backhoe were close to the edge. As crew leader and competent person, his knowledge of the conditions was imputable to Fishel. Judge Ken S. Welsch nevertheless found unpreventable employee…
Rausch Construction Company
Both excavation citations affirmed for a $5,100 penalty
Rausch Construction Company was doing sewer line connection work at an excavation site in Chicago. An OSHA compliance officer driving by in May 1997 stopped and measured the trench, finding it about 6.5 feet deep in Type C soil with vertical walls that should have been sloped to 34 degrees, and a…
Yates Grading & Heavy Equipment, Inc.
Trench safety violations yield $4,050
Yates Grading & Heavy Equipment installed sewer pipe in an excavation at a Georgia subdivision. OSHA cited the company for an inadequate safety program, insufficient excavation training, lack of cave-in protection, and a spoil pile placed at the trench edge. The judge found that general reminders…
Wye Electric, Inc.
Four excavation citations affirmed after employee-misconduct defense fails, $4,350
Wye Electric installs underground power and communication systems. On a construction project in Jackson, Mississippi, its crew dug a roughly 7-foot pit in unstable Type C soil at a former gas station site to set a precast manhole. OSHA cited four excavation violations: no fall barriers at the pit…
Anderson Columbia Co., Inc.
General contractor liable for subcontractor trench hazards
Anderson Columbia Co., Inc. was the general contractor on a Florida storm-drain project where a subcontractor performed the excavation work. OSHA found spoil and heavy equipment too close to the trench edge, no cave-in protection in an 18-foot-deep trench, inadequate access for workers to leave the…
Stone-Circle Underground, Inc.
Trackhoe bucket violation affirmed, spoil-pile and cave-in items vacated
Stone-Circle Underground builds underground drainage fields in the Fort Lauderdale area. During an August 1997 inspection of a French drain job in a bank parking lot, OSHA issued three excavation citations: employees working under a trackhoe bucket, a spoil pile stacked at the trench edge, and a…
Sentrale Contracting Corp.
Repeat trench cave-in and spoil-pile violations affirmed
Sentrale Contracting was doing utility excavation at a conference center site in Armonk, New York. During a September 1996 inspection, an OSHA compliance officer found an employee working in a trench area that measured about 6.5 feet deep, with walls sloped far steeper than the 45 degrees allowed…
A.M.C.C. Corporation, Inc.
Willful excavation violation affirmed
A.M.C.C. employees worked in a detention-tank excavation with an inadequately sloped wall and a large spoil pile at the edge. Project representatives repeatedly warned the superintendent, issued a stop-work order, and contacted company management, but employees resumed work before adequate…
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…
C.E.M. Plumbing, Inc.
Trench violation affirmed as serious, not willful
C.E.M. employees worked for 15 to 20 minutes in a six-foot-deep trench with vertical walls and no protective system. The company president said shoring costs would have affected the bid, but he also believed clay soil and tree roots made the trench safe. The Commission found that OSHA did not prove…
Hemphill Construction Co., Inc.
Repeat trench spoil-pile violation affirmed
Hemphill installed a water line in a trench while a backhoe placed excavated soil at the trench edge. An OSHA regional investigator observed employees enter the trench with the spoil pile nearby and photographed the condition. The judge credited that testimony despite the investigator's lack of…
R & R Pipeline, Inc.
Trench spoil-pile and repeat cave-in items affirmed, inspection item vacated, penalties cut
R & R Pipeline is a Colorado utilities contractor. During a December 1994 inspection of a trenching job in Littleton, an OSHA compliance officer found a worker in a trench about 10 to 11 feet deep with no shoring in place, a spoil pile of excavated dirt piled less than two feet from the trench…
Columbia Gas of Ohio, Inc.
Four trench items vacated, cave-in protection violation affirmed for $3,750
Columbia Gas of Ohio, Inc. sent an employee to weld a leaking gas line in an L-shaped excavation dug by an independent contractor in Columbus, Ohio. The Secretary withdrew one citation item before the hearing. Administrative Law Judge Michael H. Schoenfeld vacated the competent-person item because…
P. A. Landers, Incorporated
Four excavation violations affirmed for $10,300, willful charge reduced to serious
P. A. Landers, Incorporated was constructing a manhole in an excavation about 8.5 feet deep beside a roadway carrying substantial traffic. Three employees worked without hard hats, bricks and concrete blocks were stored within two feet of the edge, and the access ladder extended only one foot above…
Gardner Fire Protection
Trench egress and cave-in items affirmed, daily-inspection item vacated
Gardner Fire Protection, a small pro se contractor, was installing sewer and fire-hydrant lines at a KOA campground in Seminole, Florida. A December 1992 OSHA inspection came the day after a broken water line flooded the excavation overnight and eroded one wall. OSHA cited four serious…
Blankenship & Lee Pipeline Co., Inc.
Trenching and hazard-communication violations affirmed
Blankenship & Lee Pipeline was reconstructing sewer lines for a pumping station in Pelham, Georgia. An employee worked in a vertical trench that measured between 5 feet 4 inches and 6 feet deep without a ladder, adequate cave-in protection, or a hard hat; loose spoil was stored only inches from the…
Metric Constructors, Inc.
General contractor held liable for subcontractor hazards
Metric Constructors was the general contractor for a 29-building federal prison project covering about 200 acres in Estill, South Carolina. OSHA cited scaffold, trench, hazard-communication, fire-extinguisher, compressed-gas-cylinder, and trench-access conditions created by subcontractors whose…
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…
Vogel Brothers
Four serious construction violations affirmed, two vacated
Vogel Brothers Building Company was the general contractor on a wastewater administration building project in Tampa, Florida. The judge affirmed serious violations involving an unavailable fire extinguisher at a diesel fueling area, unguarded floor edges, an unbarricaded crane swing radius, and…
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.