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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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…
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…
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…
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…
Degen Excavating, Inc.
Trenching violations affirmed with reduced penalties
An OSHA compliance officer saw a Degen Excavating employee working in an 8.6-foot-deep trench without a ladder, daily competent-person inspection, or cave-in protection. Two supervisors knew and agreed that the employee would enter the trench without the available trench box because they expected…
JPC Group, Inc.
Excavation violations affirmed after an adjoining building collapsed
JPC Group was hired to perform foundation underpinning beside two buildings at a Philadelphia construction site. Test digs revealed a deteriorated foundation wall, but JPC later excavated along it without shoring or another support system, and the rear of the building collapsed. Workers had…
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…
Bilodeau Homes
Default order set aside after E-Z Trial pleading confusion
Bilodeau Homes timely contested three serious construction citations but did not file an answer after its pro se case was removed from E-Z Trial. The judge granted the Secretary's dismissal motion, affirmed all three items by default, and assessed $3,000. The Commission found no claim of prejudice…
Reed Engineering Group, Inc.
Late general-duty amendment required continuance and remand
A Reed Engineering employee died in an excavation while the company performed environmental testing. The Secretary initially cited three construction standards, then moved four days before the hearing to add a general-duty-clause allegation in the alternative. The Commission held that allowing the…
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…
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…
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…
RMS Construction, Inc.
Trench and worksite violations affirmed
RMS Construction was a subcontractor building a block wall in a deep trench on a New Jersey road and bridge project. OSHA found RMS employees working outside the trench box in Type C soil, with no safe egress, no competent-person inspections, uncapped rebar, inadequate hazard training and worksite…
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…
Diaz Corporation
Settlement approved with $7,950 in penalties
OSHA cited Diaz Corporation for eight alleged serious violations after inspecting a worksite in Waterville, Maine. During the hearing, the parties reached a settlement that the judge approved. The agreement withdrew one item, reclassified two items as other-than-serious, combined two…
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…
George B. Hardee Construction Company, Inc.
Trenching violations resulted in $36,800 in penalties
George B. Hardee Construction installed a storm sewer pipeline in an excavation in Mobile, Alabama. OSHA found two employees in Type C soil at depths exceeding five feet without cave-in protection, an adequate competent-person inspection, excavation-hazard training, or a safe means of exit. The…
D’Allessandro Corporation
Excavation violations affirmed with $5,000 in penalties
D’Allessandro Corporation installed drain piping in a Type C soil excavation in Boston. OSHA found an employee working in a trench more than six feet deep without cave-in protection outside the trench box. The judge also found that no qualified competent person was present to inspect the changed…
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…
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…
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company
Trench inspection and cave-in protection violations affirmed
Southwestern Bell Telephone had two technicians repairing telephone lines in an unshored trench about six feet deep with nearly vertical sides in Alton, Texas, in 1998. An OSHA compliance officer driving by stopped and inspected. The soil was Type B, which requires sloping or another protective…
Cranberry Realty/Parsippany Office Plaza
Trench items affirmed with penalties reduced to $2,000
Cranberry Realty's owner acted as his own general contractor and hired workers to dig a sewer-connection trench on company property. OSHA found the trench was more than five feet deep in soil requiring cave-in protection, lacked that protection, and had not been inspected by a competent person. The…
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…
Black Construction Corporation
Unprotected manhole trench affirmed for $500
Black Construction excavated a trench near Guam International Airport to replace a manhole and redirect a sewage pipe. An employee worked in a section measured at six and one-half feet deep without sloping, shoring, or another cave-in protective system. Judge Nancy J. Spies rejected the Secretary's…
Lanzo Construction Co., Inc.
Ladder and cave-in items affirmed, repeat classification rejected
Lanzo employees worked in an unprotected 12-foot excavation and used a ladder perched on unstable, sloping soil. The ladder was not missing a rung as first alleged, but its extension-ladder design left nonuniform spacing that created a misstep hazard. Judge Ken S. Welsch affirmed the two ladder…
Norm's Utility Contractors, and its successors
Repeat trench-protection and access violations affirmed
Norm's Utility Contractors used trench boxes in a wet excavation about ten feet deep, but several feet of nearly vertical, sloughing soil remained above the boxes. Employees worked from the top of a box below the trench edge and lacked a safe ladder or ramp after earlier ramp access was removed…
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…
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…
Geo. Gradel Company
Training violation affirmed after a backhoe punctured a gas line
Geo. Gradel Company was an excavation contractor replacing a sewer line during a road-widening project in Ohio. A backhoe operator punctured an eight-inch high-pressure gas line where the sewer crossed it. The judge affirmed a serious training violation because Gradel had only told workers to be…
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…
Malouf Construction Corporation
Excavation inspection citation vacated
Malouf Construction Corporation was the general contractor for a large office complex in Clinton, Mississippi. A plumbing subcontractor dug a six-foot excavation and allowed employees to enter without an inspection by a competent person. The judge found that the inspection requirement was violated…
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…
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…
Citadel Corporation
Excavation and training citations vacated
Citadel Corporation was the general contractor for construction of two apartment buildings on the Georgia Tech campus. OSHA alleged that Citadel failed to train employees about excavation hazards, lacked a competent person to inspect excavations, and willfully failed to protect employees from…
Louis Sinisgalli, d/b/a Metro Wrecking of Rochester, Inc., et al.
Willful cave-in violation affirmed
Workers were sent to remove pumps from a deep, water-filled excavation at a trailer park owned through one of Louis Sinisgalli's corporations. After the workers reported crumbling walls and unsafe conditions, Sinisgalli directed them to return and complete the work before he would pay them. A…
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…
ICG Electric, Inc.
Trench inspection and cave-in protection violations affirmed, one serious and one repeat, $12,000
ICG Electric installs underground lines and was working two excavations at an intersection in Aurora, Colorado. Acting on a complaint from the Aurora Fire Department, an OSHA compliance officer inspected the site and found employees in unshored trenches roughly five and a half to six feet deep, in…
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…
Humbert Sanitary Service, Inc.
Three trenching items affirmed serious, ladder item vacated, $2,700
Humbert Sanitary Service is a small Ohio construction contractor that installs and cleans septic tanks and lays sewer pipe. While Humbert was tapping a main sewer line on Cleveland Avenue in North Canton, an OSHA compliance officer responded to a complaint and found a laborer working in a…
DiGioia Brothers Excavating, Inc.
Trench protection and inspection violations affirmed
DiGioia Brothers Excavating installed residential water and sewer lines in an excavation more than eight feet deep. The Commission found that most contemporaneous soil tests showed compressive strength below the threshold for Type A soil, while tests performed months later at nearby locations did…
E.L. Davis Contracting Co.
Excavation violations affirmed with $70,500 in penalties
E.L. Davis Contracting was repairing a sewer line when part of a 20- to 22-foot excavation containing two employees caved in. The Commission affirmed serious violations involving the company's safety program, excavation and confined-space training, and the absence of inspections by a competent…
Roberts Pipeline Construction, Inc.
$30,800 in penalties affirmed for eight violations
Roberts Pipeline challenged only the penalties assessed for eight serious violations involving training, head protection, compressed-gas storage, electrical grounding, trench access and inspection, and cave-in protection. The Commission held that the judge had considered the statutory factors of…
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…
Fort Defiance Construction & Supply, Inc.
All three trenching items vacated
Fort Defiance Construction & Supply was installing utilities in a trench at a Dayton, Ohio, road project. OSHA alleged that employees lacked a safe exit, that the onsite foreman was not a competent person, and that the trench lacked adequate cave-in protection. The judge found that employees could…
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…
Supermason Enterprises
Willful unprotected-trench violation affirmed
Supermason Enterprises installed a sanitary sewer in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, with two workers in an excavation eight to ten feet deep. The ALJ rejected the company's claim that the workers belonged to a subcontractor because the supposed agreement was unsigned, the alleged subcontractor had never…
Ray Sumlin Construction Co., Inc.
Unprotected excavation results in $4,000 penalty
OSHA observed a Ray Sumlin Construction employee working in a six-foot-deep excavation with vertical walls and no cave-in protection at a county jail project in Alabama. The superintendent initially requested a warrant but later invited the compliance officer to examine the excavation and helped…
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…
Oklahoma Natural Gas
Excavation items reduced to nonserious violations
Oklahoma Natural Gas employees worked in a trench while installing a gas line in Oklahoma City. The judge found that one wall did not meet the protective-system requirements for the Type C soil and that the foreman was not a competent person under the revised excavation rules because he had not yet…
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…
Piping of Ohio, Inc.
Trenching violations affirmed, willful item reclassified as repeated
Piping of Ohio was replacing a water line in two excavations at an Ohio steel plant. The judge found that employees lacked adequate trench-safety instruction, did not have a safe means of exit, and were not protected by inspections from a qualified competent person. The judge also found that the…
Flint Engineering & Construction Co.
Controlling contractor liable for trench hazards
Flint Engineering opened an approximately 11-foot-deep pipeline trench with vertical, unprotected walls and a large spoil bank at its edge. The administrative law judge found that the workers seen in the trench were not Flint employees, but that Flint created and controlled the hazardous…
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.