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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Vicon Corporation
Fatal rebar fall citation amended and affirmed
Vicon employees tied reinforcing steel from a narrow plank roughly forty-five to fifty feet above a concrete floor without tied-off safety belts; one employee fell to his death. The Commission held that the reinforcing-steel standard was more specifically applicable than the general…
Dick Corporation
Rebar and fuel-safety violations affirmed
A rod-buster and foreman worked about 22 feet above a cement floor with protruding reinforcing steel, without safety belts or impalement protection. The Commission held that positioning and securing a rebar column against a wooden form was still placing and tying reinforcing steel under the cited…
J. K. Butler Builders, Inc.
Fall-protection citation reinstated for rebar work
J. K. Butler Builders was the general contractor for a building addition in San Antonio, Texas. After a foreman left to obtain scaffold railings, employees continued tying reinforcing steel on an unguarded beam about 26 feet above the ground without safety belts or equivalent protection. The…
Cox Brothers, Incorporated
Power-line and fall violations affirmed
A Cox Brothers foreman stood atop a 14-foot masonry wall without a safety belt or scaffold while inserting 13-foot reinforcing bars beneath an overhead power line. A bar contacted the line, and the foreman fell and died. The judge held that the company failed to inspect for the plainly visible…
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review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.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.