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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Kenvil United Corp., dba Kenvil Steel, Inc.
Steel-erection fall citation vacated
Kenvil Steel erected structural steel for a municipal-building project in Belle Mead, New Jersey. An OSHA compliance officer observed four employees working 15 to 30 feet above the ground and issued a repeat-serious fall-protection citation with a proposed $30,037 penalty. The judge found that one…
Warzala Construction
Citations vacated because roofer was not an employee
OSHA investigated after a worker fell nearly 30 feet through a deteriorated metal roof and died. It cited Warzala Construction for failing to provide fall protection and for failing to report an employee fatality to OSHA within eight hours. The worker had performed other hourly labor for Warzala…
MPS Products Corp.
Beam fall-protection item affirmed and lift-rail item vacated
OSHA inspected MPS Products during steel erection work in Massachusetts and cited two fall hazards. Two employees worked on steel beams 29 feet above the ground without tying off, while another employee briefly climbed a scissor lift's guardrails to reach the structure. The judge affirmed the…
R. K. Wallace Construction Inc. d/b/a Wallace Steel Erectors
Eye and fall-protection violations affirmed
Wallace Steel Erectors was a subcontractor on a Mississippi construction project. OSHA observed one employee cutting metal with an angle grinder without eye protection and five employees working about 15 feet above concrete without being tied off or otherwise protected from falls. The judge found…
Lake Building Products, Inc.
Repeat steel-erection fall violation affirmed
Two employees landed decking bundles about 28 feet above the ground without using fall protection. The judge held that landing and unhooking decking did not make them “connectors,” because connectors must be placing and connecting structural members or components. The connector exception and…
Ramco Erectors, Inc.
Repeat fall-protection item vacated for lack of employer knowledge
A Ramco Erectors employee fell about 28 feet from a building under construction in Spring, Texas and sustained a broken elbow and femur. The employee wore a harness and double lanyard and had proper attachment points available, but a gust lifted insulation and distracted him as he mistakenly…
Tricon Industries, Inc.
Steel-erection fall item vacated for lack of exposure
Tricon employees performed steel-deck layout and welding work on a 100-by-65-foot roof deck more than 15 feet above the ground. They were not tied off while working near the center, but the evidence showed that their assigned work kept them about 12 feet from an unguarded edge, with one employee…
Skanska Koch, Inc.
Bridge fall-protection violation affirmed
Skanska Koch employees performed steel-erection work on an elevated platform during renovation of New York City's Triborough Bridge. An ironworker fell through an uncovered saddle beam hole about 37 feet above the ground and died from his injuries. Neither he nor his partner was tied off, and…
Texas Erectors, Inc.
Steel-erection fall citation affirmed after connector exception rejected
OSHA observed two Texas Erectors employees working more than 16 feet above the ground with harnesses that were not tied off. The company argued that the employees were connectors who did not need fall protection until 30 feet, but the judge found they were not placing or connecting structural…
Salco Construction, Inc.
Attorney-fee application denied
Salco Construction prevailed on one scaffold fall-protection item after the judge found that the Secretary had not proved a platform moved more than 14 inches from a building's eaves. Salco then sought $29,735.82 in fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commission found that…
SALCO Construction, Inc.
Steel and platform violations result in $3,000 penalty
A SALCO employee bolted purlins while sitting on a steel beam about 18 feet above a concrete floor without fall protection. The judge found that he was not a connector because he was not working with hoisting equipment, so the 15-foot steel-erection fall rule applied. Two other employees worked…
Fastrack Erectors
Attorney-fee application denied
Fastrack Erectors sought $13,091.40 in attorney fees and expenses after a steel-erection fall-protection citation was vacated. OSHA's compliance officer had observed and videotaped two employees working without fall protection on a roof about 30 feet above the ground and believed they came within…
Zichelle Steel Erectors, Inc.
Willful steel-erection fall violation affirmed
OSHA observed Zichelle employees working near the edge of a fourth-floor steel structure about 44 feet above the ground without effective fall protection. On the first day, one connector was not wearing a harness; on the next day, after OSHA had raised the issue, two connectors wore harnesses but…
PICO Industries, Inc.
Fire-escape platform fall citation affirmed
Two PICO employees worked on an unguarded steel fire-escape platform during a Washington, D.C., theater renovation. Part of the platform extended beyond a lower roof, creating an unobstructed 27-foot fall to the street, and photographs showed one worker with a foot extending over the edge. The…
Sawyer Steel, Inc.
Steel-joist and fall-protection items partly affirmed
A Sawyer Steel ironworker died after unbridged joists rolled while he released a crane choker from a bundle of perimeter angle that had been landed on the joists. The judge affirmed that the company began steel erection without written concrete-strength notification, failed to attach joists…
Thomas Lindstrom & Co., Inc.
Fifth-floor fall-protection violations affirmed
Thomas Lindstrom & Co. employees performed steel erection on the fifth level of a Philadelphia building about 60 feet above the ground. An OSHA compliance officer recorded three ironworkers near an unprotected edge without being tied off. The judge credited the officer and the video over employee…
Structural Building Systems, Inc.
Steel-erection fall violation affirmed
Structural Building Systems supplied a steel-erection crew for a new Ohio middle school. A foreman and an employee moved a heavy steel tube about 20 feet above a concrete floor without tying off, and the employee fell and sustained serious injuries. The judge rejected the company's unpreventable…
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.