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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L.E. Myers Company
Four willful power-line violations affirmed for $30,000
L.E. Myers Company was replacing utility poles and lines near Napoleon, Ohio, while 12,470-volt lines remained energized. An apprentice was fatally electrocuted when a boom or its conductive steel cable contacted or approached an energized line while he handled the cable from the ground. The…
Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.
Grounding or barricading violation affirmed
A Pennsylvania Power & Light crew was installing a utility pole near a 7.2-kilovolt line. The crew leader moved a digger truck's boom into the energized line while the truck was neither grounded nor barricaded, and he died in the resulting electrical incident. PP&L argued that its two-foot…
Floyd S. Pike Electrical Contractor, Inc.
Citation vacated for unpreventable foreman misconduct
Pike was converting an electrical distribution line when a hoist line contacted an energized line and electrocuted a foreman who was leaning against an ungrounded truck. The cited standard required lifting equipment near energized lines to be grounded or treated as energized and barricaded. After a…
Wisconsin Electric Power Company
Ungrounded line truck violation affirmed
A Wisconsin Electric crew used a boom-equipped line truck to transfer energized overhead wires to a new utility pole. The truck and attached trailer were neither grounded nor barricaded, and the truck became energized when an exposed part of the boom contacted a primary wire. A lineman on the…
United Telephone Company of the Carolinas
Crane-clearance citation affirmed
A United Telephone construction crew was moving telephone poles and lines out of the path of Interstate 95 in South Carolina. A truck-mounted boom came into contact with, or close enough to arc to, an energized 8-kilovolt power line, and two linemen touching the truck were electrocuted. OSHA cited…
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.