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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Babcock & Wilcox Co.
Silica settlement approved subject to service on the union
OSHA cited excess respirable silica exposure for two foundry shakeout employees. The settlement reclassified the violations as other than serious, eliminated the $480 penalty, extended abatement to July 1, 1979, and required engineering controls, monitoring, reports, and respiratory protection. A…
National Steel and Shipbuilding Company
Settlement remanded for proof of employee service
The parties agreed to affirm one shipyard citation item with no penalty, withdraw four items, and test a flanged-hood engineering control for lead and zinc chloride. Their agreement also stated that the affirmed violation could not support a future repeat citation. The Commission held that…
Snider Industries Inc.
Oral settlement remanded for a written agreement and employee service
Snider and the Secretary placed an oral settlement on the hearing record under which Snider withdrew its contest but did not admit violating the Act. The judge approved $3,600 in penalties and stated that the Act and cited standards had been violated. The Commission held that the judge could not…
Weldship Corporation
Settlement remanded for abatement and employee-notice defects
Weldship and the Secretary agreed to withdraw one citation item, reduce total penalties from $2,160 to $1,730, and have Weldship withdraw its contest. The agreement stated that Weldship did not admit liability but did not say whether or when the cited conditions had been abated. It also lacked…
Missouri Farmer's Association inc.
Non-admission clauses do not defeat settlements
Three employers submitted settlements that withdrew their notices of contest but stated that they did not admit the alleged violations. The judge rejected the agreements because of that exculpatory language. The Commission held that settlement agreements may contain non-admission clauses when they…
GAF Corp.
Comprehensive settlement approved despite exculpatory clause
GAF, the Secretary, and the union resolved numerous citation items through a comprehensive settlement. The agreement included a clause stating that the withdrawal, abatement, and penalty payment could not be treated as an admission or violation finding in OSHA matters involving GAF facilities other…
Carling Electric, Inc.
Settlement affirmed after employee-service issue became moot
Carling Electric contested one item of a non-serious citation carrying a proposed $40 penalty. The parties settled by extending the item's abatement date to November 1, 1974, and asking that the citation and penalty be affirmed. The record did not show that affected employees received the…
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.