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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Earth Developers, Inc.
Citations vacated for untimely service
OSHA inspected an Earth Developers worksite and proposed three serious violations with $5,976 in penalties. OSHA generated a citation within six months, but postal tracking showed no evidence that it was ever deposited in the mail. After discovering the problem more than two months later, OSHA…
Urban Erectors, LLC
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA mailed Urban Erectors a two-item serious citation with $9,240 in proposed penalties. The company’s secretary signed for the citation, but the company said she did not open the envelope and misplaced or discarded it. Urban Erectors filed its notice of contest about four months after the…
C & C Roofing
Late contest dismissed and $2,000 citation affirmed
OSHA issued C & C Roofing one serious citation with a proposed $2,000 penalty after inspecting a Colorado Springs worksite. The company filed its notice of contest 48 days late. It did not respond to the Secretary's dismissal motion or the judge's order to show cause, and it offered no basis for…
Miller Construction Co.
Four-month-late contest dismissed
OSHA issued Miller Construction two serious citations with a combined proposed penalty of $4,000. Delivery records showed that the company received the citations, which clearly stated the 15-working-day contest deadline. The company waited after receiving both the citations and a later collection…
Bellco Glass, Inc.
Late contests dismissed in consolidated cases
OSHA issued separate health and safety citations to Bellco Glass after inspecting its New Jersey facility. The company did not submit a written notice of contest within 15 working days and filed its request for a hearing eleven weeks after the deadline. Despite several extensions and opportunities…
Burrows Paper Corporation
Late notice of contest dismissed
Burrows Paper received an OSHA citation but did not file a notice of contest within the required fifteen working days. It later argued that confusing or misleading conduct by OSHA officials justified accepting the late filing. The Commission found that the only specified conduct occurred two weeks…
Belrose Fire Supression, Inc.
Late notice of contest dismissed
OSHA mailed Belrose Fire Suppression a citation that the company received on November 25, 2002. Belrose did not file its notice of contest by the December 17 deadline and instead filed on January 28, 2003. The judge found that OSHA used proper certified-mail procedures and that the citation itself…
Dore & Associates Contracting, Inc.
Late notice of contest remanded for evidence on excusable neglect
Dore & Associates filed its notice contesting OSHA citations after the statutory 15-working-day deadline. The judge dismissed the late contest and affirmed $8,400 in proposed penalties because Dore had not established grounds for relief from the final order. In its review petition, the company said…
Baker Support Services, Inc.
Untimely contest leaves lead citation final
Baker Support Services operated and maintained equipment at a Navy radio transmitter facility in Guam. OSHA issued a serious citation alleging that Baker had not made the initial determination required by the lead standard, with a proposed penalty of $2,000. Baker filed its notice of contest after…
Calhar Construction Inc.
Late contest remains dismissed
CalHar Construction employed field construction workers and a four-person administrative staff in Texas. After a fatal accident, OSHA issued two serious citation items with proposed penalties totaling $3,375. An office employee called OSHA because she found the citation confusing, left a message…
Montgomery Security Doors & Ornamental Iron, Inc.
Late contest relief denied
Montgomery Security Doors & Ornamental Iron was a small ornamental-iron manufacturer and installer in Alabama. OSHA issued five serious citation items with proposed penalties totaling $5,150, but the company mailed its notice of contest nine days after the deadline. The company said its vice…
American Tower, LLC
Oral disagreement did not preserve contest rights
American Tower had erected a radio tower for the Township of Verona, New Jersey. After an OSHA inspection prompted by an injury complaint, the company received a citation alleging serious violations. Its owner orally disagreed with the citation and later said he believed he had contested it, but no…
J. F. Shea Company, Inc.
Internal mail delay did not excuse late contest
OSHA mailed two citations to J. F. Shea Company after inspecting a Colorado worksite. The company received them on January 25, 1989, but an office assistant did not receive and date-stamp them until February 3. Shea relied on the later date and filed its notice of contest eight days after the…
Elmer Construction Corporation
Late contest accepted and case remanded for a merits hearing
OSHA cited Elmer Construction Corporation for two serious violations and proposed a $320 penalty. Elmer paid the penalty, but its newly retained attorney called OSHA and said the company wanted to contest the violations. The Commission found that the conversation was confusing and may have led the…
Capital City Excavating Co., Inc.
Late contest leaves trench citations final
OSHA sent Capital City trench citations and a proposed $550 penalty by certified mail. A clerical employee accepted them at the company's office on September 13, 1978, but the company did not mail its contest until October 6 or 7. The Commission held that delivery to an employee who accepts…
Joseph Weinstein Electric Corp.
Service ruling set aside and remanded
OSHA mailed citations, penalty notices, and a failure-to-abate notice by certified mail to Joseph Weinstein Electric's New York City jobsite rather than its corporate office. The judge vacated the documents because the employees who received them were not authorized to accept formal service for the…
Eastern Knitting Mills, Inc.
Employer's abatement letter treated as a contest
OSHA cited Eastern Knitting Mills for 12 nonserious violations and proposed $400 in penalties. Within the statutory contest period, the company wrote that it had corrected or was correcting all items except item 10 and asked for help because it did not know how to meet that item's abatement…
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.