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.
No decisions match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Secretary of Labor v. GMS Mine Repair & Maintenance, Inc.
Secretary of Labor v. GMS Mine Repair & Maintenance, Inc. (FMSHRC VA 2023-0021): Mine safeguard enforced against contractor
GMS, an independent contractor at Buchanan Mine No. 1, admitted that one of its miners drove past a red block light and caused a head-on rail collision that seriously injured multiple miners. It argued that the mine-specific safeguard could not be enforced against it because MSHA had issued the…
Secretary of Labor v. GMS Mine Repair & Maintenance, Inc.
Secretary of Labor v. GMS Mine Repair & Maintenance, Inc. (FMSHRC VA 2023-0021): Contractor held to mine block-light safeguard
A GMS miner drove a manbus past a red block light and caused a head-on underground rail collision that seriously injured miners. GMS argued that the mine-specific safeguard could not be enforced against it because MSHA had issued written notice to the production operator, not separately to GMS, and…
Secretary of Labor v. GMS Mine Repair & Maintenance, Inc.
Secretary of Labor v. GMS Mine Repair & Maintenance, Inc. (FMSHRC PENN 2019-0126): Safeguard citation vacated
A hook clevis broke while GMS Mine Repair employees were using a mule to move a longwall shield at Bailey Mine, sending the hook 33 feet through the air and striking a miner. MSHA cited GMS under a 2006 safeguard that had been issued in writing to mine owner Consol after a different chain failure…
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review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.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.