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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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. Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company, LLC
Secretary of Labor v. Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company, LLC (FMSHRC PENN 2021-0019): Runaway rail cars showed safeguard violations
Six fully loaded supply cars separated from a brakeman car at Consol Pennsylvania Coal Company's Bailey Mine and traveled about 1,600 feet down a slope before crashing at the bottom. Two safeguards issued after a similar 2011 accident required properly maintained safety chains and couplers, along…
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review, an ALJ decision becomes a final order under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j): it binds the parties in that case but is not binding precedent in other cases.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.