Constitutional Opinion No. 2026-0742
Case Information
- Content Scored
- OSHA Cites Texas Contractor and Staffing Company $300K After Worker Fatality in School Crawl Space (July 13, 2026)
- Source
- U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (dol.gov)
- Author
- U.S. Department of Labor / OSHA
- Publication Date
- 2026-07-13
- Content Type
- Government Press Release
- Opinion Issued
- 2026-07-19
- AFCS Version
- 1.0
Holding
This is the fifth worker-protection enforcement release in the record and the second involving a fatality, scored consistently with its siblings. A worker was trapped between the equipment and a concrete beam while operating a mini-excavator in a school crawl space; the Department cited the contractor with 1 willful violation plus 15 serious violations and $276,399 in penalties, and the staffing company with $23,170, for failing to follow confined-space entry procedures, conduct atmospheric testing, provide ventilation, train employees, or implement rescue procedures. The government enforcing the law to protect the American worker and holding the violators to account is the direct discharge of Law, Order, and the Safety of the Citizen (XVIII), the defense of the worker against a lethal preventable hazard is a citizen-first value (II), and the action rests on federal safety regulation a limited-government reading treats with caution but which enforces existing law rather than expanding it (IX, mixed). The Standard notes the willful violation — the contractor had been removing the rollover protective structures from mini-excavators, deliberately disabling safety equipment — which sharpens the accountability the enforcement vindicates; but consistent with its method, the Court scores the constitutional alignment of the enforcement, not the culpability of the underlying act or the severity of the tragedy, and so this scores with the other penalty-only citations (0738, 0739 at 69) rather than above them, and one point below the two that produced a concrete make-whole or systemic remedy (0737, 0740 at 70). Tier 1 nets to 64; the result is 69 — Mostly America First.
It is the judgment of this Court that Opinion No. 2026-0742 is hereby entered into the record, in accordance with the America First Constitutional Standard. The score stands. The reasoning is published. The record is public.