“UNITEDSTATES OF AMERICAOCCUPATIONALSAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION \u00a0 SECRETARY OF LABOR, \u00a0 ???????????????????????????????????????????? Complainant, \u00a0 ???????????????????????? v. OSHRC DOCKET NO. 1589 BILL ECHOLS TRUCKING COMPANY, \u00a0 \u00a0SUPPLEMENTALORDERJanuary 26, 1973Before MORAN,Chairman; VAN NAMEE and BURCH, CommissionersBURCH,COMMISSIONER:OnNovember 20, 1972, respondent?s notice of contest in this case was dismissed bythe Commission for failure to comply with the Commission?s Rules of Procedureregarding certification of service (by posting or otherwise) of the notice ofcontest. (Commission rule 2200.7.)Thereafter,on December 1 respondent wrote to the Commission objecting to the dispositionof the case on the grounds that the company had, in fact, complied with theCommission?s service requirements for the notice of contest by posting samewithin 24 hours of being apprised of that requirement and that certification ofsuch posting was timely forwarded to the Commission. Having verified that factthrough review of the record in this case, we will, therefore, construerespondent?s December 1 letter as a motion for reinstatement and grant same,thereby setting aside our final order.Furtherreview of the record discloses that on August 23, 1972, respondent was issued acitation for an alleged serious violation of the Act for failure to providereverse signal alarms on vehicles with an obstructed view, together with anotification of proposed penalty of $600. A citation for an alleged other thanserious violation was also issued respondent for which no penalty was proposed.Byletter dated September 5 (received by the Secretary?s Area Director onSeptember 6) respondent stated:This is to informyou that the signaling device has been installed within the three day periodafter the citation. We request that the penalty be abated since correctiveaction has been taken well within the time allotted [sic].?TheSecretary deferred forwarding this letter to the Commission until October 16(some 43 days later), at which time he filed a motion to strike respondent?sletter as not constituting a notice of contest. No explanation for the delay inforwarding that letter has been offered by the Secretary.Impartinga reasonable interpretation to that letter, we believe it constituted a noticeof contest and it should have been construed as such by the Secretary.Commission rule 2200.32 provides:The Secretary shall,within 7 days of receipt of a notice of contest, transmit the original to theCommission, together with copies of all relevant documents.?TheCommission has in the past vacated the Secretary?s citations and notificationof proposed penalties for flagrant failure to comply with this rule, and webelieve the facts of record herein warrant the same disposition of this case.Secretary of Labor v. Lennox Industries, Inc., OSHRC Docket No. 1106, Secretaryof Labor v. Pleasant Valley Packing Company, Inc., OSHRC Docket No. 464. TheCommission will, therefore, deny the Secretary?s motion to strike and suasponte dispose of this matter in accordance with previous Commission precedent.?Accordingly, itis ORDERED that respondent?s motion for reinstatement is granted, the finalorder of the Commission is set aside, the notice of contest is reinstated, theSecretary?s motion to strike is denied and the citation and notification ofproposed penalties are vacated.\u00a0\u00a0————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–UNITEDSTATES OF AMERICAOCCUPATIONALSAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION \u00a0 SECRETARY OF LABOR, \u00a0 ???????????????????????????????????????????? Complainant, \u00a0 ???????????????????????? v. OSHRC DOCKET NO. 1589 BILL ECHOLS TRUCKING COMPANY, \u00a0 \u00a0ORDEROF DISMISSALNovember 20,1972By theCommission:Dismissalof notice of contest. Respondent was advised by a written communication datedOctober 24, 1972, of the Commission?s Rules of Procedure with respect toservice (posting or otherwise) of the notice of contest. Since respondent hasfailed to furnish the required certification of compliance with these Ruleswithin the time specified, the notice of contest is dismissed.\u00a0”