88% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $27,964 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
1,006
inspections on record
14,107
inspection hours
9.6
citations per 100 inspection hours
ⓘThis rate is recorded citations divided by MSHA inspection hours, per 100 hours. It reflects inspection effort, not mine size or production.
1,360 citations across 14,107 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.
Penalty disposition
ⓘDifferences between proposed and paid penalties reflect both settlements and conference reductions and amounts still owed. Outstanding is the balance currently owed.
$242K
proposed penalties
$216K
current assessed
$214K
paid to date
$2K
outstanding
1,348 assessments are final orders; 13 contested dockets.
Of $63K in penalties contested before the Commission, $37K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2008-01-18.
Source: MSHA assessed-violations and conference/litigation data, updated weekly.
Violation severity profile
ⓘShares are computed over citations that carry the MSHA gravity and negligence coding; a small share of records are uncoded.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Injury rate, 2025
ⓘThis rate is reportable injury cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers per year, computed as 200,000 times cases divided by MSHA operator-reported employee-hours. Cases are injuries MSHA graded degree 01 through 07; accident-only events that hurt no one are excluded, and so are contractor injuries, whose hours do not attach to a single mine. Rates begin in 2000, when quarterly employment reporting starts, and are withheld below 20,000 hours in a year.
0.00
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
No reportable injury cases in any year shown. Employee-hours were reported in each of those years, so these are true zeros rather than missing data. Citations, listed in the compliance record above, are inspector-found violations and are counted separately from worker injuries.
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.65 and the all-US-mining average was 1.97 cases per 100 workers.
Under 100,000 employee-hours were reported that year, so a single case moves the rate by two or more. Read the figure as approximate.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2026 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2025 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2024 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2023 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2022 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2021 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2020 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2019 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
* Fewer than 100,000 employee-hours that year; the rate is less stable.
Source: injury cases from MSHA accident and injury records; employee-hours from MSHA quarterly employment reports. Rate is cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers, operator employees only.
Health sampling
ⓘA sample is a point in time compliance measurement, not an individual exposure history. These figures describe MSHA sampling records and do not establish causation or personal dose.
Metal and nonmetal contaminants (personal samples)
ⓘMany samples are screening measurements of substances with no applicable exposure limit; they are counted as samples but excluded from every over-limit figure. Over-limit shares use only limit-tested samples.
Last sampled: 2026-05-19
8%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
828
samples
487
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz41241 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg287
Nuisance dust, respirable, <1% Qtz72
Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz37
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2002-07-11, 24 years ago
5
samples
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly. Metal/nonmetal contaminant figures come from MSHA's Personal Health Samples and Area Samples files (public record), updated weekly.
When citations were contested
ⓘContesting a citation before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission is a lawful right. These figures state the public outcomes of that process, from MSHA's Contested Violations file.
14citations taken to the federal commission · 1% of citations on record
Settled
12 · 86%
Stood as issued
2 · 14%
50%
S&S designation survived the contest
ⓘCounts a Significant & Substantial citation as surviving when a settlement or judge's decision kept the designation, or the contest was dismissed or defaulted so the citation stands as issued. Vacated and withdrawn citations, and settlements that removed the designation, count against.
of 8 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
43%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$59K proposed, $34K after decisions · industry: 39%
Source: MSHA Contested Violations file (public record), updated weekly. A dismissed or defaulted contest leaves the citation standing as issued; a vacated or withdrawn citation is removed from the violation record. Latest contest filed 2006-02-28. Vacated and withdrawn citations are removed from the file this view attributes through, so that outcome is slightly undercounted here.
Contested penalties
ⓘA reduction or dismissal at the Commission is a lawful outcome of contesting a proposed penalty. Figures are the proposed amount and the amount upheld in the docket's decision.
Largest penalties this controller contested before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, with the outcome on record.
ACCIDENT REMAINS UNDER INVESTIGATION. NO EYEWITNESS TO INCIDENT. EMPLOYEE'S DUTIES INCLUDED CLEANING SPILLS ON FLOOR UNDER SHAKER SCREEN. TASK CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED FROM A SAFE LOCATION AND IN C ONFORMANCE WITH SAFETY REQUIREMENTS. NEVERTHELESS, EMPLOYEE APPEARS TO HAVE ENTERED INTO OR ONTO EQUIPMENT FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON, AT WHICH TIME THE EE, IS CLOTHING OR A TOOL APPARENTLY CONT
November 15, 1994NC · Metal/Non-Metalbulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineerFatality · MACHINERY
THE EMPLOYEE WAS OPERATING A MOTOR GRADER IN REVERSE AND HIT THE BERM AND ROLLED PINNING THE VICTIM UNDERNEATH. THE VICTIM WAS NOT WEARING A SAFETY BELT.
September 22, 1993AR · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitmanFatality · MACHINERY
APAC-Central, Inc · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
EMPLOYEE WAS SENT TO SHARPS QUARRY TO SERVICE A CAT 621 SCRAPER FOR MCCLINTON-ANCHOR COMPANY.HE WAS OPERATING A 1989 FORD F700 WITH A HIAB 173 SPEED LOADER BOOM HOIST WHEN THE ACCIDENT HAPPENE D.HE WAS USING THE HOIST LIFTING A 29.5X35 (APPROXIMATELY 900 POUND) TIRE OFF THE REAR OF THE SCRAPER. WITNESSES AT THE SCENE REPORTED HE HAD JUST CHANGED THE RIGHT REAR TIRE AND HAD MOVED TH
May 5, 1983OK · Metal/Non-Metalwarehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operatorFatality · OTHER
ARKHOLA · Absorption of radiations, caustics, toxic and noxious substances
EMPLOYEE LOWERED HIMSELF BY ROPE INTO A LEACH TANK IN AN APPARENT ATTEMPT TO RETRIEVE AN UNKNOWN OBJECT, POSSIBLY A HAND HAT OR MEASURING STICK AND IS BELIEVED TO HAVE DIED FROM ASPHYXIATION.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Ashland Inc stands on silica, penalties, and injury rate
MSHA's standard limits respirable silica to 50 micrograms per cubic metre, but MSHA publishes
dust and quartz as separate files and never the silica figure itself. We derive it per sample,
score it against the limit, and set the operator's injury rate against a benchmark built from
the full MSHA operator record. With the 26-year penalty trail, contest posture, and fatality
history. Delivered as a PDF with the underlying data as CSV.