Mining Incidents
Search Operators Mines Alerts Research Controllers Fatalgrams About
English Español
← All controllers

Barbara Spurgeon: 232 MSHA citations controller

MSHA controller ID: 0041145

Watch this controller

Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at any mine Barbara Spurgeon controls.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
12
Mines on record
2
Years on record
2003–2011
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2003
232
citations
83
significant & substantial
$171,147
proposed penalties
$100,788
paid to date
59% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $70,359 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2002
59
inspections on record
1,186
inspection hours
19.6
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.
232 citations across 1,186 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.
Imminent-danger orders
ⓘ A Section 107(a) order removes miners from an area when an inspector finds an imminent danger. Each order is lifted once the condition is corrected, so this counts orders issued, not orders now in effect.
4
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2011-07-27.
On record since 2010.
Source: MSHA imminent-danger order records, 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.
$171K
proposed penalties
$101K
current assessed
$101K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
223 assessments are final orders; 13 contested dockets.
Of $137K in penalties contested before the Commission, $66K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2012-10-23.
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.
37.2%
significant & substantial
10.3%
high negligence or reckless
37.7%
reasonably likely or greater
52.5%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 12.1% low, 77.6% moderate, 10.3% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
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: 2010-03-04, 16 years ago
11
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz8
  • Unlisted Particulate, total, <1% Qtz3
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.
66 citations taken to the federal commission · 28% of citations on record
  • Settled 55 · 83%
  • Stood as issued 11 · 17%
100%
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 33 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
51%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$137K proposed, $66K 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 2013-02-14. 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.
Docket Decision Judge Year Proposed / upheld
WEST 2011-541M Settlement Andrews 2012 $37K → $16K
WEST 2011-1006M Settlement Andrews 2012 $23K → $10K
WEST 2011-1414M Settlement Miller 2012 $18K → $8K
WEST 2011-1233M Settlement Miller 2012 $16K → $7K
WEST 2012-1059M Settlement Lesnick 2013 $14K → $6K
WEST 2011-617M Settlement Manning 2012 $14K → $6K
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2011
1
2009
2
2008
2
2006
3
2005
1
2004
2
2003
1

Operators under this controller

Mines on record

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

Where Barbara Spurgeon 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.

The federal record itself stays free on this site. What costs money, and why.

See a sample report
Need a different cut of the data? Ask us