78% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $110,630 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
1,037
inspections on record
37,686
inspection hours
3.0
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.
1,145 citations across 37,686 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.
2
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2012-02-28.
On record since 2011.
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.
$493K
proposed penalties
$397K
current assessed
$382K
paid to date
$15K
outstanding
1,103 assessments are final orders; 49 contested dockets.
Of $253K in penalties contested before the Commission, $157K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-06-03.
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.
1.37
total case rate
0.69
days-away rate
0.687
fatality rate
Below average. The US coal mining average was 3.19 and the all-US-mining average was 1.97 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2026
2.61
1.31
0.000
2025
1.37
0.69
0.687
2024
0.65
0.65
0.000
2023
0.00
0.00
0.000
2022
1.20
0.00
0.000
2021
1.69
1.69
0.847
2020
0.60
0.00
0.000
2019
3.48
1.61
0.000
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.
Respirable coal dust
ⓘRespirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.
Last sampled: 2026-07-30
97%
within 1.5 mg/m3
3,929
samples
6.64
dust max (mg/m3)
3
over MSHA ECV
ⓘThe excessive concentration value (ECV) is MSHA's own per-sample enforcement threshold, which builds in measurement uncertainty; a sample over its ECV can trigger a citation. The count covers only samples MSHA assigned an ECV.
2,093 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 1,836 by the operator.
Noise
ⓘThe share counts noise samples whose measured dose exceeded the 90 dBA permissible exposure limit. It describes the sampled workplace, not what reached the miner's ear: hearing conservation programs and the hearing protection worn during the shift are recorded separately and are not reflected here.
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: 2026-06-03
33%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
6
samples
3
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz31 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg3
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.
117citations taken to the federal commission · 10% of citations on record
Settled
99 · 85%
Stood as issued
1 · 1%
Still open
17 · 15%
76%
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 84 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
38%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$253K proposed, $157K 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 2026-07-22. 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.
Employee was operating a DM45 Highwall Drill on a drill bench. Employee was traveling parallel to the edge and the outside edge gave way. The drill slid off the bench and landed 25 feet below.
October 19, 2021OH · Coalmaintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service techFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Employee was working on removing a pin from a leveling cylinder on the back of the rock truck. While the employee was performing this work, the haul truck bed fell on top of the employee.
December 3, 2011OH · Coalbulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineerFatality · MACHINERY
EE was shoving top soil away from the highwall. He backed up over and through an 8 foot berm that had been constructed at the edge of the highwall. The dozer went over the wall rolling over and throwing him out of the cab.
June 10, 2005OH · Coalroof bolter, rock bolter, pinner, mobile roof support operator (mrs)Fatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Tusky Coal, LLC · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
Shuttle car operator stopped to talk to the shuttle car operator in the crosscut behind him. Scoop operator in crosscut in front proceeded to cross in front of shuttle car. Shuttle car operator proceeded with the buggy towards the feeder running over the scoop operator in front of him.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Charles C Ungurean 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.