93% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $9,438 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2004
34
inspections on record
2,326
inspection hours
12.1
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.
282 citations across 2,326 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.
$134K
proposed penalties
$124K
current assessed
$124K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
275 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $47K in penalties contested before the Commission, $38K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2007-08-22.
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, 2007
ⓘ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.
4.48
total case rate
2.63
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 3.30 and the all-US-mining average was 3.77 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2007
4.48
2.63
0.000
2006
4.64
1.51
0.000
2005
7.12
1.87
0.000
2004
4.54
0.59
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.
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.
2citations taken to the federal commission · 1% of citations on record
Settled
2 · 100%
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 2 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
20%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$47K proposed, $38K 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 2005-09-29. 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.
CO. MIS-JUDGED AMOUNT OF MILKY LIME IN TANK. 12/8 THEY REMOVED TANK DOOR & HARD SCALE FORMED OVER DOOR. CO. CONTACTED ONYX TO CUT SCALE AT BASE TO REMOVE WHAT CO. SAID WAS 2-3 FT OF LIQUID. ONYX USED HIGH PRESSURE WATER TO CUT INTO SCALE. ONCE TECH STARTED, SCALE GAVE WAY & TECH WAS TRAPPED UNDER LIQUIDE THAT CAME OUT. MORE LIQUID WAS IN TANK THAN THOUGHT. CO DID NOT SOUND TANK.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where China Minmetals; BPU Associates 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.