Mining Incidents

Daniel R Hawbaker: 748 MSHA citations controller

MSHA controller ID: M05340

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
248
Mines on record
21
Years on record
1987–2026
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
748
citations
138
significant & substantial
$121,532
proposed penalties
$117,600
paid to date
97% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $3,932 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
820
inspections on record
12,868
inspection hours
5.8
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.
748 citations across 12,868 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: 2016-10-19.
On record since 2015.
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.
$122K
proposed penalties
$118K
current assessed
$118K
paid to date
$196
outstanding
738 assessments are final orders; 18 contested dockets.
Of $17K in penalties contested before the Commission, $14K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-06-23.
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.
18.5%
significant & substantial
10.9%
high negligence or reckless
18.5%
reasonably likely or greater
47.9%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.1% none, 34.5% low, 54.5% moderate, 10.9% high, 0.0% reckless.
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
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.
Year total case rate days-away fatal
2026 4.71 3.14 0.000
2025 0.00 0.00 0.000
2024 1.83 0.92 0.000
2023 2.80 0.00 0.000
2022 0.94 0.94 0.000
2021 0.98 0.98 0.000
2020 3.09 0.00 0.000
2019 2.24 1.50 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.

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: 2026-06-24
10%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
399
samples
199
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz14419 over
  • Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz191 over
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg167
  • Nuisance dust, respirable, <1% Qtz18
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.
32 citations taken to the federal commission · 4% of citations on record
  • Settled 32 · 100%
68%
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 22 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
22%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$17K proposed, $14K 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 2020-08-13. 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
PENN 2010-293M Settlement Harner 2011 $7K → $7K
PENN 2006-20M Settlement Melick 2006 $4K → $3K
PENN 2008-143M Settlement Bulluck 2008 $2K → $309
PENN 2006-57M Settlement Melick 2006 $750 → $525
PENN 2020-0131 Settlement Rae 2020 $492 → $492
PENN 2019-0027 Settlement Bulluck 2019 $395 → $118
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2026
3
2024
2
2023
4
2022
1
2021
1
2020
4
2019
3
2018
4
2017
1
2016
3
2013
2
2012
3
2011
11
2010
5
2009
4
2008
3
2007
4
2006
5
2005
8
2004
5
2003
4
2002
4
2001
4
2000
6
1999
4
1998
10
1997
14
1996
14
1995
8
1994
9
1993
20
1992
25
1991
16
1990
9
1989
15
1988
7
1987
3

Operators under this controller

Mines on record

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Where Daniel R Hawbaker 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.

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