84% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $20,890 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
567
inspections on record
13,393
inspection hours
5.3
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.
712 citations across 13,393 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.
1
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2016-08-10.
On record since 2016.
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.
$131K
proposed penalties
$110K
current assessed
$110K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
708 assessments are final orders; 4 contested dockets.
Of $35K in penalties contested before the Commission, $14K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-06-29.
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.
1.21
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 *
2.51
2.51
0.000
2025
1.21
0.00
0.000
2024
2.33
1.17
0.000
2023
3.62
3.62
0.000
2022
1.20
0.00
0.000
2021
6.33
5.06
0.000
2020
1.30
1.30
0.000
2019
2.74
1.37
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: 2026-02-11
6%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
329
samples
149
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz989 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg131
Nuisance dust, respirable, <1% Qtz47
Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz29
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2023-12-11
4
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.
9citations taken to the federal commission · 1% of citations on record
Settled
9 · 100%
78%
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 9 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
59%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$35K 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 2010-07-26. 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.
On 9/21/16, evidence suggests that the victim, an experienced mechanic, may have been attempting to remove or loosen the top drive power head, spindle cap on the drill machine to replace damaged seals by attempting to use a pipe wrench and hydraulics of the drill machine, which are controlled by levers in cab next to platform. Victim struck in torso by pipe wrench. No eyewitness.
June 23, 2000VA · Metal/Non-Metalmaintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service techFatality · MACHINERY
MOVING A TIRE FROM TIRE STORAGE AREA TO BE LOADED ONTO BED OF TRUCK TO BE TRANSPORTED. TIRE FELL FROM CRANE THIS CAUSING DEATH OF OPERATOR.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Doug Dalton 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.