86% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $91,686 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
653
inspections on record
18,072
inspection hours
9.7
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.
1,746 citations across 18,072 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.
$661K
proposed penalties
$569K
current assessed
$569K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
1,740 assessments are final orders; 39 contested dockets.
Of $339K in penalties contested before the Commission, $247K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2018-11-21.
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, 2018
ⓘ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.
1.54
total case rate
0.92
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.95 and the all-US-mining average was 2.33 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2018
1.54
0.92
0.000
2017
2.47
0.76
0.000
2016
2.45
0.55
0.000
2015
2.75
0.69
0.000
2014
2.32
0.58
0.000
2013
2.07
0.26
0.000
2012
2.66
0.30
0.000
2011
4.47
0.60
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: 2018-05-22, 8 years ago
19%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
566
samples
288
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz19433 over
Diesel particulate (total carbon)4914 over
Total Carbon,calculated from elemental carbon.196 over
Total Carbon,TC196 over
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2007-09-18, 18 years ago
3
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.
297citations taken to the federal commission · 17% of citations on record
Settled
297 · 100%
79%
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 103 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
22%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$298K proposed, $232K 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 2018-08-07. 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.
October 12, 2005OH · Metal/Non-Metalwarehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operatorFatality · SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
The worker fell from the bag plant roof where he had been cleaning to the truck dock approximately 17 feet below. The specific explanations for being near the edge or for falling are unknown. Weather conditions and working surface believed to be non-contributory. There were no direct eyewitnesses to the fall. The fall resulted in the death of the worker. Investigation ongoing.
August 30, 2000WI · Metal/Non-Metaldriller operatorFatality · MACHINERY
THE INDIVIDUAL WAS DRILLING BLASTHOLES. HE TIED DOWN THE HYDRAULIC LEVER SO IT CONTINUED TO OPRATE (ROTATE) BY-BY PASSING A SAFETY DEVICE. HE THEN WENT IN FRONT OF THE DRILL AND STEPPED OVER THE DRILL AUGER. HE BACAME ENTANGLED WITH SOME PART OF HIS CLOTHING HE GOT PULLED INTO THE DRILL AND BECAME SO ENTANGLED THAT HE COULD NOT BREATH. THIS ACCIDENT IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Fairmount Santrol 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.