Mining Incidents

Granite Construction Inc: 1 recorded fatality controller

MSHA controller ID: M00079

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Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at any mine Granite Construction Inc controls.

Fatalities
1
Total incidents
394
Mines on record
66
Years on record
1983–2026
Public-issuer link

GRANITE CONSTRUCTION INC (GVA) discloses mines under this controller in its SEC Dodd-Frank Section 1503 (EX-95) mine-safety filings.

Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
2,801
citations
542
significant & substantial
$536,381
proposed penalties
$460,955
paid to date
86% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $75,426 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
1,925
inspections on record
28,839
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.
2,801 citations across 28,839 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.
4
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2025-03-03.
On record since 2017.
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.
$536K
proposed penalties
$466K
current assessed
$461K
paid to date
$5K
outstanding
2,739 assessments are final orders; 58 contested dockets.
Of $151K in penalties contested before the Commission, $81K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-06-24.
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.
19.5%
significant & substantial
5.2%
high negligence or reckless
19.7%
reasonably likely or greater
47.4%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.2% none, 15.9% low, 78.7% moderate, 5.2% 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.
0.47
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 1.38 0.35 0.000
2025 0.47 0.00 0.000
2024 0.81 0.27 0.000
2023 0.67 0.00 0.000
2022 0.00 0.00 0.000
2021 0.76 0.38 0.000
2020 0.00 0.00 0.000
2019 0.38 0.00 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: 2026-08-13
14%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
521
samples
273
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz26635 over
  • Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz53 over
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg202
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz21

Area samples (mill and shop air)

Last sampled: 2023-11-02
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.
74 citations taken to the federal commission · 3% of citations on record
  • Settled 57 · 77%
  • Stood as issued 15 · 20%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 2 · 3%
64%
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 47 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
47%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$144K proposed, $76K 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 2026-01-07. 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.
Docket Decision Judge Year Proposed / upheld
WEST 2008-502M Settlement Bulluck 2011 $60K → $21K
WEST 2005-91M Settlement Lesnick 2005 $42K → $20K
WEST 2010-1566M Dismissal Bulluck 2011 $19K → $19K
WEST 2011-1141M Settlement Lesnick 2012 $2K → $2K
WEST 2011-223M Settlement Andrews 2011 $2K → $1K
WEST20020090M Settlement Manning 2002 $2K → $1K
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2026
5
2025
2
2024
4
2023
2
2021
2
2019
2
2018
2
2017
6
2016
2
2015
2
2014
5
2013
7
2012
1
2011
3
2010
4
2009
7
2008
12
2007
11 (1f)
2006
22
2005
13
2004
7
2003
12
2002
26
2001
18
2000
18
1999
10
1998
11
1997
4
1996
15
1995
13
1994
11
1993
17
1992
11
1991
15
1990
22
1989
13
1988
24
1987
9
1986
8
1985
7
1984
7
1983
2

Operators under this controller

Mines on record

Preliminary fatality notice

Official record pending

MSHA has published a preliminary fatality notice at a mine under this company's control. The investigated official record typically follows one to six months after the accident; this page will carry it once MSHA releases it.

Granite Construction Inc
Perry · Surface · Sand Common
Foreman Maintenance · age 51

On August 13, 2026, a miner died after falling from a hopper onto an overland belt conveyor and becoming engulfed by material from the hopper.

MSHA preliminary report →

Fatalities under this controller

1 recorded
June 12, 2007 CA · Metal/Non-Metal draftsman, surveyor/transit work supervisor Fatality · FALLING/SLIDING/ROLLING MATERIALS
Granite Construction Co · Struck by falling object

Employee entered a trench and was struck by a large section of clay when a vertical wall of the trench collapsed.

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

Where Granite Construction Inc 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.

The federal record itself stays free on this site. What costs money, and why.

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