78% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $5,018,826 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
10,626
inspections on record
259,918
inspection hours
11.1
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.
28,890 citations across 259,918 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.
46
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2026-06-17.
On record since 2010.
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.
$23.2M
proposed penalties
$19.1M
current assessed
$18.2M
paid to date
$914K
outstanding
28,050 assessments are final orders; 872 contested dockets.
Of $10.7M in penalties contested before the Commission, $6.6M was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-07-08.
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.
2.28
total case rate
0.50
days-away rate
0.029
fatality rate
Above 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
2.58
1.14
0.000
2025
2.28
0.50
0.029
2024
2.16
0.53
0.000
2023
1.58
0.64
0.000
2022
1.94
0.48
0.000
2021
1.77
0.33
0.000
2020
1.40
0.27
0.021
2019
1.68
0.31
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: 2026-08-06
11%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
5,768
samples
3,405
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz669155 over
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1,536107 over
Diesel particulate (total carbon)412107 over
Calcium oxide11611 over
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2026-07-30
193
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.
3,777citations taken to the federal commission · 13% of citations on record
Settled
3,417 · 90%
Stood as issued
280 · 7%
Vacated or withdrawn
9 · 0%
Still open
71 · 2%
67%
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 1,980 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
39%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$10.7M proposed, $6.5M 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 2026-08-11. 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.
The EE was loading lifters when a piece of rock (approx. 4'x 5' x 2') fell from the ceiling and struck the EE. The EE was not pinned under the rock. This resulted in a fatal accident.
January 23, 2020CA · Metal/Non-Metalhaul/off road/coal/ore/pit/quarry/rock/rubber tire truck driver, transportation truck driverFatality · SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
Contractor truck driver was found lying on the ground on the drivers side of cement haul truck at the east truck access platform outbound lane by Golden Star trucking trainer and trainee at ~ 1:30-1:45 pm.
December 30, 2017CA · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitmanFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
A fatal accident occurred on December 30, 2017. The employee was driving a Dodge pick-up in a stockpile area and pulled in behind a Caterpillar 992G loader. As the loader reversed, it struck the pick-up which then caught fire. The resulting injuries were fatal.
The employee was performing work activities on a sand dredge to free a clam shell bucket from material in a lake when the dredge capsized.
October 10, 2014PA · Metal/Non-Metalhaul/off road/coal/ore/pit/quarry/rock/rubber tire truck driver, transportation truck driverFatality · SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
Fall from Platform at Lehigh Cement Facility. On 10/10/14 a truck driver/loader employed by FT Silfies Inc. was in the process of pre-loading a trailer on miner property. At Aprox. 11:18AM, the driver was standing in side the safety loading rack on top of a trailer when he fell between the lower railing of the rack and the trailer, aprox ten (10) feet to the ground.
The employee was present while two contract workers were performing a repair on a centrifugal water pump. During the repair, an explosion occurred. Heat may have been applied during the repair. The employee suffered fatal injuries.
May 28, 2012NY · Metal/Non-Metalwarehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operatorFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Employee was walking near Gypsum Storage Building to return to the Finish Mill Building. Employee may have been struck by a piece of mobile equipment that was working in the area.
Employee was walking near a line of Gypsum Bulk Delivery trucks (18 wheel T/T) and apparently stopped to lean on the rear of trailer while making phone call. Trailer moved forward, EE fell under rear trailer wheels.
June 17, 2005WA · Metal/Non-Metalmaintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service techFatality · MACHINERY
Cadman (Rock) Inc · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
Employee was standing on a temporary platform just below a jaw crusher attempting to remove two toggle seat wedges from the pitman. Shortly after removing the two bolts holding the wedges in place, the pitman unexpectedly moved fatally crushing the employee.
July 1, 1998MD · Metal/Non-Metalmaintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service techFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
EMPLOYEE OPERATING MOBILE SWEEPER WAS CRUSHED TO DEATH WHEN HE ENTERED A RAILROAD LOADING TUNNEL THAT WAS ACTIVE. A STRING OF FIVE LOADED RAIL CARS WAS PUSHED BY A LOCOMOTIVE INTO THE AREA WHE RE HIS SWEEPER WAS. THE SWEEPER WAS PUSHED BACKWARDS BY THE END RAIL CAR UNTIL IT STRUCK A BUILDING COLUMN AND THE CAB CRUSHED. EMPLOYEE DIED IN THE CAB.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Heidelberg Materials AG 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.