86% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $448,360 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
1,526
inspections on record
53,568
inspection hours
12.1
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.
6,476 citations across 53,568 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.
7
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2015-04-02.
On record since 2011.
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.
$3.2M
proposed penalties
$2.8M
current assessed
$2.8M
paid to date
$0
outstanding
6,430 assessments are final orders; 138 contested dockets.
Of $1.5M in penalties contested before the Commission, $1.0M was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2017-01-18.
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, 2015
ⓘ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.
1.41
total case rate
0.15
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 2.26 and the all-US-mining average was 2.72 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2015
1.41
0.15
0.000
2014
0.89
0.08
0.000
2013
1.37
0.24
0.000
2012
1.57
0.12
0.040
2011
1.72
0.16
0.000
2010
1.83
0.29
0.000
2009
2.19
0.21
0.000
2008
1.38
0.13
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: 2015-07-08, 11 years ago
11%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
1,620
samples
1,278
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz24490 over
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz41747 over
Nuisance dust, respirable, <1% Qtz1553 over
Calcium oxide1282 over
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2014-05-15, 12 years ago
26
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.
720citations taken to the federal commission · 11% of citations on record
Settled
627 · 87%
Stood as issued
92 · 13%
Vacated or withdrawn
1 · 0%
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 276 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
30%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$1.5M proposed, $1.0M 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 2015-11-23. 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.
Employee fell approximately 100 feet while dismantling a suspended Safway Systems scaffold. The accident is still under investigation.
March 23, 2005SC · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitmanFatality · MACHINERY
Amrize Cement Inc. · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
The employee was moving manlift to the ground and became trapped between the I beam and the control panel. Condition of the controls in the basket is suspect.
January 25, 2005MS · Metal/Non-Metalwarehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operatorFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
EE WAS WORKING WITH A CREW UNDERNEATH THE TABLE OF THE RAW MILL. HE LEFT THE WORK AREA AND HAD TRAVELED APPROXIMATELY 100 FEET DOWN AN ADJACENT DUCT WHEN HE FELL INTO A PILE OF FLY ASH INSIDE THE DUCT.
September 22, 2003SC · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitmanFatality · FALLING/SLIDING/ROLLING MATERIALS
Holnam Inc · Caught in, under or between (Not Elsewhere Classified)
IMPROPER PARKING ON SLOPE AND FAILURE TO SET BRAKES
October 29, 1996SC · Metal/Non-Metalcoal/ore shovel operator, shoveler, power shovelerFatality · MACHINERY
Holnam Inc · Inhalation of radiations, caustics, toxic and noxious substances
THE VICTIM WAS OPEATING A BACKHOE LOADING WASTE FROM A SETTLEMENT POND INTO HAUL TRUCKS WHEN THE BACKHOE SLIPPED INTO THE POND AND TRAPPED THE VICTIM UNDER WATER.
March 22, 1992MO · Metal/Non-Metalfront-end loader, scraper-loader operator, pan operator, payloader, scraper rig operatorFatality · MACHINERY
EMPL OPERATING A 15 TON CAB-OPERATED OVERHEAD CRANE.LIFTING A CASE W-20 ENDLOADER WITH A BRICK-KNOCKER ATTACHMENT. AS THE LOAD WAS BEING MOVED FROM THE 1ST FLOOR TO 2ND FLOOR,THE NORTH END OF OVERHEAD CRANE WHERE THE CAB IS LOCATED,BROKE LOOSE FROM ITS SIDERAIL SUPPORT & FELL 30-35'. EMPL WAS THROWN OUT OF CAB ON IMPACT,PRONOUNCED DEAD AT ACCIDENT SCENE.
September 16, 1989AL · Metal/Non-Metalwarehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operatorFatality · MACHINERY
Holnam Inc · Contact with hot objects or substances
HOT MATERIAL BROKE LOOSE & RAN OVER STAIRWELL WHERE EMPLOYEE WAS EXITING EMPLOYEE HAD BEEN ASSISTING IN GATHERING EQUIPMENT & WAS STANDING BY BURNS TO AT LEAST 50 % OF BODY
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Holcim Ltd 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.