89% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $118,404 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
446
inspections on record
16,362
inspection hours
14.0
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.
2,290 citations across 16,362 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: 2015-08-26.
On record since 2015.
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.
$1.1M
proposed penalties
$944K
current assessed
$944K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
2,267 assessments are final orders; 80 contested dockets.
Of $304K in penalties contested before the Commission, $186K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2021-11-17.
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, 2022
ⓘ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.
1.53
total case rate
1.53
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.78 and the all-US-mining average was 2.12 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2022
1.53
1.53
0.000
2021
0.00
0.00
0.000
2020
0.82
0.00
0.000
2019
2.75
2.36
0.000
2018
1.81
0.00
0.000
2017
2.16
0.93
0.000
2016
0.93
0.31
0.000
2015
2.60
1.18
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: 2018-05-23, 8 years ago
3%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
73
samples
33
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Diesel particulate (total carbon)131 over
Fibers, >5um16
Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz16
Diesel Particulate Material6
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2009-09-22, 16 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.
224citations taken to the federal commission · 10% of citations on record
Settled
210 · 94%
Stood as issued
13 · 6%
Vacated or withdrawn
1 · 0%
69%
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 116 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
39%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$304K proposed, $186K 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 2022-02-09. 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.
EE was found unconscious, with no resp or pulse pit between hydroseparator and floc building. CPR was administered and EE was transported to CMS where he was pronounced dead. Autopsy report has not been recieved. A heat trace tape was found arcing near where EE was found.
October 18, 2005NM · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, roof trimmer/scalerFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Employee parked water wagon, got off, didn't chock wheels or set park brake. Vehicle rolled, he either slipped and fell under Rt tire or tire knocked him down and ran up on lower torso.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Hugh E Harvey 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.