56% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $24,529 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
104
inspections on record
1,334
inspection hours
12.5
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.
167 citations across 1,334 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.
$55K
proposed penalties
$31K
current assessed
$31K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
164 assessments are final orders; 4 contested dockets.
Of $41K in penalties contested before the Commission, $16K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2008-01-30.
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.
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.
Apparently the victim attempted to install drill steel with the mast vertical and the drill head rotating. The victim became entangled in the rotating drill steel when the steel cross threaded in the drill collar.
LOADER OPERATOR OTHER INFORMED HIS FOREMAN, EE THAT HIS LOADER HAD AN OIL LEAK. EE TOLD OTHER THAT HE COULDN'T FIND THE LEAK, CLIMBED DOWN, WENT TO HIS PICKUP TRUCK FOR A FLASHLIGHT, RETURNED, & CLIMBED UNDER THE LOADER TO LOOK FOR LEAK. OTHER THINKING THEY WERE DONE, CLOSED THE COWLING, GET INTO THE CAB, AND PUT THE LOADER IN REVERSE. EE HEARING THE BACKUP ALARM, UNSUCESSFULLY TRI
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where James O Bell 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.