84% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $43,349 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
180
inspections on record
6,760
inspection hours
10.8
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.
727 citations across 6,760 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.
$268K
proposed penalties
$261K
current assessed
$225K
paid to date
$37K
outstanding
709 assessments are final orders; 12 contested dockets.
Of $13K in penalties contested before the Commission, $6K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-07-14.
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.
1.40
total case rate
0.94
days-away rate
0.468
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
1.01
1.01
0.000
2025
1.40
0.94
0.468
2024
4.78
3.82
0.000
2023
2.86
2.86
0.000
2022
1.83
1.83
0.000
2021
2.95
2.95
0.000
2020
3.32
3.32
0.000
2019
1.47
0.49
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: 2026-03-03
1%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
119
samples
68
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz91 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg48
Nuisance dust, respirable, <1% Qtz26
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz21
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.
19citations taken to the federal commission · 3% of citations on record
Settled
14 · 74%
Stood as issued
1 · 5%
Still open
4 · 21%
50%
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 10 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
51%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$13K proposed, $6K 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 2026-08-16. 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.
Miner was on first floor of "New Office" working on a ladder changing a light. Miners co-worker went to basement to retrieve another new light. Co-worker heard a thump and a bang on the ceiling. Co-worker found miner sitting slumped on the floor unresponsive. Started CPR, called 911, deployed AED but the miner could never be revived.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Jay E Luhr; Michael Luhr 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.