Mining Incidents

Jeffrey Sherman; Pamela Sherman: 131 MSHA citations controller

MSHA controller ID: M34650

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
1
Mines on record
1
Years on record
2013
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
131
citations
39
significant & substantial
$34,658
proposed penalties
$25,183
paid to date
73% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $9,475 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
42
inspections on record
859
inspection hours
n/a
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.
Rate withheld: 859 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
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: 2014-10-15.
On record since 2014.
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.
$35K
proposed penalties
$25K
current assessed
$25K
paid to date
$22
outstanding
129 assessments are final orders; 11 contested dockets.
Of $24K in penalties contested before the Commission, $14K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2017-10-11.
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.
30.2%
significant & substantial
3.1%
high negligence or reckless
30.2%
reasonably likely or greater
71.3%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 7.0% low, 89.9% moderate, 3.1% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, 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.
10 citations taken to the federal commission · 8% of citations on record
  • Settled 10 · 100%
70%
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%
38%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$16K proposed, $10K 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 2016-01-04. 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.
Docket Decision Judge Year Proposed / upheld
WEST 2015-0697 Settlement Manning 2017 $8K → $4K
WEST 2016-0208 Settlement Barbour 2016 $4K → $3K
WEST20010057M Settlement Bulluck 2001 $3K → $1K
WEST 2015-0515 Settlement Miller 2015 $2K → $2K
WEST20020361M Settlement Manning 2002 $1K → $1K
WEST20010058M Settlement Bulluck 2001 $1K → $520
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2013
1

Operators under this controller

Mines on record

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Where Jeffrey Sherman; Pamela Sherman 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.

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