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John F Steele Jr: 674 MSHA citations controller

MSHA controller ID: M00813

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
321
Mines on record
6
Years on record
1983–2025
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
674
citations
203
significant & substantial
$296,601
proposed penalties
$222,788
paid to date
75% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $73,813 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
274
inspections on record
6,283
inspection hours
10.7
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.
674 citations across 6,283 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.
2
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2012-06-21.
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.
$297K
proposed penalties
$223K
current assessed
$223K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
665 assessments are final orders; 24 contested dockets.
Of $171K in penalties contested before the Commission, $98K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-06-24.
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.
30.4%
significant & substantial
5.7%
high negligence or reckless
30.8%
reasonably likely or greater
45.8%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 13.0% low, 81.3% moderate, 5.4% high, 0.3% reckless.
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.
9.69
total case rate
3.88
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above 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 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2025 9.69 3.88 0.000
2024 * 8.01 8.01 0.000
2023 4.43 1.48 0.000
2022 4.43 3.32 0.000
2021 4.31 2.16 0.000
2020 1.77 1.77 0.000
2019 4.15 0.83 0.000
* Fewer than 100,000 employee-hours that year; the rate is less stable.
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: 2026-06-24
3%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
130
samples
67
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz322 over
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg46
  • Nuisance dust, respirable, <1% Qtz35
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz13
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.
114 citations taken to the federal commission · 17% of citations on record
  • Settled 89 · 78%
  • Stood as issued 19 · 17%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 6 · 5%
72%
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 64 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
43%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$171K proposed, $98K 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 2025-12-03. 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
KENT 2010-208M Settlement Rae 2012 $51K → $12K
KENT 2013-529M Settlement Miller 2014 $25K → $22K
LAKE 2009-707M Settlement Moran 2012 $17K → $13K
KENT 2006-163M Withdrawal Weisberger 2007 $15K → $6K
KENT 2013-186M Settlement Andrews 2013 $14K → $8K
KENT 2008-813 Settlement Bulluck 2011 $12K → $7K
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2025
5
2024
4
2023
3
2022
4
2021
4
2020
4
2019
6
2018
7
2017
5
2016
4
2015
4
2014
4
2013
4
2012
2
2011
2
2010
3
2009
8
2008
7
2007
18
2006
8
2005
7
2004
6
2003
6
2002
11
2001
14
2000
8
1999
10
1998
12
1997
14
1996
9
1995
17
1994
16
1993
13
1992
13
1991
7
1990
14
1989
14
1988
11
1987
6
1986
2
1985
2
1984
1
1983
2

Operators under this controller

Mines on record

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Where John F Steele Jr 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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