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Kurt Bechthold: 867 MSHA citations controller

MSHA controller ID: M02666

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
374
Mines on record
26
Years on record
1983–2026
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
867
citations
106
significant & substantial
$112,623
proposed penalties
$110,420
paid to date
98% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $2,203 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
919
inspections on record
13,941
inspection hours
6.2
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.
867 citations across 13,941 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.
$113K
proposed penalties
$111K
current assessed
$110K
paid to date
$151
outstanding
861 assessments are final orders; 9 contested dockets.
Of $12K in penalties contested before the Commission, $10K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-06-26.
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.
12.3%
significant & substantial
3.7%
high negligence or reckless
12.6%
reasonably likely or greater
35.6%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 22.8% low, 73.5% moderate, 3.7% high, 0.0% 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.
14.03
total case rate
7.02
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 * 8.25 0.00 0.000
2025 14.03 7.02 0.000
2024 9.88 3.29 0.000
2023 9.73 3.24 0.000
2022 6.96 3.48 0.000
2021 5.58 4.47 0.000
2020 3.06 3.06 0.000
2019 2.18 1.09 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: 2026-03-25
3%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
266
samples
130
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1132 over
  • Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz162 over
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg114
  • 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.
13 citations taken to the federal commission · 1% of citations on record
  • Settled 13 · 100%
25%
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 4 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
17%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$12K 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 2024-06-26. 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
LAKE 2017-0034 Settlement McCarthy 2017 $6K → $4K
LAKE 2010-586M Settlement McCarthy 2011 $5K → $5K
LAKE 2022-0307 Settlement Paez 2023 $409 → $399
LAKE 2016-0289 Settlement Miller 2016 $263 → $100
LAKE 2010-966M Settlement Lesnick 2011 $150 → $100
LAKE 2024-0227 Settlement Simonton 2024 $147 → $147
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2026
3
2025
13
2024
9
2023
9
2022
7
2021
5
2020
3
2019
5
2018
4
2017
6
2016
10
2015
6
2014
5
2013
4
2012
5
2011
4
2010
5
2009
10
2008
6
2007
10
2006
8
2005
1
2004
6
2003
2
2002
9
2001
6
2000
10
1999
19
1998
17
1997
14
1996
3
1995
9
1994
17
1993
22
1992
24
1991
31
1990
13
1989
15
1988
14
1987
4
1983
1

Operators under this controller

Mines on record

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Where Kurt Bechthold 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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