76% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $13,997 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
74
inspections on record
1,743
inspection hours
9.5
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.
166 citations across 1,743 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.
1
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2016-08-03.
On record since 2016.
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.
$59K
proposed penalties
$45K
current assessed
$45K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
163 assessments are final orders; 11 contested dockets.
Of $42K in penalties contested before the Commission, $28K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2016-11-14.
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.
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: 2015-01-28, 11 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
5
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Respirable dust, <.1mg3
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1
Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz1
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.
7citations taken to the federal commission · 4% of citations on record
Settled
7 · 100%
100%
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 3 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
33%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$2K proposed, $1K 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 2015-08-13. 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.
EMPLOYEE WAS FEEDING THE SAND HOPPER AT THE WASHPLANT USING A JOHN DEERE THE OTHER LOADER OBSERVED THE LOADER PARKED AT THE SAND HOPPER WITH ITS BUCKET IN THE AIR WITHOUT AN OPERATOR IN THE CA B. THE OTHER LOADER OPERATOR OBSERVED EE'S LEGS STICKING OUT OF THE BOTTOM OF SAND HOPPER ON THE CONVEYER BELT AND SHUT POWER OFF, RADIOED FOR HELP.
October 31, 1984WA · Metal/Non-Metaloutside foreman, leadmanFatality · MACHINERY
THE VICTIM WAS CLEANING OUT THE SPILL FROM BENEATH THE CONVEYOR BELTS. HE WAS USING A 1976 FORD FARM TRACTOR WITH A BLADE ATTACHED TO THE BACK OF IT. WHILE CLEANING THE SPILL, HE BACKED THE TR ACTOR UNDER A TRAILER FRAME WHICH WAS HOUSING THE CANICA IMPACT CRUSHER WHICH CAUSED HIM TO BE HIT BY THE I BEAM. THE IMPACT THREW THE VICTIM OVER THE TRACTOR AND CAUSED HIM TO BECOME WEDGED
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Lawrence Sali; Steve Sali 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.