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Nicolas R Ayala: 167 MSHA citations controller

MSHA controller ID: M10749

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
3
Mines on record
1
Years on record
1998–2000
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
167
citations
49
significant & substantial
$44,815
proposed penalties
$37,140
paid to date
83% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $7,675 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
87
inspections on record
906
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: 906 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.
2
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2013-01-03.
On record since 2012.
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.
$45K
proposed penalties
$37K
current assessed
$37K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
159 assessments are final orders; 7 contested dockets.
Of $17K in penalties contested before the Commission, $9K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2025-11-19.
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.
30.8%
significant & substantial
24.5%
high negligence or reckless
30.2%
reasonably likely or greater
44.7%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 2.5% low, 73.0% moderate, 24.5% high, 0.0% reckless.
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: 2024-09-18
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
10
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg7
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz2
  • Quartz, 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.
33 citations taken to the federal commission · 20% of citations on record
  • Settled 23 · 70%
  • Stood as issued 10 · 30%
82%
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 17 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
46%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$17K proposed, $9K 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 2014-01-14. 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
CENT 2012-98M Settlement Lesnick 2012 $6K → $1K
CENT 2014-154M Settlement Lesnick 2014 $3K → $2K
CENT 2010-624M Dismissal Lesnick 2011 $2K → $2K
CENT 2012-505M Settlement Lesnick 2012 $2K → $651
CENT 2012-581M Settlement Lesnick 2012 $2K → $2K
CENT 2009-821M Settlement Lesnick 2010 $881 → $881
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2000
1
1999
1
1998
1

Operators under this controller

Mines on record

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Where Nicolas R Ayala 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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