90% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $50,360 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
887
inspections on record
22,041
inspection hours
10.8
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.
2,384 citations across 22,041 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.
$516K
proposed penalties
$465K
current assessed
$465K
paid to date
$2
outstanding
2,345 assessments are final orders; 36 contested dockets.
Of $135K in penalties contested before the Commission, $85K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2008-02-12.
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.
Injury rate, 2007
ⓘ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.
3.66
total case rate
1.39
days-away rate
0.087
fatality rate
Above average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 3.30 and the all-US-mining average was 3.77 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2007
3.66
1.39
0.087
2006
5.04
2.29
0.000
2005
6.52
4.00
0.000
2004
5.98
3.12
0.000
2003
5.15
1.91
0.000
2002
4.60
2.07
0.000
2001
5.88
2.80
0.000
2000
4.97
2.39
0.129
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: 2008-01-24, 18 years ago
13%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
529
samples
382
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz15335 over
Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz668 over
Total Carbon,TC353 over
Total Carbon,calculated from elemental carbon.342 over
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2006-08-01, 20 years ago
4
samples
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.
87citations taken to the federal commission · 4% of citations on record
Settled
86 · 99%
Stood as issued
1 · 1%
90%
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 42 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
34%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$81K proposed, $53K 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 2008-03-03. 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.
4-employees were performing preventative maintenance on the aerial tram system used to transport stone from the quarry to the plant. While tensioning the steel cable used to carry the tram buckets, the hydraulic cylinder assembly pulled loose from its anchor point. One employee was fatally injured and another suffered a broken leg, after being struck by components of the system.
November 17, 2000TX · Metal/Non-Metalmaintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service techFatality · SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
EMPLOYEE FELL APPROX 65 FT FROM LIFT BASKET HELD BY CRANE. HE WAS NOT WEARING SAFETY HARNESS. HE WAS REACHING FOR A BUCKET OF WATER HANDED UP FROM BELOW. WORKING ON A TAILINGS RELOCATION PROJE CT AT OLD QUARRY AT VOCA WEST.
January 26, 2000VA · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitmanFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
EMPLOYEE WAS ATTEMPTING TO REMOVE STONE BUILDUP FROM UNDER SHAFT KILN CARRIAGE COUNTER WEIGHT. HE CLIMBED OVER A GUARD INTO RESTRICTED AREA WHERE THE WEIGHT WAS LOCATED ONLY INCHES OVER HIS HE AD. THE WEIGHT MADE ITS SCHEDULED DESCENT AND EE WAS TRAPPED UNDER IT.
EMPLOYEES WERE ATTEMPTING TO FREE BUILT UP SLAG AND DEBRIS FROM WEST WALL OF #2 GRATE PREHEAT AREA. EMPLOYEE INVOLVED WAS ON BACK END OF JACKHAMMER AND BEFORE STARTING, MATERIAL FELL FROM ABOV E, CAUSING ABOVE STATED FATALITY.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Oglebay Norton Company 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.