97% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $3,208 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
939
inspections on record
13,148
inspection hours
5.9
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.
778 citations across 13,148 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: 2020-03-03.
On record since 2017.
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.
$101K
proposed penalties
$97K
current assessed
$97K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
765 assessments are final orders; 8 contested dockets.
Of $7K in penalties contested before the Commission, $4K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2024-05-14.
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.
Injury rate, 2024
ⓘ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.
6.88
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.77 and the all-US-mining average was 2.08 cases per 100 workers.
Under 100,000 employee-hours were reported that year, so a single case moves the rate by two or more. Read the figure as approximate.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2024 *
6.88
0.00
0.000
2023
4.71
1.57
0.000
2022
8.67
2.48
0.000
2021
5.84
2.33
0.000
2020
15.28
8.91
0.000
2019
6.16
0.00
0.000
2018
4.67
0.00
0.000
2017
5.46
1.36
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: 2024-03-20
4%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
349
samples
137
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1485 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg171
Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz19
Fibers, >5um8
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2016-09-27, 9 years ago
1
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.
14citations taken to the federal commission · 2% of citations on record
Settled
6 · 43%
Stood as issued
7 · 50%
Vacated or withdrawn
1 · 7%
86%
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 7 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
14%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$3K proposed, $3K 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 2023-10-17. 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 PUTTING DOG HOLES IN STONE HE WAS PINNED BETWEEN THE PLUG DRILL WHICH HE WAS OPERATING & THE COUNTERWEIGHTS ON THE LOADER WHICH WAS BACKING UP CRUSHING HIM TO DEATH
March 25, 1986SD · Metal/Non-Metaldrill operatorFatality · MACHINERY
EE WAS DRILLING3WITH JACK HAMMER DRILL STEEL BROKE EE FELL BACKWARDS 14' INTO TRENCH.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Patrick Alexander 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.