79% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1,041,517 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Labor enforcement (WHD)
US Labor Department wage findings since 2005
1
labor cases
$7,500
back wages owed
1
employees affected
Source: US DOL Wage and Hour Division enforcement records, matched by employer name and state.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2010
1,907
inspections on record
113,142
inspection hours
6.8
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.
7,734 citations across 113,142 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.
7
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2019-09-24.
On record since 2011.
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.
$4.9M
proposed penalties
$3.9M
current assessed
$3.9M
paid to date
$73K
outstanding
7,633 assessments are final orders; 224 contested dockets.
Of $2.8M in penalties contested before the Commission, $1.8M was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2021-03-17.
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, 2020
ⓘ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.
4.61
total case rate
4.09
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above average. The US coal mining average was 3.19 and the all-US-mining average was 2.08 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2020
4.61
4.09
0.000
2019
4.44
3.21
0.000
2018
6.32
4.44
0.000
2017
5.99
5.02
0.000
2016
9.08
6.88
0.000
2015
7.91
3.13
0.000
2014
3.34
1.41
0.000
2013
3.46
1.66
0.128
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.
Respirable coal dust
ⓘRespirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.
Last sampled: 2021-04-29, 5 years ago
97%
within 1.5 mg/m3
11,780
samples
5.98
dust max (mg/m3)
52
over MSHA ECV
ⓘThe excessive concentration value (ECV) is MSHA's own per-sample enforcement threshold, which builds in measurement uncertainty; a sample over its ECV can trigger a citation. The count covers only samples MSHA assigned an ECV.
3,779 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 8,001 by the operator.
Noise
ⓘThe share counts noise samples whose measured dose exceeded the 90 dBA permissible exposure limit. It describes the sampled workplace, not what reached the miner's ear: hearing conservation programs and the hearing protection worn during the shift are recorded separately and are not reflected here.
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: 2016-02-23, 10 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
6
samples
4
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Nuisance dust, respirable, <1% Qtz3
Respirable dust, <.1mg2
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.
992citations taken to the federal commission · 13% of citations on record
Settled
969 · 98%
Stood as issued
23 · 2%
83%
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 639 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
35%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$2.8M proposed, $1.8M 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 2020-08-27. 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.
The Continuous Miner had started into a left hand turn on the second lift off the pillar. A roof fall approx. 22'x25' ranging in thickness from 12" to 22" occurred, striking the employee, causing fatal crushing injuries.
Victim was cleaning rocks and coal to set timbers along a rib line. The rib and brow fell crushing the miner. The brow measured approximately 100" long by 32" thick, by 37" tall.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Rhino Resource Partners LP 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.