89% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $463,949 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
1,081
inspections on record
65,249
inspection hours
8.3
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.
5,426 citations across 65,249 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: 2025-08-28.
On record since 2014.
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.
$4.1M
proposed penalties
$3.8M
current assessed
$3.6M
paid to date
$165K
outstanding
5,273 assessments are final orders; 63 contested dockets.
Of $869K in penalties contested before the Commission, $571K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-07-08.
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, 2025
ⓘ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.
1.88
total case rate
0.40
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.65 and the all-US-mining average was 1.97 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2026
0.87
0.17
0.000
2025
1.88
0.40
0.000
2024
1.07
0.28
0.000
2023
0.52
0.20
0.000
2022
0.52
0.17
0.000
2021
0.63
0.32
0.000
2020
0.51
0.17
0.000
2019
0.88
0.48
0.000
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: 2026-06-17
6%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
667
samples
293
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz17210 over
Diesel particulate (total carbon)254 over
Diesel Particulate Material143 over
Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz41 over
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2025-08-15
21
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.
228citations taken to the federal commission · 4% of citations on record
Settled
221 · 97%
Stood as issued
5 · 2%
Still open
2 · 1%
79%
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 123 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
35%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$856K proposed, $559K 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 2026-04-02. 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.
All we know is a call came 10/29/08 about 8:00 a.m. that we had a fatal accident at Kennecott; our driver was killed by a pipe falling off the top of load on trailer. All Bob Orton Trucking does is haul the load (this load from WL Plastics Corp, Cedar City, Utah). We do not load or unload product.
BASED ON THE PRELIMINARY INFORMATION, IT APPEARS THAT AN EMPLOYEE OF LAYNE CHRISTENSEN CO, DIED ON TUESDAY, 8-18-98. HIS DEAD BODY WAS DISCOVERED BY ANOTHER EMPLOYEE OF LAYNE CHRISTENSEN AT AP PROX. 5:15 PM. HIS BODY WAS DISCOVERED LYING FACE DOWN IN A MUD SUMP IN APPROX. 3 FEET OF WATER. AT THIS TIME IT IS UNKNOWNN WHAT CAUSED HIS DEATH.
ACCORDING TO WITNESS, EE WHO WAS ALSO OPERATING A HT 10(35 TON HAUL TRUCK), HE PULLED HIS TRUCK ALONG SIDE ANOTHER 35 TON HAUL TRUCK (HT15) TOGIVE IT A JUMP START BATTERY TO BATTERY. AFTER ST ARTING THE HT1 HE WENT TO THE FRONT OF THE TRUCK TO GET THE UMPR CABLES FROM EE WHO WAS MANNING HT15. HE PROCEEDED DOWN TO THE TOOL TRUCK TO PUT THE CABLES AWAY AND ON HIS RETURN NOTICED HT 1
July 28, 1996CA · Metal/Non-Metalmaintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service techFatality · OTHER
MECHANIC WAS REMOVING TIRE AND RIM FROM LOADER. HAD DEFLATED AIR PRESSURE TO 10-20 PSI BUT WAS UNAWARE THAT IT WAS A 2 PIECE SPLIT RIM. REMOVED LUG BOLT CAP SCREWS AND THE RIM TO RIM CLAMPING BOLTS AND THE REMAINING AIR PRESSURE PROJECTED THE OUTER RIM HALF OUTWARD VIOLENTLY, HITTING THEMECHANIC, CAUSING SEVERE HEAD INJURY.
March 27, 1995CA · Metal/Non-Metalmaintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service techFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
U S Borax Inc · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
EE WAS IN A PICKUP TRUCK AND PULLED IN BEHIND M-170 TRUCK 9651. DRIVER OF 9651 BACKED UP AND RAN OVER PICKUP, TRAPPING EE INSIDE. EE SUSTAINED FATAL INJURIES.
November 1, 1993CA · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitmanFatality · FALLING/SLIDING/ROLLING MATERIALS
U S Borax Inc · Caught in, under or between collapsing material or buildings
TWO EMPLOYEES OF CONTRACTOR, ANCON MARINE INC., BECAME ENTRAPPED BY PRODUCT WHILE CLEANING 5 MOL #1 SILO. APPARENTLY BOTH WORKERS WERE WEARING SAFETY HARNESSES, BUT NOT LIFELINES. ONE WORKER W AS SUCCESSFULLY RESCUED; THE SECOND WORKER WAS FATALLY INJURED.
April 21, 1993SC · Metal/Non-Metalelectrician, linemanFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
U S Borax Inc · Fall from scaffolds, walkways, platforms
EMPLOYEE WAS WORKING ON THE ROOF OF T-4B TANK WHEN COMPRESSION RING FAILED WHICH CAUSED THE EMPLOYEE TO FALL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK, SUFFERING APPARENTLY FATAL INJURIES.
January 12, 1990UT · Metal/Non-Metalshopman repair cars, mechanicFatality · MACHINERY
WORK CAGE ATTACHED TO CRANE BOOM FAILED AND FELL WITH EMPLOYEE APPROX. 30 FEET TO THE GROUND.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Rio Tinto Group 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.