88% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $143,894 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
2,554
inspections on record
58,534
inspection hours
7.1
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.
4,138 citations across 58,534 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.
6
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2015-04-29.
On record since 2010.
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.
$1.2M
proposed penalties
$1.1M
current assessed
$1.1M
paid to date
$2K
outstanding
4,098 assessments are final orders; 110 contested dockets.
Of $433K in penalties contested before the Commission, $291K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-04-21.
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, 2022
ⓘ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.
0.00
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.78 and the all-US-mining average was 2.12 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
2022 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2021 *
6.38
2.13
0.000
2020
2.28
0.82
0.000
2019
2.74
1.09
0.000
2018
2.99
0.89
0.000
2017
3.46
0.89
0.000
2016
2.57
0.51
0.000
2015
2.62
0.78
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: 2022-05-03, 4 years ago
9%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
1,152
samples
357
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz19332 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg756
Diesel particulate (total carbon)39
Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz32
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2020-10-27, 5 years ago
18
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.
247citations taken to the federal commission · 6% of citations on record
Settled
232 · 94%
Stood as issued
10 · 4%
Vacated or withdrawn
5 · 2%
62%
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 141 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
33%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$432K proposed, $290K 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 2020-08-26. 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.
Incident is still under investigation. Cause of death is unknown, awaiting autopsy report. The victim was working from an elevated location that was provided with handrails. He was using an 8 foot stepladder. While preparing to weld on an overhead vent pipe, he fell going over the handrail and landed on a railroad track 47 feet below.
October 2, 2001MN · Metal/Non-Metalelectrician, linemanFatality · ELECTRICAL
INDIVIDUAL CAME INTO CONTACT WITH OVERHEAD POWERLINE CAUSING DEATH BY ELECTRICUTION.
July 4, 2001NC · Metal/Non-Metaltruck driverFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Unimin Corporation · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
AN APPARENT BRAKE MALFUNCTION CAUSED THE VICTIM TO EXIT THE CAB & WAS PULLED UNDER THE REAR WHEELS OR HE PARKED IT & CRAWLED UNDER THE BED TO CHECK A PROBLEM. EITHER SENARIO CAUSED THE VEHICLE TO ROLL OVER HIS BODY CRUSHING HIM TO DEATH. THERE WAS NO APPARENT DAMAGE TO THE TRUCK.
July 21, 1986IL · Metal/Non-Metalledgeman/hand, quarry manFatality · FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
EMPLOYEE WAS SC5LING AREA THAT HAD BEEN SHOT ON THE PREVIOUS FRIDAY WHEN AN AREA WITH A CLAY SEAM IN THE RIB & BACK AREA BROKE LOOSE & FELL ON MINER EMPLOYEE IS IN SERIOUS CONDITION WITH INTER NAL INJURIES & 6ROKEN RIBS
November 2, 1984IL · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitmanFatality · MACHINERY
WHILE THE DREDGING OF SETTLED PRODUCTS AT THE COMPANY S SETTLING/TAILING POND WAS BEING CONDUCTED, TWO DREDGE OPERATORS BECAME INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT WHEN THE DREDGE OVERTURNED. THE DREDGE WA S A FLOATING DREDGE AND WAS 8X28 FT LONG. DURING THE NIGHT SHIFT THERE HAD BEEN PROBLEMS WITH THE CABLE AND THE BOAT GENERALLY LEFT AT THE DREDGE HAD BEEN TAKEN BACK TO SHORE BY THE MAINTENAN
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where S C R-Sibelco Nv 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.