Stillwater Mining Company: 6 recorded fatalities
controller
MSHA controller ID: M11292
Stillwater Mining Company has had 6 fatalities among 1,841 reportable incidents since 1996. MSHA has proposed $1.8M in penalties since 2000, with $4K outstanding.
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85% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $260,357 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
407
inspections on record
66,889
inspection hours
7.0
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.
4,651 citations across 66,889 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: 2013-07-24.
On record since 2013.
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.
$1.8M
proposed penalties
$1.5M
current assessed
$1.5M
paid to date
$4K
outstanding
4,599 assessments are final orders; 134 contested dockets.
Of $788K in penalties contested before the Commission, $535K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2017-04-03.
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, 2017
ⓘ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 and are withheld below 20,000 hours in a year. Employment reports reach back to 1983, but those earlier years come from MSHA's archived file format and are not used in rates.
12.62
total case rate
7.36
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.99 and the all-US-mining average was 2.48 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2017
12.62
7.36
0.000
2016
9.39
5.74
0.000
2015
10.57
6.29
0.000
2014
13.73
9.24
0.000
2013
14.50
8.39
0.000
2012
14.22
9.10
0.000
2011
17.70
7.01
0.334
2010
19.94
9.58
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: 2017-04-02, 9 years ago
22%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
254
samples
186
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Total Carbon,calculated from elemental carbon.7923 over
Total Carbon,TC7921 over
Diesel Particulate Material239 over
TCarbon @ 350205 over
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2005-04-27, 21 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.
402citations taken to the federal commission · 9% of citations on record
Settled
375 · 93%
Stood as issued
26 · 6%
Vacated or withdrawn
1 · 0%
75%
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 206 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
33%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$528K proposed, $356K 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 2017-05-08. 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 EE WAS ON ONE KNEE MAKING AN AIR HOSE CONNECTION. A OPERATOR, OPERATING A 3.5 YD SCOOP ENTERED THE WORK AREA STRIKING THE EE WITH THE BUCKETCAUSING FATAL INJURIES.
June 4, 2001MT · Metal/Non-Metalstoper minerFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
THE MINER WAS FATALLY INJURED WHEN HE STEPPED OFF THE MUCKER HE WAS OPERATING. THE MINER PARKED THE LHD ON A 15% GRADE ON THE 66W RAMP. WHEN HE REMOVED HIMSELF FROM THE OPERATORS COMPARTMENT THE LHD BEGAN TO ROLL DOWN THE RAMP. THE MINER WAS CAUGHT BETWEEN THE BUCKET & THE RIB.
THE EE FINISHED DRILLING THE LEFT RIB, WAS STILLBOLTING WHEN HE LEFT HIS JACKLEG,HE WAS MOVING AWAY FROM HIS JACKLEG WHEN A PIECE OF ROCK CAME OUT OF THE RIGHT RIB, STRIKING EE & KNOCKING HIM TO THE GROUND. HE SUSTAINED A DISLOCATED HIP & A FRACTURED PELVIS. HE WAS HOSPITALIZED FOR TREATMENT OF HIS INJURIES.
March 13, 2000MT · Metal/Non-Metalmotorman, motor person, swamper, switchman, locomotive operatorFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
EMPLOYEE WAS FATALLY INJURED WHILE WORKING ON THE 5000W RAIL HAULAGE LEVEL. HE WAS PINNED UNDER A RAIL CAR. ACCIDENT IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Stillwater Mining 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.