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Willard H. Cook: 403 MSHA citations controller

MSHA controller ID: 0072191

Willard H. Cook has had no fatalities among 5 reportable incidents since 2008. MSHA has proposed $87K in penalties since 2007, with $127 outstanding.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
5
Mines on record
1
Years on record
2008–2010
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2007
403
citations
86
significant & substantial
$86,721
proposed penalties
$76,345
paid to date
88% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $10,376 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2007
36
inspections on record
1,933
inspection hours
20.9
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.
403 citations across 1,933 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, 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.
$87K
proposed penalties
$76K
current assessed
$76K
paid to date
$127
outstanding
396 assessments are final orders; 18 contested dockets.
Of $62K in penalties contested before the Commission, $52K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2010-06-11.
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.
21.7%
significant & substantial
1.0%
high negligence or reckless
21.5%
reasonably likely or greater
4.5%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.5% none, 26.3% low, 72.2% moderate, 1.0% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Injury rate, 2008
ⓘ 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.
12.91
total case rate
6.46
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above average. The US coal mining average was 4.41 and the all-US-mining average was 3.61 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.
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: 2009-04-28, 17 years ago
100%
within 1.5 mg/m3
113
samples
1.13
dust max (mg/m3)
58 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 55 by the operator.
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR52
  • SHUTTLE CAR OPERATOR (STANDARD SIDE)11
  • ROOF BOLTER (TWIN HEAD) (INTAKE SIDE)8

Silica (quartz)

Last sampled: 2009-04-22, 17 years ago
7.3
silica avg (%)
4
samples
8.2
silica max (%)
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR2
See US coal mines ranked by silica in their dust samples.

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.

Last sampled: 2009-04-28, 17 years ago
6%
over PEL
17
samples
Most-sampled occupations
  • SHUTTLE CAR OPERATOR (STANDARD SIDE)4
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR3
  • ROOF BOLTER (TWIN HEAD) (INTAKE SIDE)3
See US mines ranked by noise samples over the legal limit.
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, 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.
269 citations taken to the federal commission · 67% of citations on record
  • Settled 165 · 61%
  • Stood as issued 104 · 39%
98%
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 63 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
16%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$62K proposed, $52K 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 2010-08-02. 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.
Docket Decision Judge Year Proposed / upheld
VA 2009-440 Default Lewis 2012 $17K → $17K
VA 2010-311 Settlement Koutras 2011 $10K → $8K
VA 2010-136 Settlement 2010 $6K → $3K
VA 2009-367 Settlement Lesnick 2010 $6K → $4K
VA 2010-70 Settlement Lewis 2011 $4K → $3K
VA 2010-69 Default Lesnick 2012 $3K → $3K
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2010
2
2009
1
2008
2

Operators under this controller

Mines on record

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

Where Willard H. Cook 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.

The federal record itself stays free on this site. What costs money, and why.

See a sample report
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