Mining Incidents

A & B Rock Pit: 107 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

A & B Rock, Inc. · Surface
Everson, Whatcom County, WA  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 4503685

A & B Rock Pit has $84K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 8 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2010
107
citations
34
significant & substantial
$83,648
proposed penalties
$55,666
paid to date
67% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $27,982 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2010
27
inspections on record
488
inspection hours
n/a
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.
Rate withheld: 488 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
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.
1
Section 107(a) orders
Most recent order: 2010-09-23.
On record since 2010.
Source: MSHA imminent-danger order records, updated weekly.

A & B Rock Pit has $84K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 8 contested dockets.

Penalty disposition
Differences between proposed and paid penalties reflect both settlements and conference reductions and amounts still owed. Outstanding is the balance currently owed.
$84K
proposed penalties
$56K
current assessed
$56K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
106 assessments are final orders; 8 contested dockets.
Of $50K in penalties contested before the Commission, $22K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2020-05-26.
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.
32.1%
significant & substantial
19.8%
high negligence or reckless
32.1%
reasonably likely or greater
51.9%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 7.5% low, 72.6% moderate, 19.8% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, 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.
25 citations taken to the federal commission · 23% of citations on record
  • Settled 25 · 100%
91%
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 11 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
56%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$50K proposed, $22K 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 2018-01-10.
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 mine contested before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, with the outcome on record.
Docket Decision Judge Year Proposed / upheld
WEST 2018-0064 Settlement Simonton 2018 $16K → $5K
WEST 2013-132M Settlement Rae 2013 $12K → $1K
WEST 2018-0171 Settlement Simonton 2018 $9K → $9K
WEST 2017-0190 Settlement Manning 2017 $7K → $5K
WEST 2012-96M Settlement Lesnick 2012 $3K → $897
WEST 2013-50M Settlement Rae 2013 $2K → $200
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.
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: 2020-05-27, 6 years ago
4
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg3
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (4)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2020-05-27 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Backhoe Operator
2016-10-05 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Supervisor, Co. Official
2016-10-05 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.16 Front-end Loader Operator
2013-02-27 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
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.
Ownership history
  1. A & B Rock, Inc. 2010 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2020 2
2019 2
2018 3
2017 4
2016 3
2015 2
2014 2
2013 2
2012 2
2011 2
2010 1
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

A & B Rock Pit sits in Whatcom County, Washington, where the Census mining category is 0.4% of county employment.

Local economic context
County figures come from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 5-year pooled estimates, so the 2023 vintage covers 2019 through 2023. The Census category is 'mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction', which is broader than MSHA jurisdiction and includes oil and gas workers no mine employs. These figures describe the surrounding county, not this mine, and are not a factor in any specific incident.
Whatcom County, Washington · Population 228,432
0.4%
Mining share of county employment
$80,989
Median household income
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2023 5-year estimates.
Quarterly safety rates
Citations per million reported employee-hours. Rates begin in 2000, when MSHA's quarterly employment data starts; earlier incidents are counted but cannot be rate-adjusted. Quarters under 100,000 reported hours are greyed: too few hours for a stable rate.
Citations per million employee-hours, as reported to MSHA
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2020 Q4 560 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 560 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 480 2 1 4166.7
2020 Q1 560 1 0 1785.7
2019 Q4 480 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 560 2 0 3571.4
2019 Q2 480 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 640 17 4 26562.5
Show 33 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2018 Q4 560 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 560 2 1 3571.4
2018 Q2 480 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 1,511 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 1,319 2 0 1516.3
2017 Q3 1,392 10 4 7183.9
2017 Q2 1,111 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 960 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 960 15 6 15625.0
2016 Q3 1,280 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 1,120 4 0 3571.4
2016 Q1 1,120 4 3 3571.4
2015 Q4 840 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 960 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 1,120 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 983 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 1,040 1 0 961.5
2014 Q3 644 3 1 4658.4
2014 Q2 1,037 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 892 2 0 2242.2
2013 Q4 1,150 0 0 0.0
2013 Q3 942 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 697 2 0 2869.4
2013 Q1 700 1 0 1428.6
2012 Q4 739 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 608 11 3 18092.1
2012 Q2 693 0 0 0.0
2012 Q1 621 3 1 4830.9
2011 Q4 845 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 766 7 1 9138.4
2011 Q2 626 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 442 0 0 0.0
2010 Q4 730 0 0 0.0

No reportable incidents on file.

MSHA has no recorded reportable accidents for this mine in the current dataset. New reports appear here within a week of being filed.