Mining Incidents

Benson's Pit: 15 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Town Of Potsdam · Surface
Controlled by Town Of Potsdam-NY
POTSDAM, St Lawrence County, NY  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 3003297

Benson's Pit has $1K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

Watch this mine

Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at Benson's Pit.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
15
citations
1
significant & substantial
$1,314
proposed penalties
$1,314
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
27
inspections on record
238
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: 238 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Benson's Pit has $1K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 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.
$1K
proposed penalties
$1K
current assessed
$1K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
15 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $216 in penalties contested before the Commission, $100 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2016-05-04.
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.
6.7%
significant & substantial
0.0%
high negligence or reckless
6.7%
reasonably likely or greater
46.7%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 0.0% low, 100.0% moderate, 0.0% 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.
2 citations taken to the federal commission · 13% of citations on record
  • Settled 1 · 50%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 1 · 50%
54%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$216 proposed, $100 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 2017-07-24.
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
YORK 2017-0138 Withdrawal Bulluck 2017 $116 → $0
YORK 2012-87M Settlement Lesnick 2012 $100 → $100
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: 2013-07-10, 13 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
5
samples
4
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz4
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
Show the individual readings (5)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2013-07-10 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.16 0.46 0.35 Crusher Oper/Worker
2013-07-10 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.26 1.34 0.19 Front-end Loader Operator
2000-08-01 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.19 0.79 0.24 Laborer, Bullgang
2000-08-01 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.25 0.92 0.27 Crusher Oper/Worker
2000-08-01 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. Town Of Potsdam 1999 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 1
2025 2
2024 1
2023 0
2022 1
2021 1
2020 1
2019 1
2018 1
2017 2
2016 1
2015 3
2014 2
2013 2
2012 1
2011 2
2010 3
2009 2
2005 2
2004 3
2003 2
2002 4
2001 4
2000 3
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Benson's Pit sits in St. Lawrence County, New York, where the Census mining category is 0.5% 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.
St. Lawrence County, New York · Population 107,796
0.5%
Mining share of county employment
$61,900
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
2026 Q2 112 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 0 0 0
2025 Q4 48 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 62 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 99 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 0 0 0
2024 Q4 0 0 0
2024 Q3 50 0 0 0.0
Show 79 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 48 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 0 0 0
2023 Q4 0 0 0
2023 Q1 0 0 0
2022 Q4 0 0 0
2022 Q3 12 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 122 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 0 0 0
2021 Q4 0 0 0
2021 Q3 8 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 36 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 0 0 0
2020 Q4 0 0 0
2020 Q3 0 0 0
2020 Q2 126 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 0 0 0
2019 Q4 0 0 0
2019 Q3 8 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 88 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 0 0 0
2018 Q3 44 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 18 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 0 0 0
2017 Q4 0 0 0
2017 Q3 446 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 242 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 0 0 0
2016 Q4 0 0 0
2016 Q3 2 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 258 1 0 3876.0
2016 Q1 0 0 0
2015 Q4 8 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 164 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 115 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 0 0 0
2014 Q4 0 0 0
2014 Q3 200 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 230 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 0 0 0
2013 Q4 0 0 0
2013 Q3 300 2 0 6666.7
2013 Q2 244 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 0 0 0
2012 Q4 0 0 0
2012 Q3 0 1 1
2012 Q2 197 0 0 0.0
2012 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 144 1 0 6944.4
2011 Q2 108 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 0 0 0
2010 Q4 223 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 325 1 0 3076.9
2010 Q2 101 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 0 0 0
2009 Q4 0 0 0
2009 Q3 307 3 0 9772.0
2005 Q4 0 0 0
2005 Q3 117 1 0 8547.0
2005 Q2 305 0 0 0.0
2005 Q1 0 0 0
2004 Q4 45 0 0 0.0
2004 Q3 342 0 0 0.0
2004 Q2 266 2 0 7518.8
2004 Q1 0 0 0
2003 Q4 0 0 0
2003 Q3 257 0 0 0.0
2003 Q2 260 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 0 0 0
2002 Q4 117 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 388 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 356 1 0 2809.0
2002 Q1 0 0 0
2001 Q3 459 0 0 0.0
2001 Q2 345 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 0 0 0
2000 Q4 72 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 234 1 0 4273.5
2000 Q2 57 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 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.