Employee was dismounting the front-end loader using the stairs on the rear of the machine when EE fell and slid down the machine's stairs. The employee continued to work until EE sought medical evaluation on 4-28-2026 and was removed by a physician.
Big Creek Surface Coal
Big Creek Surface has $79K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K outstanding across 5 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.
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- Fatalities
- 0
- Total incidents
- 16
- Years on record
- 2013–2026
- Latest incident
- Apr 2026
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This rate is recorded citations divided by MSHA inspection hours, per 100 hours. It reflects inspection effort, not mine size or production.Big Creek Surface has $79K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K outstanding across 5 contested dockets.
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Differences between proposed and paid penalties reflect both settlements and conference reductions and amounts still owed. Outstanding is the balance currently owed.MSHA sampling at Big Creek Surface shows respirable coal dust averaging 0.11 mg/m3 (100% compliant) across 252 samples.
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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 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.ⓘ
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.| Quarter | Hours worked | Citations | S&S | Per 1M hrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q4 | 25,339 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2025 Q3 | 27,837 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2025 Q2 | 29,295 | 2 | 1 | 68.3 |
| 2025 Q1 | 29,896 | 6 | 0 | 200.7 |
| 2024 Q4 | 25,379 | 1 | 0 | 39.4 |
| 2024 Q3 | 28,911 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2024 Q2 | 30,813 | 1 | 0 | 32.5 |
| 2024 Q1 | 27,784 | 2 | 1 | 72.0 |
Show 53 earlier quarters Hide earlier quarters
| Quarter | Hours worked | Citations | S&S | Per 1M hrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Q4 | 23,992 | 4 | 1 | 166.7 |
| 2023 Q3 | 21,654 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2023 Q2 | 20,958 | 2 | 1 | 95.4 |
| 2023 Q1 | 21,868 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2022 Q4 | 20,578 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2022 Q3 | 21,643 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2022 Q2 | 22,693 | 5 | 1 | 220.3 |
| 2022 Q1 | 22,407 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2021 Q4 | 19,378 | 4 | 0 | 206.4 |
| 2021 Q3 | 13,550 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2021 Q2 | 1,728 | 2 | 0 | 1157.4 |
| 2019 Q2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2019 Q1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2018 Q4 | 12,704 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2018 Q3 | 7,415 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2018 Q2 | 8,431 | 6 | 0 | 711.7 |
| 2018 Q1 | 11,228 | 1 | 0 | 89.1 |
| 2017 Q4 | 8,892 | 6 | 2 | 674.8 |
| 2017 Q3 | 12,062 | 1 | 0 | 82.9 |
| 2017 Q2 | 11,778 | 1 | 0 | 84.9 |
| 2017 Q1 | 11,066 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2016 Q4 | 6,326 | 3 | 0 | 474.2 |
| 2016 Q3 | 8,024 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2016 Q2 | 4,877 | 6 | 1 | 1230.3 |
| 2016 Q1 | 6,129 | 1 | 0 | 163.2 |
| 2015 Q4 | 8,896 | 5 | 0 | 562.1 |
| 2015 Q3 | 11,638 | 4 | 3 | 343.7 |
| 2015 Q2 | 15,662 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2015 Q1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | |
| 2014 Q4 | 29,077 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2014 Q3 | 24,867 | 8 | 3 | 321.7 |
| 2014 Q2 | 25,431 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2014 Q1 | 24,659 | 6 | 1 | 243.3 |
| 2013 Q4 | 22,451 | 1 | 0 | 44.5 |
| 2013 Q3 | 25,284 | 22 | 7 | 870.1 |
| 2013 Q2 | 23,840 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2013 Q1 | 23,331 | 15 | 4 | 642.9 |
| 2012 Q4 | 12,526 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2012 Q3 | 19,591 | 9 | 2 | 459.4 |
| 2012 Q2 | 29,050 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2012 Q1 | 21,147 | 7 | 5 | 331.0 |
| 2011 Q4 | 10,755 | 1 | 0 | 93.0 |
| 2011 Q3 | 373 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2009 Q1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2008 Q2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2008 Q1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2007 Q4 | 360 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2007 Q3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2007 Q2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2007 Q1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2006 Q4 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2006 Q3 | 178 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 2006 Q2 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
Reportable incidents
16 on file2026 · 1 incident
2025 · 4 incidents
The employee was released by physician and returned to work on 6/9/25 from a previous injury. On 6/11/25 the employee was taken back out of work by physician when they reported continued back pain from the pre-existing injury which was preventing them from conducting normal mine work.
Employee developed welders flash (Photokeratitis) to their eyes when welding.
Employee strained back at the start of employee's shift as employee was pulling themself up to the cab of the excavator.
Employee was exiting the mine property in personal vehicle at the end of shift when employee collided with an empty coal truck that was traveling in the opposite direction on the mine haul road.
2024 · 2 incidents
On 10/12/24 employee was outside the water truck and was in the process of entering the truck and twisted knee. Employee continued to work until employee was taken out of work by a physician on 10/23/24.
The employee slipped when dismounting the equipment and got EE's left pinky finger and ring finger caught between a lid, resulting in a laceration and strain to EE's fingers.
2023 · 1 incident
Employee stated that EE was tramming the D9 dozer when the park brake inadvertently became engaged causing EE to jolt EE's back. The employee completed shift and as EE stepped onto the mantrip, EE stated EE felt pain in lower back. The employee was taken to the ER and determined EE had a strain. The machine was inspected, and no deficiencies were found.
2017 · 1 incident
Employee was placing a strap under a 36 inch corrugated drain pipe down in a ditch
2016 · 1 incident
Employee was welding on the bucket of a loader when felt a strain in lower back when ee went to re-position self.
2015 · 4 incidents
Employee slipped and fell to the ground when attempting to mount an excavator.
No narrative on form that was submitted.
Working under hood of Komatsu HM400 truck and sprained/strained his back
Rish Employee was standing approximately 20' away from two other individuals whom were associated with another organization who were attempting to free the rollers on an excavator. One of the employee's associated with the other organization utilized a hammer to contact the roller and that is when a sliver of metal entered into our employees' upper torso area.
2013 · 2 incidents
Employee was getting off equipment to replace a grease tube on hammer. While he was exiting he slipped on track falling. He had a hold of hand rail and held on to try to stop his fall. His body weight was on one arm and he twisted around hurting rt. shoulder.
Dozer operator was widening the road in preparation for moving the Highwall miner when the cutting edge of the dozer blade contacted a low pressure polyethylene coal bed methane 8" gas line. This contact caused the cutting edge to puncture the line releasing methane. the dozer operator was the only EE in the area. He immediately contacted the foreman who accounted for all EEs.
The full compliance file on Big Creek Surface
A dated report covering the 26-year penalty trail, line-item violation pattern, contest and docket posture, rate-normalized peer benchmark, and full fatality history. Delivered as a PDF with the underlying data as CSV.