Mining Incidents

Billington Gravel Pit: 158 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Billington Contracting Inc · Surface
Controlled by Robert O Billington
Duluth, MN, St Louis County, MN  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 2103031

Billington Gravel Pit has $94K in proposed MSHA penalties and $64K outstanding across 9 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 2001
158
citations
48
significant & substantial
$93,935
proposed penalties
$21,363
paid to date
23% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $72,572 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2001
32
inspections on record
466
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: 466 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Billington Gravel Pit has $94K in proposed MSHA penalties and $64K outstanding across 9 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.
$94K
proposed penalties
$86K
current assessed
$21K
paid to date
$64K
outstanding
154 assessments are final orders; 9 contested dockets.
Of $71K in penalties contested before the Commission, $63K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2015-08-28.
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.
31.2%
significant & substantial
11.0%
high negligence or reckless
31.2%
reasonably likely or greater
49.4%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 9.1% low, 79.9% moderate, 11.0% 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.
64 citations taken to the federal commission · 41% of citations on record
  • Settled 19 · 30%
  • Stood as issued 45 · 70%
96%
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 28 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
11%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$71K proposed, $63K 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 2012-02-24.
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
LAKE 2012-76M Settlement Miller 2013 $19K → $16K
LAKE 2010-81M Default Lesnick 2011 $18K → $18K
LAKE 2010-123M Default Lesnick 2011 $13K → $13K
LAKE 2011-2M Default Lesnick 2011 $8K → $8K
LAKE 2012-77M Settlement Miller 2013 $8K → $3K
LAKE 2012-423M Settlement Miller 2013 $4K → $4K
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: 2009-09-23, 16 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
1
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2009-09-23 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.51 1.66 0.31 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. Billington Contracting Inc 1991 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2015 1
2014 1
2013 1
2012 0
2011 1
2010 2
2009 2
2008 2
2007 1
2006 1
2005 2
2004 1
2003 2
2002 1
2001 1
2000 1
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Billington Gravel Pit sits in St. Louis County, Minnesota, where the Census mining category is 2.3% 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. Louis County, Minnesota · Population 200,056
2.3%
Mining share of county employment
$69,455
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
2015 Q3 960 6 2 6250.0
2015 Q2 700 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 0 0 0
2014 Q4 500 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 375 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 110 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 0 0 0
2013 Q4 215 10 2 46511.6
Show 48 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2013 Q3 550 9 1 16363.6
2013 Q2 100 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 0 0 0
2012 Q1 0 0 0
2011 Q3 480 20 6 41666.7
2011 Q2 1,200 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 0 1 0
2010 Q4 500 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 800 21 8 26250.0
2010 Q2 800 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 0 0 0
2009 Q4 401 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 1,200 25 14 20833.3
2009 Q2 700 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 0 0 0
2008 Q4 320 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 1,080 14 4 12963.0
2008 Q2 320 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 0 0 0
2007 Q3 960 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 960 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 0 0 0
2006 Q4 0 0 0
2006 Q3 960 5 0 5208.3
2006 Q2 960 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 0 0 0
2005 Q3 1,140 7 2 6140.4
2005 Q2 988 0 0 0.0
2004 Q4 0 0 0
2004 Q3 960 2 2 2083.3
2004 Q2 540 0 0 0.0
2004 Q1 0 0 0
2003 Q4 160 0 0 0.0
2003 Q3 1,040 11 2 10576.9
2003 Q2 640 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 0 0 0
2002 Q4 240 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 825 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 480 9 0 18750.0
2002 Q1 0 0 0
2001 Q4 240 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 640 2 1 3125.0
2001 Q2 540 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 0 0 0
2000 Q4 0 0 0
2000 Q3 800 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 1,590 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.