Mining Incidents

Blossom Trail Sandpit: 129 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

BLOSSOM TRAIL SANDPIT LLC · Surface
Controlled by Thomas D King
Pensacola, Escambia County, FL  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 0801046

Blossom Trail Sandpit has $86K in proposed MSHA penalties and $84K outstanding across 7 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

Watch this mine

Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at Blossom Trail Sandpit.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
129
citations
43
significant & substantial
$86,453
proposed penalties
$2,457
paid to date
3% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $83,996 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
57
inspections on record
773
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: 773 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Blossom Trail Sandpit has $86K in proposed MSHA penalties and $84K outstanding across 7 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.
$86K
proposed penalties
$86K
current assessed
$2K
paid to date
$84K
outstanding
121 assessments are final orders; 7 contested dockets.
Of $47K in penalties contested before the Commission, $47K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2024-10-01.
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.
35.5%
significant & substantial
28.3%
high negligence or reckless
35.8%
reasonably likely or greater
51.7%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 1.7% low, 70.0% moderate, 27.5% high, 0.8% 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.
42 citations taken to the federal commission · 33% of citations on record
  • Stood as issued 41 · 98%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 1 · 2%
100%
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 16 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
0%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$47K proposed, $47K 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 2019-03-14.
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
SE 2008-1005M Default Lesnick 2010 $24K → $24K
SE 2009-207M Default Lesnick 2010 $14K → $14K
SE 2019-0107 Default Bulluck 2019 $8K → $8K
SE 2019-0108 Default Bulluck 2019 $1K → $1K
SE 2010-159M Default Lesnick 2011 $400 → $400
SE 2008-1006M Default Lesnick 2010 $365 → $365
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: 2023-05-03, 3 years ago
6
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg6
Show the individual readings (6)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2023-05-03 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Dredge/Barge Operator
2023-05-03 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2022-12-01 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2022-12-01 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Supervisor, Co. Official
2007-07-25 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Supervisor, Co. Official
2007-07-25 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. GFD CONSTRUCTION INC 1986 to 2019
  2. BLOSSOM TRAIL SANDPIT LLC 2019 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 1
2025 3
2024 5
2023 4
2022 3
2021 3
2020 2
2019 1
2018 1
2011 2
2010 2
2009 1
2008 3
2007 4
2003 2
2002 1
2001 3
2000 4
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Blossom Trail Sandpit sits in Escambia County, Florida, where the Census mining category is 0.2% 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.
Escambia County, Florida · Population 323,275
0.2%
Mining share of county employment
$65,715
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 0 0 0
2026 Q1 13 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 36 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 510 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 550 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 878 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 1,410 4 0 2836.9
2024 Q3 1,138 0 0 0.0
Show 47 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 1,202 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 1,482 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 1,564 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 1,872 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 1,310 2 0 1526.7
2023 Q1 1,226 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 413 1 0 2421.3
2022 Q3 1,082 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 311 2 2 6430.9
2022 Q1 280 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 1,411 1 0 708.7
2021 Q3 779 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 609 1 0 1642.0
2021 Q1 316 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 177 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 898 1 1 1113.6
2020 Q2 469 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 240 21 12 87500.0
2018 Q4 288 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 240 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 264 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 0 0 0
2011 Q3 0 0 0
2011 Q1 1,260 0 0 0.0
2010 Q4 960 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 1,440 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 0 0 0
2009 Q4 0 0 0
2009 Q2 920 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 0 0 0
2008 Q4 1,080 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 1,920 12 1 6250.0
2008 Q2 480 9 3 18750.0
2007 Q4 2,080 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 1,560 6 1 3846.2
2003 Q1 960 0 0 0.0
2002 Q4 960 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 480 2 1 4166.7
2002 Q2 720 12 7 16666.7
2002 Q1 0 0 0
2001 Q3 660 0 0 0.0
2001 Q2 1,440 3 0 2083.3
2001 Q1 2,400 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 400 17 8 42500.0
2000 Q3 2,080 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 2,360 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 2,000 5 0 2500.0

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.