Richwood, Greenbrier County,
WV
·
Temporarily Idled
MSHA Mine ID: 4609448
Blue Knob Surface Mine has $24K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 4 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.
Watch this mine
Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at Blue Knob Surface Mine.
Fatalities
0
Total incidents
5
Years on record
2016–2021
Latest incident
Jan 2021
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2013
66
citations
9
significant & substantial
$24,002
proposed penalties
$15,734
paid to date
66% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $8,268 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2013
59
inspections on record
2,866
inspection hours
2.3
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.
66 citations across 2,866 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.
Blue Knob Surface Mine has $24K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 4 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.
$24K
proposed penalties
$16K
current assessed
$16K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
66 assessments are final orders; 4 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2023-11-06.
Source: MSHA assessed-violations and conference/litigation data, updated weekly.
MSHA sampling at Blue Knob Surface Mine shows respirable coal dust averaging 0.13 mg/m3 (99% compliant) across 307 samples.
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.
Respirable coal dust
ⓘ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.
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
2025 Q2
0
0
0
2025 Q1
0
0
0
2024 Q4
0
0
0
2024 Q3
0
0
0
2024 Q2
0
0
0
2024 Q1
0
0
0
2023 Q4
0
1
0
2023 Q3
786
0
0
0.0
Show 44 earlier quartersHide earlier quarters
Quarter
Hours worked
Citations
S&S
Per 1M hrs
2023 Q2
758
0
0
0.0
2023 Q1
746
0
0
0.0
2022 Q4
792
1
0
1262.6
2022 Q3
836
0
0
0.0
2022 Q2
1,461
0
0
0.0
2022 Q1
1,430
0
0
0.0
2021 Q4
8,094
0
0
0.0
2021 Q3
23,298
0
0
0.0
2021 Q2
27,347
1
1
36.6
2021 Q1
27,524
1
0
36.3
2020 Q4
14,793
3
0
202.8
2020 Q3
29,918
4
0
133.7
2020 Q2
27,259
7
0
256.8
2020 Q1
24,970
1
0
40.0
2019 Q4
22,271
2
0
89.8
2019 Q3
30,040
6
2
199.7
2019 Q2
29,528
0
0
0.0
2019 Q1
26,214
17
3
648.5
2018 Q4
13,465
0
0
0.0
2018 Q3
13,880
0
0
0.0
2018 Q2
12,120
4
1
330.0
2018 Q1
17,148
0
0
0.0
2017 Q4
17,435
0
0
0.0
2017 Q3
22,499
4
1
177.8
2017 Q2
28,659
4
1
139.6
2017 Q1
32,694
0
0
0.0
2016 Q4
24,534
2
0
81.5
2016 Q3
8,449
1
0
118.4
2016 Q2
8,088
0
0
0.0
2016 Q1
1,095
0
0
0.0
2015 Q4
629
0
0
0.0
2015 Q3
577
0
0
0.0
2015 Q2
28,408
0
0
0.0
2015 Q1
42,523
0
0
0.0
2014 Q4
35,697
0
0
0.0
2014 Q3
41,425
0
0
0.0
2014 Q2
35,986
5
0
138.9
2014 Q1
29,269
0
0
0.0
2013 Q4
20,975
2
0
95.4
2013 Q3
16,338
0
0
0.0
2013 Q2
16,237
0
0
0.0
2013 Q1
15,594
0
0
0.0
2012 Q4
676
0
0
0.0
2012 Q3
0
0
0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.
Reportable incidents
5 on file
2021 · 1 incident
January 6, 2021WV · Coalutility man, shift tech, service/dump truck operatorHANDLING OF MATERIALS
Victim was assisting with the replacement of a tooth on a loader bucket. Apparently EE's glove froze to the tooth and EE couldn't get EE's hand out of the way in time and EE's finger was caught between the tooth and mount. The tip of EE's left pinky finger was smashed between the two. The nail on EE's finger was removed
2017 · 1 incident
June 5, 2017WV · Coalfront-end loader, scraper-loader operator, pan operator, payloader, scraper rig operatorPOWERED HAULAGE
Victim was operating assigned loader. It had been raining a substantial amount. A rock fell from the highwall and struck the windshield of the loader causing dust, dirt & glass to get in EE's eyes. EMT's flushed and bandaged EE's eyes. At the hospital no foreign material was found in EE's eyes but there was minor scratches. Ointment was applied and EE was released.
2016 · 3 incidents
December 16, 2016WV · Coalutility man, shift tech, service/dump truck operatorSLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
The 2nd shift foreman, victim and another person were unhooking and draining the lines from the 8' water pump which had frozen. The water which came out of the water lines froze due to the -5 degree temperatures. Victim was holding onto the bed of the foreman's pickup when EE's feet slipped and EE fell on the ice. EE sustained a fractured left radius.
June 6, 2016WV · Coalbulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineerSLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
Victim was parking assigned dozer at the end of shift. EE stated to mine superintendent that EE was dismounting the dozer facing forward instead of backward and foot slipped off the push arm and went between the push arm and the track frame. EE suffered a fractured tibia just below the right knee. Surgery was done the next day to repair the damage.
April 13, 2016WV · Coalbulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineerDUST DISEASE OF LUNGS
We were notified on 04/13/2016 that employee had been ruled compensable for a black lung claim. Employee's employment at this mine ended due to a lack of work on 05/05/2015.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
The full compliance file on Blue Knob Surface Mine
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.