Mining Incidents

Cambria Fuel Plant Coal

Controlled by J Clifford Forrest III
Shanksville, Somerset County, PA  ·  Active
MSHA Mine ID: 3603330

Cambria Fuel Plant has $142K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 13 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
16
Years on record
1993–2022
Latest incident
Nov 2022
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2006
192
citations
53
significant & substantial
$142,088
proposed penalties
$73,262
paid to date
52% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $68,826 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
85
inspections on record
3,664
inspection hours
5.2
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.
192 citations across 3,664 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Cambria Fuel Plant has $142K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 13 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.
$142K
proposed penalties
$73K
current assessed
$73K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
184 assessments are final orders; 13 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-03-18.
Source: MSHA assessed-violations and conference/litigation data, updated weekly.

MSHA sampling at Cambria Fuel Plant shows respirable coal dust averaging 0.26 mg/m3 (98% compliant) across 363 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.
0.26
dust avg (mg/m3)
2.02
dust max (mg/m3)
98%
within 1.5 mg/m3
363
samples
Most recent sample: 2026-06-16.
Silica (quartz)
1.0
silica avg (%)
4.4
silica max (%)
27
samples
Most recent sample: 2024-10-17.
Noise
1%
over PEL
107
samples
Most recent sample: 2026-03-18.
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly.
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 Q4 3,776 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 1,226 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 1,155 2 2 1731.6
2025 Q1 3,073 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 4,896 3 1 612.7
2024 Q3 12,884 0 0 0.0
2024 Q2 21,500 3 0 139.5
2024 Q1 22,850 0 0 0.0
Show 73 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2023 Q4 21,016 5 1 237.9
2023 Q3 19,929 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 19,001 13 2 684.2
2023 Q1 19,408 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 12,953 9 2 694.8
2022 Q3 13,538 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 9,362 5 1 534.1
2022 Q1 9,655 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 9,700 6 0 618.6
2021 Q3 9,999 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 8,852 5 1 564.8
2021 Q1 9,548 3 1 314.2
2020 Q4 11,680 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 14,392 7 2 486.4
2020 Q2 13,042 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 15,128 4 0 264.4
2019 Q4 11,429 2 0 175.0
2019 Q3 14,237 9 2 632.2
2019 Q2 14,399 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 14,262 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 12,590 1 0 79.4
2018 Q3 12,754 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 10,710 6 0 560.2
2018 Q1 14,468 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 12,718 1 0 78.6
2017 Q3 11,107 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 12,330 1 0 81.1
2017 Q1 13,670 4 2 292.6
2016 Q4 11,264 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 10,755 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 9,175 5 0 545.0
2016 Q1 9,512 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 7,937 7 0 881.9
2015 Q3 10,576 2 0 189.1
2015 Q2 10,375 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 6,703 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 14,394 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 16,980 2 1 117.8
2014 Q2 14,578 5 2 343.0
2014 Q1 14,630 1 0 68.4
2013 Q4 17,686 0 0 0.0
2013 Q3 15,958 3 2 188.0
2013 Q2 16,803 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 20,339 1 0 49.2
2012 Q4 18,875 9 5 476.8
2012 Q3 22,065 1 0 45.3
2012 Q2 19,952 9 1 451.1
2012 Q1 17,437 3 0 172.0
2011 Q4 17,719 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 22,904 6 1 262.0
2011 Q2 26,195 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 16,511 13 8 787.4
2010 Q4 15,233 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 12,358 4 2 323.7
2010 Q2 7,285 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 4,396 9 4 2047.3
2009 Q4 5,928 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 5,903 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 6,314 9 7 1425.4
2009 Q1 2,634 9 3 3416.9
2008 Q4 686 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 450 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 504 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 480 0 0 0.0
2007 Q4 528 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 450 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 360 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 420 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 275 0 0 0.0
2006 Q3 640 1 0 1562.5
2006 Q2 0 0 0
2000 Q2 0 0 0
2000 Q1 0 0 0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

16 on file

2022 · 1 incident

November 22, 2022 PA · Coal bulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineer MACHINERY
PBS Coals, Inc. · Struck against a moving object

Employee was tramming a Komatsu D65 dozer across the top of the frozen filter cake stockpile parallel to the loading face. The dozer suddenly lost traction and slid sideways down the slope. The dozer went over the loading face and fell approximately 14 feet and landed on its side. Employee complained of back pain. EMS was called and transported employee to hospital for evaluation.

2018 · 1 incident

July 11, 2018 PA · Coal maintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service tech MACHINERY
PBS Coals, Inc. · Struck by... (Not Elsewhere Classified)

Employee was taking plow bolts out of cutting edge on a loader. EE was holding up on plow bolt with EE's hand and had an air impact on the nut. When EE spun the nut, the head of the bolt came down slightly and spun, causing a laceration to EE's left index finger.

2015 · 1 incident

June 22, 2015 PA · Coal prep plant foreman, supervisor, mill plant supervisor, kiln supervisor STEPPING OR KNEELING ON OBJECT
PBS Coals, Inc. · Struck against stationary object

A miner injured his right ankle when he stepped backwards onto a coal lump and rolled his right ankle. This report is being completed to terminate citation 9057388 issued on 11/18/2015.The injured miner continued to perform his normal job duties as a shift supervisor. The injured miner did not miss any scheduled workdays and his injury should have been considered first aid.

2014 · 3 incidents

May 3, 2014 PA · Coal bulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineer MACHINERY
PBS Coals, Inc. · Struck by... (Not Elsewhere Classified)

The miner's right forearm was injured by broken glass and he received a total of four sutures to close the two lacerations.

March 18, 2014 PA · Coal front-end loader, scraper-loader operator, pan operator, payloader, scraper rig operator SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
PBS Coals, Inc. · Over-exertion (Not Elsewhere Classified)

The injured miner was dismounting a 988F front end loader and rolled his right ankle when he stepped onto frozen area of ground that was elevated. The injured miner did not fall but he did roll his right ankle. The injured miner went to an orthopedic doctor on 03/31/2014 and was told he would need surgery to repair a torn ligament between the tibia and fibula.

January 16, 2014 PA · Coal coal sampler SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
PBS Coals, Inc. · Over-exertion (Not Elsewhere Classified)

Employee exited 1/2 ton truck at shop area. When he stepped out of the truck, his foot slipped on ice. He held onto the door handle with his left hand to keep from falling to the ground and injured his left shoulder. The injured miner was seen by an orthopedic doctor on February 27, 2014 and will not return to work until the injury is healed.

2012 · 1 incident

June 20, 2012 PA · Coal haul/off road/coal/ore/pit/quarry/rock/rubber tire truck driver, transportation truck driver POWERED HAULAGE
PBS Coals, Inc. · Struck against a moving object

Driver was dumping load on an uphill grade on a new modified material surface. While in the process of raising the bed of the truck the surface sank on the driver side of the power unit causing the truck to lay over with partial load still in the bed.

2011 · 1 incident

July 29, 2011 PA · Coal prep plant foreman, supervisor, mill plant supervisor, kiln supervisor HANDLING OF MATERIALS
PBS Coals, Inc. · Struck by... (Not Elsewhere Classified)

An employee was spraying water into the discharge area of the filter shoot with wash down hose. A bolt that holds the filter disk in place caught his shirt sleeve and injured his right forearm.

2010 · 1 incident

December 14, 2010 PA · Coal laborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitman SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
PBS Coals, Inc. · Fall from machine

An employee was closing doors on the train cars. The employee was pulling down on a bar to close the car door and it slipped causing the employee to fall backwards onto his right foot. The employee notified PBS Coals, Inc. on December 16, 2010 that he would need surgery to repair the broken fibula bone.

2009 · 6 incidents

July 22, 2009 PA · Coal prep plant foreman, supervisor, mill plant supervisor, kiln supervisor HANDLING OF MATERIALS
PBS Coals, Inc. · Over-exertion (Not Elsewhere Classified)

EE states he was holding a pc of steel to cut it and steel fell pulling his arm down causing pain in his right shoulder. EE did not report this injury or seek medical treatment until 8/7/09 when pain worsened. There is no est time associated with this injury. EE on modified duty pending orthopedic consult.

March 28, 2009 PA · Coal maintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service tech EXPLODING VESSELS UNDER PRESSURE
PBS Coals, Inc. · Struck by flying object

Two employees were installing 8" pipe. While tacking pipe in place, a spark entered a piece of PVC stub protruding from floor. This spark ignited the PVC glue gasses that were trapped in the piping system, creating an explosion that sent PVC pipe fragments throughout the plant. Two employees received medical treatment for shrapnel injuries.

March 28, 2009 PA · Coal maintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service tech EXPLODING VESSELS UNDER PRESSURE
PBS Coals, Inc. · Struck by flying object

Two employees were installing 8" pipe. While tacking pipe in place, a spark entered a piece of PVC stub protruding from floor. This spark ignited the PVC glue gasses that were trapped in the piping system, creating an explosion that sent PVC pipe fragments throughout the plant. Two employees received medical treatment for shrapnel injuries.

March 7, 2009 PA · Coal maintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service tech SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
PBS Coals, Inc. · Over-exertion (Not Elsewhere Classified)

Employee was marking steel in the lay-down yard and slipped. Strained lower back.

February 16, 2009 PA · Coal electrician helper HANDLING OF MATERIALS
PBS Coals, Inc. · Struck by falling object

EE states that as he bent over to pick up welding rods, a 4' piece of angle broke loose over head and fell on EE, causing a concussion and contusions to the neck, head and (R) shoulder. EE is off work until cognitive evaluation is performed for stage 3 concussion.

January 12, 2009 PA · Coal laborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitman DISORDERS (PHYSICAL AGENTS)
PBS Coals, Inc. · Contact with cold

Working outside with steel in extremely cold weather for number of days. He didn't realize how cold his feet were until developed blisters and numbness. Let it go & condition got worse. Probable frostbite. Reported injury to office 2/10/09. Employee did not begin missing work until 2/08/2009. Employee worked from 1/12 thru 2/07/09.

1993 · 1 incident

September 20, 1993 PA · Coal warehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operator SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
Pbs Coals Inc · Fall onto or against objects

EMPLOYEE WAS CLEANING SPRAYS ON COAL TABLE, SLIPPED AND CUT LEFT HAND(PALM AREA).

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

The full compliance file on Cambria Fuel Plant

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.