Mining Incidents

Frink Pit: 15 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Whitmore Contracting Inc. · Surface
Hampden, Penobscot County, ME  ·  Active
MSHA Mine ID: 1701034

Frink Pit has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 1 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 2020
15
citations
4
significant & substantial
$2,235
proposed penalties
$2,235
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2020
9
inspections on record
92
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: 92 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Frink Pit has $2K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 1 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.
$2K
proposed penalties
$2K
current assessed
$2K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
15 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $679 in penalties contested before the Commission, $679 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-01-14.
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.
26.7%
significant & substantial
0.0%
high negligence or reckless
26.7%
reasonably likely or greater
46.7%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 33.3% low, 66.7% moderate, 0.0% 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.
4 citations taken to the federal commission · 27% of citations on record
  • Settled 4 · 100%
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 2 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
0%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$679 proposed, $679 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 2021-03-29.
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
YORK 2021-0033 Settlement 2021 $679 → $679
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: 2025-07-23
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
3
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (3)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2025-07-23 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2025-07-23 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.16 0.85 0.19 Front-end Loader Operator
2020-11-02 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.82 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. Whitmore Contracting Inc. 2020 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 1
2025 2
2024 2
2023 1
2022 2
2021 1
2020 2
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Frink Pit sits in Penobscot County, Maine, where the Census mining category is 0.0% 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.
Penobscot County, Maine · Population 153,571
0.0%
Mining share of county employment
$63,248
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 478 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 350 2 2 5714.3
2025 Q4 850 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 1,088 3 0 2757.4
2025 Q2 994 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 844 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 945 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 1,120 0 0 0.0
Show 16 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 1,014 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 585 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 718 1 0 1392.8
2023 Q3 624 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 510 1 0 1960.8
2023 Q1 365 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 562 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 1,196 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 720 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 430 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 1,168 3 0 2568.5
2021 Q3 730 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 620 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 415 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 885 5 2 5649.7
2020 Q3 1,170 0 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.