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Hiawassee Quarry: 119 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Hiawassee, Towns County, GA  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 0900923

Hiawassee Quarry has $18K in proposed MSHA penalties and $2K outstanding across 1 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
3
Years on record
1997–2002
Latest incident
Sep 2002
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
119
citations
30
significant & substantial
$18,372
proposed penalties
$15,946
paid to date
87% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $2,426 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
See Western Materials LLC 828-479-3581's full MSHA compliance history →
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
66
inspections on record
760
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: 760 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Hiawassee Quarry has $18K in proposed MSHA penalties and $2K 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.
$18K
proposed penalties
$18K
current assessed
$16K
paid to date
$2K
outstanding
117 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $400 in penalties contested before the Commission, $400 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2019-06-12.
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.
25.6%
significant & substantial
6.0%
high negligence or reckless
26.5%
reasonably likely or greater
50.4%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 11.1% low, 82.9% moderate, 6.0% 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 · 3% of citations on record
  • Stood as issued 4 · 100%
0%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$400 proposed, $400 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 2009-03-25.
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 2009-366M Dismissal Lesnick 2010 $400 → $400
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: 2017-02-14, 9 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
11
samples
4
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz4
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg3
  • Fibers, >5um2
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz2
Show the individual readings (11)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2017-02-14 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2017-02-14 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.17 Dry Screen Plant Operator
2017-02-14 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.14 1.16 0.12 Cleanup Man
2017-02-14 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Backhoe Operator
2007-03-13 Fibers, >5um 0.02 Utility Man
2006-09-07 Fibers, >5um 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2006-09-07 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.3 1.12 0.27 Utility Man
2005-04-12 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2001-11-20 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.15 Front-end Loader Operator
2001-08-21 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.31 1.01 0.31 Crusher Oper/Worker
2001-08-21 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.23 0.47 0.49 Backhoe 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. Taylor & Taylor Construction Company 1980 to 1995
  2. Long Mountain Resources Inc 1996 to 2003
  3. Taylor & Taylor Const Inc 2003 to 2014
  4. Quintrell Quarry, LLC 2006 to 2008
  5. Western Materials LLC 2014 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2019 9
2018 9
2017 7
2016 7
2015 7
2014 4
2013 1
2012 2
2011 2
2010 3
2009 3
2007 6
2006 5
2005 3
2004 4
2003 1
2002 6
2001 7
2000 6
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Hiawassee Quarry sits in Towns County, Georgia, where the Census mining category is 0.3% 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.
Towns County, Georgia · Population 12,739
0.3%
Mining share of county employment
$58,400
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
2019 Q4 1,233 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 4,259 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 3,266 11 5 3368.0
2019 Q1 5,182 10 3 1929.8
2018 Q4 4,916 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 4,160 1 0 240.4
2018 Q2 4,220 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 4,266 1 0 234.4
Show 66 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2017 Q4 3,455 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 3,806 5 2 1313.7
2017 Q2 3,692 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 3,645 4 0 1097.4
2016 Q4 3,317 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 3,381 3 1 887.3
2016 Q2 3,984 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 4,124 2 0 485.0
2015 Q4 3,115 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 3,934 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 3,484 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 3,511 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 3,101 3 2 967.4
2014 Q3 2,601 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 82 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 36 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 42 1 0 23809.5
2013 Q3 40 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 62 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 68 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 84 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 126 0 0 0.0
2012 Q2 112 3 0 26785.7
2012 Q1 262 0 0 0.0
2011 Q4 624 4 2 6410.3
2011 Q3 358 0 0 0.0
2011 Q2 310 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 608 0 0 0.0
2010 Q4 613 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 1,503 0 0 0.0
2010 Q2 1,698 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 996 1 0 1004.0
2009 Q4 1,299 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 1,850 5 1 2702.7
2009 Q2 1,257 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 1,088 5 0 4595.6
2007 Q2 3,114 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 3,114 4 1 1284.5
2006 Q4 3,273 0 0 0.0
2006 Q3 4,213 10 2 2373.6
2006 Q2 2,719 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 1,355 0 0 0.0
2005 Q4 0 0 0
2005 Q3 2,203 0 0 0.0
2005 Q2 2,243 5 1 2229.2
2005 Q1 1,792 0 0 0.0
2004 Q4 2,152 0 0 0.0
2004 Q3 1,732 1 0 577.4
2004 Q2 2,286 6 1 2624.7
2004 Q1 2,156 0 0 0.0
2003 Q4 0 0 0
2003 Q3 0 0 0
2003 Q2 0 0 0
2003 Q1 1,289 3 0 2327.4
2002 Q4 2,965 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 3,154 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 3,217 7 2 2175.9
2002 Q1 3,559 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 3,703 3 0 810.2
2001 Q3 3,688 5 4 1355.7
2001 Q2 3,752 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 3,495 3 0 858.4
2000 Q4 3,482 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 4,036 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 3,528 6 1 1700.7
2000 Q1 3,602 1 1 277.6
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

3 on file

2002 · 1 incident

September 27, 2002 GA · Metal/Non-Metal mine manager, mine foreman, mine owner HANDLING OF MATERIALS
Long Mountain Resources Inc · Over-exertion (Not Elsewhere Classified)

WE WERE CLEANING UNDER A CONVEYOR. THE SHOVEL HIT A STONE AND MY LEFT KNEE TWISTED.

1999 · 1 incident

April 21, 1999 GA · Metal/Non-Metal haul/off road/coal/ore/pit/quarry/rock/rubber tire truck driver, transportation truck driver HANDLING OF MATERIALS
Long Mountain Resources Inc · Over-exertion in lifting objects

EMPLOYEE WAS DIRECTED BY MANAGEMENT TO MAKE A GUARD OUT OF A PIECE OF OLD SAND SCREEN AND HE INFORMED MANAGEMENT THAT HE HURT HIS BACK PICKING UP THE SCREEN.

1997 · 1 incident

September 15, 1997 GA · Metal/Non-Metal warehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operator HANDLING OF MATERIALS
Long Mountain Resources Inc · Struck by... (Not Elsewhere Classified)

CLEANING ROCKS OUT OF CONE IN CRUSHER--EE WALKED BEHIND COWORKER JUST AS HE WAS FIXING TO THROW A ROCK OUT. THE ROCK STRUCK EE IN THE FACE BETWEEN HIS EYES--REQUIRED 4-5 STITCHES.