Mining Incidents

Kuester Pit 1: 1 MSHA citation Metal/Non-Metal

Ground Zero Services LLC · Surface
Controlled by Jason John Kuester
Courtland, MN, Nicollet County, MN  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 2103819

Kuester Pit 1 has $100 in proposed MSHA penalties and $1 outstanding across 0 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

Watch this mine

Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at Kuester Pit 1.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
0
Years on record
Latest incident
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2015
1
citations
0
significant & substantial
$100
proposed penalties
$99
paid to date
99% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2015
6
inspections on record
25
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: 25 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Kuester Pit 1 has $100 in proposed MSHA penalties and $1 outstanding across 0 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.
$100
proposed penalties
$100
current assessed
$99
paid to date
$1
outstanding
1 assessments are final orders; 0 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2015-08-12.
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.
0.0%
significant & substantial
0.0%
high negligence or reckless
0.0%
reasonably likely or greater
0.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 100.0% low, 0.0% moderate, 0.0% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, 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: 2017-05-23, 9 years ago
1
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2017-05-23 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. Ground Zero Services LLC 2014 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2019 2
2018 3
2017 3
2016 3
2015 3
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Kuester Pit 1 sits in Nicollet County, Minnesota, 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.
Nicollet County, Minnesota · Population 34,350
0.3%
Mining share of county employment
$80,362
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 Q1 135 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 29 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 532 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 259 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 225 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 450 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 1,600 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 565 0 0 0.0
Show 7 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2017 Q1 193 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 800 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 35 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 2,581 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 270 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 373 1 0 2681.0
2015 Q2 1,158 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.