Mining Incidents

LT105 Jaw: 23 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Kernen Construction · Surface
blue Lake, Humboldt County, CA  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 0405648

LT105 Jaw has $6K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 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 2006
23
citations
2
significant & substantial
$6,040
proposed penalties
$4,297
paid to date
71% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1,743 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2006
22
inspections on record
183
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: 183 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

LT105 Jaw has $6K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 2 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.
$6K
proposed penalties
$4K
current assessed
$4K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
23 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $4K in penalties contested before the Commission, $2K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2025-12-17.
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.
8.7%
significant & substantial
4.3%
high negligence or reckless
8.7%
reasonably likely or greater
52.2%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 13.0% low, 82.6% moderate, 4.3% 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.
3 citations taken to the federal commission · 13% of citations on record
  • Settled 3 · 100%
50%
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%
43%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$4K proposed, $2K 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 2015-10-25.
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
WEST 2016-0068 Settlement Miller 2016 $4K → $2K
WEST 2013-1154M Settlement Manning 2014 $343 → $300
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: 2016-05-24, 10 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
5
samples
2
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg3
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz2
Show the individual readings (5)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2016-05-24 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.45 0.94 0.48 Front-end Loader Operator
2015-06-10 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Backhoe Operator
2015-06-10 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2015-06-10 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.21 0.94 0.22 Front-end Loader Operator
2011-05-10 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Scraper 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. Kernen Construction 2005 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 1
2025 0
2024 2
2023 2
2022 2
2021 2
2020 3
2019 2
2018 3
2017 3
2016 2
2015 3
2014 4
2013 5
2012 4
2011 3
2010 2
2009 1
2008 2
2007 3
2006 2
2005 4
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

LT105 Jaw sits in Humboldt County, California, where the Census mining category is 0.1% 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.
Humboldt County, California · Population 135,418
0.1%
Mining share of county employment
$61,135
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 0 0 0
2026 Q1 422 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 0 1 0
2025 Q3 0 0 0
2025 Q2 0 0 0
2025 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 0 0 0
2024 Q3 731 0 0 0.0
Show 73 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 1,190 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 1,193 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 0 0 0
2023 Q3 0 0 0
2023 Q2 132 0 0 0.0
2023 Q1 501 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 0 0 0
2022 Q3 1,157 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 0 0 0
2022 Q1 4,695 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 1,569 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 0 0 0
2021 Q2 124 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 1,244 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 321 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 818 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 728 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 0 0 0
2019 Q3 610 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 0 0 0
2019 Q1 927 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 0 0 0
2018 Q3 2,342 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 166 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 175 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 173 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 2,358 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 514 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 406 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 323 1 0 3096.0
2016 Q3 0 0 0
2016 Q2 215 1 0 4651.2
2016 Q1 305 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 85 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 461 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 912 8 1 8771.9
2015 Q1 56 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 1,839 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 1,553 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 1,801 1 0 555.2
2014 Q1 179 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 364 0 0 0.0
2013 Q3 822 3 0 3649.6
2013 Q1 613 0 0 0.0
2012 Q4 989 0 0 0.0
2012 Q3 915 2 0 2185.8
2011 Q4 1,737 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 937 0 0 0.0
2011 Q2 850 3 1 3529.4
2010 Q4 303 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 950 1 0 1052.6
2010 Q2 5 0 0 0.0
2010 Q1 2 0 0 0.0
2009 Q4 0 0 0
2009 Q3 514 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 0 0 0
2009 Q1 0 0 0
2008 Q4 37 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 153 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 512 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 138 0 0 0.0
2007 Q4 398 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 837 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 2,277 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 339 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 281 0 0 0.0
2006 Q3 1,340 0 0 0.0
2006 Q2 1,110 2 0 1801.8
2006 Q1 975 0 0 0.0
2005 Q4 1,503 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 1,343 0 0 0.0
2005 Q2 2,168 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.