Mining Incidents

MATTHEWSVILLE GRAVEL PIT: 1 recorded fatality Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Allen Matthews
Mesa, Graham County, AZ  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 0202880

MATTHEWSVILLE GRAVEL PIT has $65K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K outstanding across 11 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
1
Total incidents
1
Years on record
2005
Latest incident
Jul 2005
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
167
citations
84
significant & substantial
$65,222
proposed penalties
$51,778
paid to date
79% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $13,444 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
31
inspections on record
645
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: 645 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

MATTHEWSVILLE GRAVEL PIT has $65K in proposed MSHA penalties and $1K outstanding across 11 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.
$65K
proposed penalties
$53K
current assessed
$52K
paid to date
$1K
outstanding
165 assessments are final orders; 11 contested dockets.
Of $49K in penalties contested before the Commission, $34K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2012-03-23.
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.
50.9%
significant & substantial
4.2%
high negligence or reckless
50.9%
reasonably likely or greater
60.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 3.6% low, 92.1% moderate, 4.2% 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.
75 citations taken to the federal commission · 45% of citations on record
  • Settled 62 · 83%
  • Stood as issued 12 · 16%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 1 · 1%
87%
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 39 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
29%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$49K proposed, $34K 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 2012-02-14.
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 2010-1557M Settlement Miller 2012 $14K → $10K
WEST 2012-527M Settlement Lesnick 2013 $12K → $7K
WEST 2010-439M Settlement Lesnick 2010 $8K → $6K
WEST 2010-438M Settlement Miller 2012 $6K → $4K
WEST 2006-114M Settlement Bulluck 2006 $3K → $2K
WEST 2010-1756M Settlement Miller 2012 $2K → $1K
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: 2011-05-11, 15 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
2
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
Show the individual readings (2)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2011-05-11 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2009-03-25 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.29 1.04 0.28 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. Matthewsville Excavating 2000 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2011 1
2010 1
2009 1
2008 1
2007 1
2006 2
2005 1
2004 1
2003 1
2002 1
2001 1
2000 1
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

MATTHEWSVILLE GRAVEL PIT sits in Graham County, Arizona, where the Census mining category is 11.5% 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.
Graham County, Arizona · Population 38,860
11.5%
Mining share of county employment
$67,326
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
2011 Q4 420 11 5 26190.5
2011 Q3 460 1 0 2173.9
2011 Q2 480 3 1 6250.0
2011 Q1 480 0 0 0.0
2010 Q4 460 3 2 6521.7
2010 Q3 460 0 0 0.0
2010 Q2 480 19 6 39583.3
2010 Q1 480 0 0 0.0
Show 39 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2009 Q4 480 14 8 29166.7
2009 Q3 460 1 0 2173.9
2009 Q2 480 0 0 0.0
2009 Q1 480 6 3 12500.0
2008 Q4 180 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 480 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 640 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 480 12 6 25000.0
2007 Q4 960 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 480 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 640 1 0 1562.5
2007 Q1 480 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 480 1 0 2083.3
2006 Q3 480 0 0 0.0
2006 Q2 680 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 860 1 1 1162.8
2005 Q4 480 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 480 13 8 27083.3
2005 Q2 480 6 1 12500.0
2005 Q1 480 0 0 0.0
2004 Q4 460 1 0 2173.9
2004 Q3 480 0 0 0.0
2004 Q2 320 8 4 25000.0
2004 Q1 365 0 0 0.0
2003 Q4 480 2 0 4166.7
2003 Q3 310 0 0 0.0
2003 Q2 450 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 460 21 16 45652.2
2002 Q4 360 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 245 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 300 11 3 36666.7
2002 Q1 350 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 400 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 350 0 0 0.0
2001 Q2 500 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 500 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 180 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 300 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 140 31 20 221428.6

Fatalities at this mine

1 recorded
July 21, 2005 AZ · Metal/Non-Metal warehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operator Fatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Matthewsville Excavating · Caught in, under or between running or meshing objects

Employee was caught in the tail pulley of feed conveyor and his hand & arm was pulled in until his chest contacted frame work. This caused him to die of asphixiation.