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Mine No. 1: 239 MSHA citations Coal

WA Mining, Inc. · Underground
Controlled by William F Adams
Caretta, Mcdowell County, WV  ·  Abandoned and Sealed
MSHA Mine ID: 4609183

Mine No. 1 has $430K in proposed MSHA penalties and $400K outstanding across 17 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
239
citations
118
significant & substantial
$429,672
proposed penalties
$8,920
paid to date
2% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $420,752 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
See WA Mining, Inc.'s full MSHA compliance history →
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2006
38
inspections on record
1,409
inspection hours
17.0
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.
239 citations across 1,409 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Mine No. 1 has $430K in proposed MSHA penalties and $400K outstanding across 17 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.
$430K
proposed penalties
$409K
current assessed
$9K
paid to date
$400K
outstanding
234 assessments are final orders; 17 contested dockets.
Of $324K in penalties contested before the Commission, $303K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2010-07-29.
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.
50.4%
significant & substantial
12.4%
high negligence or reckless
50.9%
reasonably likely or greater
34.2%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 9.4% low, 78.2% moderate, 10.7% high, 1.7% 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.
138 citations taken to the federal commission · 58% of citations on record
  • Settled 107 · 78%
  • Stood as issued 31 · 22%
99%
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 87 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
6%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$324K proposed, $303K 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 2010-09-29.
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
WEVA 2009-320 Default Lesnick 2011 $157K → $157K
WEVA 2008-1890 Settlement Weisberger 2010 $80K → $80K
WEVA 2008-1662 Settlement Weisberger 2010 $32K → $32K
WEVA 2007-775 Settlement Hodgdon 2008 $21K → $4K
WEVA 2009-885 Settlement Feldman 2011 $7K → $7K
WEVA 2008-1663 Settlement Weisberger 2010 $6K → $6K
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

MSHA sampling at Mine No. 1 shows 90% of 137 respirable coal dust samples met the 1.5 mg/m3 standard.

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.

Respirable coal dust
ⓘ Respirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.

Last sampled: 2010-08-31, 15 years ago
90%
within 1.5 mg/m3
137
samples
4.80
dust max (mg/m3)
72 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 65 by the operator.
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR63
  • SHUTTLE CAR OPERATOR (STANDARD SIDE)19
  • SCOOP CAR OPERATOR6

Silica (quartz)

Last sampled: 2010-05-14, 16 years ago
8.5
silica avg (%)
5
samples
11.3
silica max (%)
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR4
See US coal mines ranked by silica in their dust samples.

Noise
ⓘ The share counts noise samples whose measured dose exceeded the 90 dBA permissible exposure limit. It describes the sampled workplace, not what reached the miner's ear: hearing conservation programs and the hearing protection worn during the shift are recorded separately and are not reflected here.

Last sampled: 2010-02-18, 16 years ago
0%
over PEL
17
samples
Most-sampled occupations
  • SHUTTLE CAR OPERATOR (STANDARD SIDE)7
  • BLASTER/SHOOTER/SHOTFIRER2
  • SCOOP CAR OPERATOR2
See US mines ranked by noise samples over the legal limit.
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly.
Health sampling trend
ⓘ 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.
Respirable coal dust by year
ⓘ Respirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.
Year within 1.5 mg/m3 samples
2010 93% 46
2009 100% 6
2008 84% 56
2007 93% 29
Silica (quartz) by year
Year silica avg (%) samples
2010 4.9 1
2008 10.5 3
2007 6.1 1
Noise by year
Year over PEL samples
2010 0% 5
2008 0% 12
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly.

Mine No. 1 recorded 0.00 reportable injury cases per 100 full-time workers in 2008.

Injury rate, 2008
ⓘ This rate is reportable injury cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers per year, computed as 200,000 times cases divided by MSHA operator-reported employee-hours. Cases are injuries MSHA graded degree 01 through 07; accident-only events that hurt no one are excluded, and so are contractor injuries, whose hours do not attach to a single mine. Rates begin in 2000, when quarterly employment reporting starts, and are withheld below 20,000 hours in a year.
0.00
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
No reportable injury cases in any year shown. Employee-hours were reported in each of those years, so these are true zeros rather than missing data. Citations, listed in the compliance record above, are inspector-found violations and are counted separately from worker injuries.
Below average. The US coal mining average was 4.41 and the all-US-mining average was 3.61 cases per 100 workers.
In West Virginia, coal mining averaged 4.91 cases per 100 workers that year.
Under 100,000 employee-hours were reported that year, so a single case moves the rate by two or more. Read the figure as approximate.
Source: injury cases from MSHA accident and injury records; employee-hours from MSHA quarterly employment reports. Rate is cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers, operator employees only.
Ownership history
  1. Warcreek, Inc. 2006 to 2009
  2. WA Mining, Inc. 2009 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
ⓘ Coal production is reported quarterly and lags the current period; the most recent quarters may be incomplete.
Year Employees Coal produced (tons)
2010 6 62,967
2009 2 6,403
2008 17 71,258
2007 10 63,586
2006 3 1,218
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Mine No. 1 sits in McDowell County, West Virginia, where the Census mining category is 13.0% 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.
McDowell County, West Virginia · Population 18,413
13.0%
Mining share of county employment
$29,980
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
2010 Q4 760 0 0 0.0
2010 Q3 2,904 7 1 2410.5
2010 Q2 3,428 16 7 4667.4
2010 Q1 2,744 18 4 6559.8
2009 Q4 1,880 26 7 13829.8
2009 Q3 0 0 0
2009 Q2 0 0 0
2009 Q1 0 0 0
Show 9 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2008 Q4 5,648 21 14 3718.1
2008 Q3 6,522 30 19 4599.8
2008 Q2 6,686 34 28 5085.3
2008 Q1 5,911 23 13 3891.1
2007 Q4 4,925 26 17 5279.2
2007 Q3 4,644 9 1 1938.0
2007 Q2 4,823 19 5 3939.5
2007 Q1 1,824 2 0 1096.5
2006 Q4 432 7 1 16203.7

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.