What are Montgomery Sand & Gravel's MSHA penalties?

Montgomery Sand & Gravel has $8K in proposed MSHA penalties on record, with $2K currently outstanding across 2 contested dockets.

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Montgomery Sand & Gravel: 45 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Hilltown Sand & Gravel · Surface

Controlled by Darren Leinbach; John M Hess; Darvin J Hess; Dennis L Nolt; Kelvin J

Chester, Hampden County, MA · Abandoned

MSHA Mine ID: 1901141

Montgomery Sand & Gravel has $8K in proposed MSHA penalties and $2K 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 2005

citations

significant & substantial

$8,171

proposed penalties

$3,428

paid to date

42% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $4,743 gap.

Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.

Inspection activity

MSHA inspections since 2005

inspections on record

170

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: 170 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.

Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Penalty disposition

ⓘ

Differences between proposed and paid penalties reflect both settlements and conference reductions and amounts still owed. Outstanding is the balance currently owed.

$8K

proposed penalties

$5K

current assessed

$3K

paid to date

$2K

outstanding

44 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.

Of $4K in penalties contested before the Commission, $1K was upheld in final decisions.

As of the most recent assessment on 2019-09-16.

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.

20.5%

significant & substantial

15.9%

high negligence or reckless

25.0%

reasonably likely or greater

22.7%

permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs

Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 9.1% low, 75.0% moderate, 15.9% 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 · 9% of citations on record

Settled 4 · 100%

33%

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 3 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%

72%

Penalty reduction in decided contests

$4K proposed, $1K 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 2009-10-14.

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
YORK 2010-17M	Settlement	Koutras	2011	$4K → $1K
YORK 2010-18M	Settlement	Koutras	2011	$343 → $200

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: 2019-09-17, 6 years ago

samples

limit-tested

Most sampled contaminants

Respirable dust, <.1mg2

Show the individual readings (2)

Date	Contaminant	Concentration	Limit	Conc / limit	Occupation
2019-09-17	Respirable dust, <.1mg	0			Rotary Bucket Ex. Operator
2019-09-17	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

PECKHAM ENTERPRISES LLC 2005 to 2019
Hilltown Sand & Gravel 2019 to present

Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.

Workforce and production

Year	Employees
2020	3
2019	2
2010	0
2009	1
2008	4
2007	6
2006	4
2005	3

Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

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.

Hampden County, Massachusetts · Population 462,853

0.1%

Mining share of county employment

$70,535

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	Per 1M hrs
2020 Q1	830	0	0.0
2019 Q4	421	0	0.0
2019 Q3	520	3	5769.2
2010 Q3	0	0
2009 Q1	300	0	0.0
2008 Q1	1,012	0	0.0
2007 Q4	1,825	0	0.0
2007 Q3	2,369	4	1688.5

Show 9 earlier quarters

Quarter	Hours worked	Citations	S&S	Per 1M hrs
2007 Q2	2,321	0	0	0.0
2007 Q1	531	0	0	0.0
2006 Q4	1,636	0	0	0.0
2006 Q3	1,594	2	0	1254.7
2006 Q2	1,627	0	0	0.0
2006 Q1	720	0	0	0.0
2005 Q4	1,513	2	0	1321.9
2005 Q3	1,447	0	0	0.0
2005 Q2	1,524	20	7	13123.4

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.

Watch this mine

Montgomery Sand & Gravel has $8K in proposed MSHA penalties and $2K outstanding across 2 contested dockets.

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.

Montgomery Sand & Gravel sits in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where the Census mining category is 0.1% of county employment.

Related mines

Other mines operated by Hilltown Sand & Gravel

Other mines in MA

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.