Mining Incidents

Noel Pit #1: 87 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Andrew Noel Construction Inc · Surface
Controlled by Andrew F Noel
Randle, Lewis County, WA  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 4503366

Noel Pit #1 has $76K in proposed MSHA penalties and $2K outstanding across 6 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 2000
87
citations
17
significant & substantial
$75,528
proposed penalties
$9,736
paid to date
13% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $65,792 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
31
inspections on record
428
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: 428 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Noel Pit #1 has $76K in proposed MSHA penalties and $2K outstanding across 6 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.
$76K
proposed penalties
$11K
current assessed
$10K
paid to date
$2K
outstanding
86 assessments are final orders; 6 contested dockets.
Of $70K in penalties contested before the Commission, $6K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2011-08-30.
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.
19.8%
significant & substantial
3.5%
high negligence or reckless
19.8%
reasonably likely or greater
60.5%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 1.2% none, 12.8% low, 82.6% moderate, 3.5% 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.
35 citations taken to the federal commission · 40% of citations on record
  • Settled 30 · 86%
  • Stood as issued 1 · 3%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 4 · 11%
100%
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 16 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
92%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$77K proposed, $6K 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 2011-11-14.
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 2009-1239M Settlement Paez 2012 $54K → $400
WEST 2009-1028M Settlement Paez 2012 $8K → $400
WEST 2009-376M Settlement Lesnick 2009 $6K → $3K
WEST 2009-1029M Settlement Paez 2012 $2K → $1K
WEST 2009-377M Settlement Lesnick 2009 $108 → $108
WEST 2012-211M Default Lesnick 2012 $100 → $100
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: 2002-06-11, 24 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
3
samples
2
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz2
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (3)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2002-06-11 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.28 1.34 0.21 Laborer, Bullgang
2002-06-11 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 1.29 Mechanic
2002-06-11 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.25 1.6 0.16 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. Andrew Noel Construction Inc 1997 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2011 0
2010 0
2009 2
2008 2
2007 2
2006 2
2005 2
2004 3
2003 2
2002 3
2001 3
2000 1
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Noel Pit #1 sits in Lewis County, Washington, 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.
Lewis County, Washington · Population 83,925
0.3%
Mining share of county employment
$69,690
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 Q3 0 1 0
2011 Q2 0 0 0
2011 Q1 0 0 0
2010 Q4 0 0 0
2010 Q3 0 0 0
2010 Q2 0 0 0
2010 Q1 0 0 0
2009 Q4 0 0 0
Show 39 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2009 Q3 160 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 100 2 0 20000.0
2009 Q1 55 17 10 309090.9
2008 Q4 337 8 2 23738.9
2008 Q3 524 0 0 0.0
2008 Q2 720 5 0 6944.4
2008 Q1 531 3 0 5649.7
2007 Q4 858 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 550 28 4 50909.1
2007 Q2 500 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 550 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 876 0 0 0.0
2006 Q3 986 1 1 1014.2
2006 Q2 1,024 1 0 976.6
2006 Q1 920 1 0 1087.0
2005 Q4 816 1 0 1225.5
2005 Q3 880 0 0 0.0
2005 Q2 845 0 0 0.0
2005 Q1 815 0 0 0.0
2004 Q4 860 2 0 2325.6
2004 Q3 830 0 0 0.0
2004 Q2 1,338 2 0 1494.8
2004 Q1 1,460 0 0 0.0
2003 Q4 939 2 0 2129.9
2003 Q3 1,017 0 0 0.0
2003 Q2 859 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 1,278 0 0 0.0
2002 Q4 984 1 0 1016.3
2002 Q3 600 0 0 0.0
2002 Q2 1,364 4 0 2932.6
2002 Q1 669 2 0 2989.5
2001 Q4 699 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 955 1 0 1047.1
2001 Q2 560 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 573 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 480 0 0 0.0
2000 Q3 480 5 0 10416.7
2000 Q2 480 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 560 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.