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Orchard Loadout: 128 MSHA citations Coal

Tams Management, Inc · Facility
Controlled by James C Justice III
Crab Orchard, Raleigh County, WV  ·  NonProducing
MSHA Mine ID: 4604734

Orchard Loadout has $24K in proposed MSHA penalties and $4K outstanding across 9 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
2
Years on record
1995–2002
Latest incident
Apr 2002
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2015
128
citations
16
significant & substantial
$23,528
proposed penalties
$16,535
paid to date
70% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $6,993 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
See Tams Management, Inc's full MSHA compliance history →
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
54
inspections on record
1,126
inspection hours
11.4
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.
128 citations across 1,126 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Orchard Loadout has $24K in proposed MSHA penalties and $4K outstanding across 9 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.
$24K
proposed penalties
$21K
current assessed
$17K
paid to date
$4K
outstanding
119 assessments are final orders; 9 contested dockets.
Of $8K in penalties contested before the Commission, $5K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-02-05.
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.
13.4%
significant & substantial
15.1%
high negligence or reckless
13.4%
reasonably likely or greater
42.9%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 13.4% low, 71.4% moderate, 15.1% 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.
38 citations taken to the federal commission · 30% of citations on record
  • Settled 36 · 95%
  • Stood as issued 1 · 3%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 1 · 3%
71%
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 7 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
33%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$8K proposed, $5K 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 2022-06-21.
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 2019-0704 Settlement 2019 $3K → $1K
WEVA 2021-0530 Settlement Young 2021 $2K → $1K
WEVA 2016-0213 Settlement Bulluck 2016 $1K → $835
WEVA 2022-0422 Settlement McCarthy 2022 $1K → $808
WEVA 2019-0589 Settlement McCarthy 2019 $605 → $605
WEVA 2016-0269 Settlement Bulluck 2017 $450 → $412
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

MSHA sampling at Orchard Loadout shows 100% of 23 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: 2025-04-16
100%
within 1.5 mg/m3
23
samples
0.87
dust max (mg/m3)
0
over MSHA ECV
ⓘ The excessive concentration value (ECV) is MSHA's own per-sample enforcement threshold, which builds in measurement uncertainty; a sample over its ECV can trigger a citation. The count covers only samples MSHA assigned an ECV.
20 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 3 by the operator.
Most-sampled occupations
  • BULLDOZER OPERATOR8
  • HIGHLIFT OPERATOR/FRONT END LOADER7
  • UTILITY MAN3

Silica (quartz)

Last sampled: 2022-04-12, 4 years ago
0.3
silica avg (%)
1
samples
0.3
silica max (%)
Most-sampled occupations
  • BULLDOZER OPERATOR1
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: 2025-03-26
0%
over PEL
19
samples
Most-sampled occupations
  • HIGHLIFT OPERATOR/FRONT END LOADER5
  • BULLDOZER OPERATOR4
  • UTILITY MAN3
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
2025 100% 2
2022 100% 6
2021 100% 1
2019 100% 6
2018 100% 2
2016 100% 3
2015 100% 3
Noise by year
Year over PEL samples
2025 0% 1
2022 0% 5
2021 0% 2
2019 0% 3
2018 0% 3
2016 0% 2
2015 0% 3
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. Orchard Coal Company 1975 to 2015
  2. Pocahontas Coal Sales Inc 1988 to 2001
  3. Orchard Coal Company Incorporated 2001 to 2010
  4. Kentucky Fuels Inc 2010 to 2015
  5. Tams Management, Inc 2015 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 6
2025 5
2021 2
2020 3
2019 4
2018 3
2017 3
2016 3
2015 3
2003 0
2002 2
2001 2
2000 1
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Orchard Loadout sits in Raleigh County, West Virginia, where the Census mining category is 4.0% 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.
Raleigh County, West Virginia · Population 73,666
4.0%
Mining share of county employment
$52,055
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 3,423 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 3,493 2 0 572.6
2025 Q4 3,765 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 680 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 0 0 0
2020 Q2 1,620 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 127 3 0 23622.0
2019 Q4 2,162 0 0 0.0
Show 26 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2019 Q3 2,072 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 1,693 13 0 7678.7
2019 Q1 1,377 2 0 1452.4
2018 Q3 1,321 5 2 3785.0
2018 Q1 2,160 6 0 2777.8
2017 Q4 2,096 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 1,358 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 0 1 0
2017 Q1 2,071 5 0 2414.3
2016 Q4 3,552 8 0 2252.3
2016 Q3 1,780 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 1,534 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 1,124 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 1,440 8 3 5555.6
2003 Q4 0 0 0
2003 Q3 0 0 0
2003 Q2 0 0 0
2003 Q1 0 0 0
2002 Q4 0 0 0
2002 Q2 88 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 96 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 480 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 0 0 0
2000 Q4 0 0 0
2000 Q3 40 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 342 0 0 0.0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

2 on file

2002 · 1 incident

1995 · 1 incident

September 15, 1995 WV · Coal warehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operator SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
Pocahontas Coal Sales Inc · Fall from machine

SLIPPED OFF FUEL TANK, HIT RIGHT RIB AND BACK.