Mining Incidents

PINE BRANCH 1 Coal

Controlled by Keri Alyssa Findley
Dunbar, Wise County, VA  ·  NonProducing
MSHA Mine ID: 4407224

PINE BRANCH 1 has $910K in proposed MSHA penalties and $6K outstanding across 33 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
23
Years on record
2010–2014
Latest incident
Dec 2014
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2009
813
citations
258
significant & substantial
$910,076
proposed penalties
$752,571
paid to date
83% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $157,505 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2008
135
inspections on record
6,433
inspection hours
12.6
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.
813 citations across 6,433 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

PINE BRANCH 1 has $910K in proposed MSHA penalties and $6K outstanding across 33 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.
$910K
proposed penalties
$759K
current assessed
$753K
paid to date
$6K
outstanding
787 assessments are final orders; 33 contested dockets.
As of the most recent assessment on 2015-09-16.
Source: MSHA assessed-violations and conference/litigation data, updated weekly.

MSHA sampling at PINE BRANCH 1 shows respirable coal dust averaging 0.56 mg/m3 (94% compliant) across 555 samples.

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.
0.56
dust avg (mg/m3)
5.51
dust max (mg/m3)
94%
within 1.5 mg/m3
555
samples
Most recent sample: 2014-06-24.
Silica (quartz)
6.3
silica avg (%)
10.0
silica max (%)
21
samples
Most recent sample: 2014-03-07.
Noise
11%
over PEL
92
samples
Most recent sample: 2014-03-13.
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, updated weekly.
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
2025 Q4 6 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 0 0 0
2025 Q1 0 0 0
2024 Q4 468 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 468 0 0 0.0
2024 Q2 456 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 1,413 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 2,044 0 0 0.0
Show 37 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2023 Q3 1,212 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 0 0 0
2023 Q1 0 0 0
2022 Q4 0 0 0
2022 Q3 0 0 0
2017 Q3 0 0 0
2017 Q2 0 0 0
2017 Q1 0 0 0
2016 Q4 0 0 0
2016 Q3 0 0 0
2016 Q2 0 0 0
2016 Q1 0 0 0
2015 Q4 417 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 2,450 2 2 816.3
2015 Q2 1,887 1 0 529.9
2015 Q1 1,581 3 1 1897.5
2014 Q4 1,345 8 1 5948.0
2014 Q3 11,815 9 2 761.7
2014 Q2 58,366 60 12 1028.0
2014 Q1 59,995 53 10 883.4
2013 Q4 52,597 61 20 1159.8
2013 Q3 50,971 87 29 1706.9
2013 Q2 52,687 48 12 911.0
2013 Q1 45,881 29 18 632.1
2012 Q4 40,023 47 11 1174.3
2012 Q3 38,749 51 13 1316.2
2012 Q2 46,382 69 33 1487.6
2012 Q1 43,611 46 14 1054.8
2011 Q4 42,344 37 18 873.8
2011 Q3 44,214 28 7 633.3
2011 Q2 46,506 53 16 1139.6
2011 Q1 41,735 42 14 1006.3
2010 Q4 26,079 29 7 1112.0
2010 Q3 19,321 32 14 1656.2
2010 Q2 8,693 17 4 1955.6
2009 Q1 0 1 0
2008 Q4 0 0 0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

23 on file

2014 · 5 incidents

October 8, 2014 VA · Coal FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Accident type, without injuries

A roof fall occurred in the intersection of the #5 entry at Break 16 on the 1 West Submain. That fall went to the edge of the intersection at break 17 in the #5 entry and across 5 Right to the edge of the intersection of the #6 entry in break 16.

July 3, 2014 VA · Coal FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Accident type, without injuries

A roof fall was found at CC 28 in the #2 entry on the north mains. The fall was 24 long by 20 wide by 8 feet high. The roof had a slip above bolt anchorage. The area had been bolted with 5 feet resin bolts and supplemented with 10 foot cable bolts.

May 30, 2014 VA · Coal roof bolter, rock bolter, pinner, mobile roof support operator (mrs) FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck by falling object

He was installing a roof bolt when a piece of rock approximately 22'L X 14'W X 2' thick fell striking him on the top and side of the right foot.

January 18, 2014 VA · Coal laborer, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, roof trimmer/scaler STRIKING OR BUMPING
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck against stationary object

Employee was walking in the # 3 entry when he bumped his head against a belt hanger resulting in a laceration on his left ear that required 5 stitches.

2013 · 8 incidents

November 26, 2013 VA · Coal laborer, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, roof trimmer/scaler HANDLING OF MATERIALS
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck by... (Not Elsewhere Classified)

Employee was changing batteries on a ram car when the jumper cable caught his arm resulting in a strain.

November 18, 2013 VA · Coal laborer, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, roof trimmer/scaler STEPPING OR KNEELING ON OBJECT
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck against stationary object

Employee stepped on to the man-trip when his knee locked up, he did not slip or trip and there is not a clear cut event that lead to his injury, we believe that his years of underground work had most likely weakened his knee.

October 3, 2013 VA · Coal maintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service tech HANDLING OF MATERIALS
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Over-exertion in lifting objects

Employee was lifting a metal cover on a diesel scoop when he felt pain in his groin. He continued working until October 7, 2013 when he started losing time

September 30, 2013 VA · Coal laborer, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, roof trimmer/scaler HANDLING OF MATERIALS
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Over-exertion (Not Elsewhere Classified)

Employee was plugging a scoop battery up when he felt pain in his back. He continued working until October 7, 2013 at which time he began losing time.

September 12, 2013 VA · Coal FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Accident type, without injuries

A roof fall was found in the #5 entry at crosscut #40 which is the mines primary escapeway. The fall was estimated to be 18 feet by 40 feet by 10 feet in diameter.

May 15, 2013 VA · Coal roof bolter, rock bolter, pinner, mobile roof support operator (mrs) MACHINERY
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck by... (Not Elsewhere Classified)

Employee was operating a roof bolter, when he was struck by a piece of drill steel on forehead over the right eye creating a laceration requiring 7 stitches.

April 18, 2013 VA · Coal maintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service tech HANDTOOLS (NONPOWERED)
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck by... (Not Elsewhere Classified)

Employee was working on continuous miner head when the tool he was using broke striking him in the mouth resulting in a cut requiring 7 stitches.

2012 · 1 incident

July 2, 2012 VA · Coal assayer, geologist, metallurgist, engineer, engineer management SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Fall onto or against objects

IEE was at #2 drive with another EE when he tripped and fell hit his knee on a piece of metal we went to Norton Hospital and got two stitches.

2011 · 6 incidents

October 21, 2011 VA · Coal FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Accident type, without injuries

Roof fall was found at 9:55am inby spad #750 in the #1 entry MSHA was called at 10:02am it has been cribbed off and dangered off.

October 10, 2011 VA · Coal roof bolter, rock bolter, pinner, mobile roof support operator (mrs) FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck by falling object

Employee was adding steel to finish his drill hole when a rock fell from the top striking him on the right middle finger

August 29, 2011 VA · Coal continuous miner operator, coal mole operator MACHINERY
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck by falling object

Continous miner was turned off. Employee went to move miner cable, rock fell off miner hit left foot

July 18, 2011 VA · Coal shuttle car operator, mantrip operator, ramcar operator, rail runner, buggy operator POWERED HAULAGE
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck against a moving object

Employee was moving a battery powered personnel carrier when the vehicle struck the coal rib causing the employee to strike his chin against the machine. This resulted in a laceration that required 6 stitches.

2010 · 3 incidents

December 13, 2010 VA · Coal roof bolter, rock bolter, pinner, mobile roof support operator (mrs) FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck by falling object

Employee was operating a roof bolter when a piece of draw slate fell striking his right hand resulting in a laceration that required stitches to close.

August 18, 2010 VA · Coal roof bolter, rock bolter, pinner, mobile roof support operator (mrs) FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Struck by falling object

Employee was operating a roof bolter when he was struck on the shoulder and arm by a piece of roof rock. The piece of rock measured 18 inches by 12 inches by 1-4 inches. The result was a laceration that required 8 stitches.

July 8, 2010 VA · Coal bull gang foreman, labor foreman, leadman, section foreman, shift boss DUST DISEASE OF LUNGS
Cumberland River Coal LLC · Inhalation of radiations, caustics, toxic and noxious substances

We have been notified that the employee has a sufficient degree of pneumoconiosis (black lung) and is eligible for Part 90 and wishes to excersize his option.

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

The full compliance file on PINE BRANCH 1

A dated report covering the 26-year penalty trail, line-item violation pattern, contest and docket posture, rate-normalized peer benchmark, and full fatality history. Delivered as a PDF with the underlying data as CSV.