Mining Incidents

Purcell Sand & Gravel Inc: 130 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Purcell Sand and Gravel Inc · Surface
Controlled by Russ Purcell
Red Lodge, Carbon County, MT  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 2402067

Purcell Sand & Gravel Inc has $43K in proposed MSHA penalties and $35K 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 2001
130
citations
29
significant & substantial
$42,591
proposed penalties
$7,755
paid to date
18% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $34,836 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2001
39
inspections on record
563
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: 563 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Purcell Sand & Gravel Inc has $43K in proposed MSHA penalties and $35K outstanding across 2 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.
$43K
proposed penalties
$42K
current assessed
$8K
paid to date
$35K
outstanding
112 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $1K in penalties contested before the Commission, $812 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-06-17.
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.
25.2%
significant & substantial
13.9%
high negligence or reckless
26.1%
reasonably likely or greater
46.1%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 2.6% low, 83.5% moderate, 13.0% high, 0.9% 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.
10 citations taken to the federal commission · 8% of citations on record
  • Settled 10 · 100%
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 2 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
20%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$1K proposed, $812 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 2008-10-24.
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 2009-72M Settlement Lesnick 2010 $816 → $652
WEST 2009-73M Settlement Lesnick 2010 $200 → $160
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: 2018-10-04, 7 years ago
4
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Fibers, >5um2
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg2
Show the individual readings (4)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2018-10-04 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Front-end Loader Operator
2018-10-04 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2009-05-27 Fibers, >5um 0 Crusher Oper/Worker
2009-05-27 Fibers, >5um 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
  1. Purcell Sand and Gravel Inc 1994 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 3
2018 1
2011 2
2010 3
2009 3
2008 4
2007 4
2006 4
2005 4
2004 3
2003 2
2002 1
2001 2
2000 2
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Purcell Sand & Gravel Inc sits in Carbon County, Montana, 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.
Carbon County, Montana · Population 10,877
4.0%
Mining share of county employment
$71,017
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 850 3 0 3529.4
2026 Q1 311 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 40 1 0 25000.0
2011 Q4 361 0 0 0.0
2011 Q3 1,032 2 1 1938.0
2011 Q2 607 0 0 0.0
2011 Q1 0 0 0
2010 Q4 393 0 0 0.0
Show 41 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2010 Q3 987 2 0 2026.3
2010 Q2 989 11 4 11122.3
2010 Q1 132 0 0 0.0
2009 Q4 540 0 0 0.0
2009 Q3 1,084 0 0 0.0
2009 Q2 733 7 3 9549.8
2009 Q1 3 0 0 0.0
2008 Q4 635 0 0 0.0
2008 Q3 1,483 10 2 6743.1
2008 Q2 1,490 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 506 1 0 1976.3
2007 Q4 888 0 0 0.0
2007 Q3 1,338 5 0 3736.9
2007 Q2 1,490 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 896 0 0 0.0
2006 Q4 902 0 0 0.0
2006 Q3 1,244 17 3 13665.6
2006 Q2 1,150 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 1,598 2 0 1251.6
2005 Q4 1,998 0 0 0.0
2005 Q3 533 7 3 13133.2
2005 Q1 1,886 1 0 530.2
2004 Q3 1,913 7 1 3659.2
2004 Q2 1,088 0 0 0.0
2004 Q1 1,188 3 0 2525.3
2003 Q4 863 1 0 1158.7
2003 Q3 958 28 8 29227.6
2003 Q2 651 0 0 0.0
2003 Q1 0 0 0
2002 Q4 337 0 0 0.0
2002 Q3 587 1 1 1703.6
2002 Q2 600 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 491 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 480 0 0 0.0
2001 Q3 775 13 3 16774.2
2001 Q2 800 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 0 0 0
2000 Q4 0 0 0
2000 Q3 792 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 815 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 800 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.