Mining Incidents

Quality Materials (Rancho Plant): 96 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Quality Materials · Surface
Controlled by Dave Beck
Rubidoux, San Bernardino County, CA  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 0405475

Quality Materials (Rancho Plant) has $68K in proposed MSHA penalties and $45K outstanding across 7 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
96
citations
36
significant & substantial
$67,637
proposed penalties
$20,821
paid to date
31% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $46,816 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2001
29
inspections on record
354
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: 354 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Quality Materials (Rancho Plant) has $68K in proposed MSHA penalties and $45K outstanding across 7 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.
$68K
proposed penalties
$66K
current assessed
$21K
paid to date
$45K
outstanding
86 assessments are final orders; 7 contested dockets.
Of $59K in penalties contested before the Commission, $57K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2009-02-18.
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.
41.4%
significant & substantial
52.9%
high negligence or reckless
41.4%
reasonably likely or greater
50.6%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 3.4% low, 43.7% moderate, 48.3% high, 4.6% 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.
9 citations taken to the federal commission · 9% of citations on record
  • Settled 8 · 89%
  • Stood as issued 1 · 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 5 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
0%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$48K proposed, $48K 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 2009-05-19.
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 2009-866M Prevail Bulluck 2014 $45K → $45K
WEST20020282M Settlement Manning 2002 $6K → $5K
WEST20020300M Default Barbour 2003 $4K → $4K
WEST 2009-557M Prevail Bulluck 2014 $2K → $2K
WEST20020358M Settlement Manning 2002 $500 → $400
WEST 2009-558M Prevail Bulluck 2014 $312 → $300
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: 2004-06-29, 22 years ago
0%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
1
samples
1
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2004-06-29 Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz 0.39 1.43 0.27 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. C D G Materials Inc 2001 to 2003
  2. Quality Materials 2003 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2009 2
2008 2
2007 2
2006 2
2005 2
2004 1
2003 1
2001 0
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Quality Materials (Rancho Plant) sits in San Bernardino County, California, where the Census mining category is 0.1% 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.
San Bernardino County, California · Population 2,187,816
0.1%
Mining share of county employment
$82,184
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
2009 Q1 32 3 1 93750.0
2008 Q4 210 7 4 33333.3
2008 Q3 40 2 0 50000.0
2008 Q2 960 0 0 0.0
2008 Q1 960 6 4 6250.0
2007 Q3 320 0 0 0.0
2007 Q2 320 0 0 0.0
2007 Q1 320 9 0 28125.0
Show 15 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2006 Q4 320 7 3 21875.0
2006 Q3 320 0 0 0.0
2006 Q2 320 0 0 0.0
2006 Q1 320 0 0 0.0
2005 Q4 320 1 0 3125.0
2005 Q3 320 13 5 40625.0
2005 Q2 160 0 0 0.0
2005 Q1 160 0 0 0.0
2004 Q4 160 0 0 0.0
2004 Q3 160 0 0 0.0
2004 Q2 160 6 1 37500.0
2003 Q4 0 0 0
2003 Q2 160 2 0 12500.0
2001 Q3 0 0 0
2001 Q2 0 7 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.