Mining Incidents

Sand Plant: 33 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Taos Gravel Products · Facility
Controlled by Les Wilderman
Taos, Taos County, NM  ·  Intermittent
MSHA Mine ID: 2902432

Sand Plant has $6K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 4 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 2012
33
citations
8
significant & substantial
$6,437
proposed penalties
$5,697
paid to date
89% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $740 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2012
18
inspections on record
191
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: 191 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Sand Plant has $6K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 4 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.
$6K
proposed penalties
$6K
current assessed
$6K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
33 assessments are final orders; 4 contested dockets.
Of $2K in penalties contested before the Commission, $1K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2024-12-18.
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.
24.2%
significant & substantial
6.1%
high negligence or reckless
24.2%
reasonably likely or greater
21.2%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 18.2% low, 75.8% moderate, 6.1% 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.
9 citations taken to the federal commission · 27% 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 3 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
36%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$2K proposed, $1K 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 2018-11-06.
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
CENT 2019-0044 Settlement Miller 2019 $2K → $926
CENT 2013-178M Settlement Lesnick 2013 $200 → $200
CENT 2014-0493 Dismissal Miller 2014 $100 → $100
CENT 2015-0177 Settlement Lesnick 2015 $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: 2018-03-27, 8 years ago
1
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg1
Show the individual readings (1)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2018-03-27 Respirable dust, <.1mg 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. Perovich Properties Inc. 2012 to 2026
  2. Taos Gravel Products 2026 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 3
2025 2
2024 3
2023 2
2022 2
2021 2
2020 2
2019 4
2018 3
2017 3
2016 3
2015 3
2014 2
2013 1
2012 2
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Sand Plant sits in Taos County, New Mexico, where the Census mining category is 0.6% 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.
Taos County, New Mexico · Population 34,516
0.6%
Mining share of county employment
$58,908
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 380 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 191 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 318 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 281 0 0 0.0
2025 Q2 106 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 0 0 0
2024 Q4 268 1 0 3731.3
2024 Q3 338 0 0 0.0
Show 47 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 273 0 0 0.0
2024 Q1 287 0 0 0.0
2023 Q4 59 5 0 84745.8
2023 Q3 98 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 268 4 2 14925.4
2023 Q1 0 0 0
2022 Q4 140 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 17 2 1 117647.1
2022 Q2 62 0 0 0.0
2022 Q1 95 0 0 0.0
2021 Q4 58 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 168 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 151 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 80 0 0 0.0
2020 Q4 79 1 0 12658.2
2020 Q3 293 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 164 1 0 6097.6
2020 Q1 108 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 37 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 221 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 82 2 1 24390.2
2019 Q1 1 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 540 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 600 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 266 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 26 5 3 192307.7
2017 Q4 302 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 256 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 12 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 335 2 0 5970.1
2016 Q4 57 0 0 0.0
2016 Q3 470 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 163 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 239 2 0 8368.2
2015 Q4 310 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 479 0 0 0.0
2015 Q2 171 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 229 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 162 3 1 18518.5
2014 Q3 138 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 92 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 208 0 0 0.0
2013 Q4 621 2 0 3220.6
2013 Q3 630 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 313 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 0 0 0
2012 Q4 668 3 0 4491.0

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.