Mining Incidents

Southern Pines Pit: 40 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Sam Viola
Portsmouth, Chesapeake (City) County, VA  ·  Active
MSHA Mine ID: 4407346

Southern Pines Pit has $20K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 1 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
1
Years on record
2021
Latest incident
Mar 2021
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2015
40
citations
15
significant & substantial
$19,596
proposed penalties
$17,196
paid to date
88% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $2,400 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2015
21
inspections on record
437
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: 437 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Southern Pines Pit has $20K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 1 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.
$20K
proposed penalties
$17K
current assessed
$17K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
40 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $10K in penalties contested before the Commission, $7K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2025-07-01.
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.
37.5%
significant & substantial
30.0%
high negligence or reckless
37.5%
reasonably likely or greater
50.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 7.5% low, 62.5% moderate, 30.0% 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.
1 citations taken to the federal commission · 3% of citations on record
  • Settled 1 · 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 1 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
25%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$10K proposed, $7K 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 2021-06-07.
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
VA 2021-0017 Settlement 2021 $10K → $7K
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: 2025-07-08
8
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg7
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (8)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2025-07-08 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Bulldozer Operator
2025-07-08 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Backhoe Operator
2025-07-08 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 1.47 Backhoe Operator
2025-07-08 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Backhoe Operator
2023-08-30 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Supervisor, Co. Official
2023-08-30 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Supervisor, Co. Official
2018-11-28 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Backhoe Operator
2018-11-28 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Backhoe 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. Vico Construction Corporation 2015 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2026 7
2025 3
2024 3
2023 3
2022 3
2021 4
2020 3
2019 5
2018 5
2017 2
2016 3
2015 3
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Southern Pines Pit sits in Chesapeake city, Virginia, where the Census mining category is 0.0% 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.
Chesapeake city, Virginia · Population 251,153
0.0%
Mining share of county employment
$94,189
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 2,697 0 0 0.0
2026 Q1 1,071 0 0 0.0
2025 Q4 549 0 0 0.0
2025 Q3 569 1 0 1757.5
2025 Q2 648 0 0 0.0
2025 Q1 392 0 0 0.0
2024 Q4 797 0 0 0.0
2024 Q3 347 0 0 0.0
Show 36 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2024 Q2 534 3 0 5618.0
2024 Q1 98 1 0 10204.1
2023 Q4 479 0 0 0.0
2023 Q3 461 0 0 0.0
2023 Q2 465 6 2 12903.2
2023 Q1 467 0 0 0.0
2022 Q4 377 0 0 0.0
2022 Q3 508 0 0 0.0
2022 Q2 538 4 2 7434.9
2022 Q1 427 2 0 4683.8
2021 Q4 488 0 0 0.0
2021 Q3 549 0 0 0.0
2021 Q2 897 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 653 4 4 6125.6
2020 Q4 652 0 0 0.0
2020 Q3 605 0 0 0.0
2020 Q2 580 0 0 0.0
2020 Q1 1,072 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 1,112 0 0 0.0
2019 Q3 923 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 634 0 0 0.0
2019 Q1 426 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 543 6 2 11049.7
2018 Q3 973 3 1 3083.2
2018 Q2 633 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 529 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 161 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 0 0 0
2017 Q2 66 0 0 0.0
2017 Q1 228 0 0 0.0
2016 Q4 117 2 1 17094.0
2016 Q3 146 0 0 0.0
2016 Q2 48 0 0 0.0
2016 Q1 36 0 0 0.0
2015 Q4 41 6 3 146341.5
2015 Q3 21 0 0 0.0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

1 on file

2021 · 1 incident

March 18, 2021 VA · Metal/Non-Metal bulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineer MACHINERY
Vico Construction Corporation · Struck against a moving object

Employee operating a John Deere bulldozer drove over a raised berm, landing in a 10'-15' non-sloped ditch. EE was unrestrained at the time of the accident resulting in a fractured left foot and right shoulder contusion.