Mining Incidents

Superior Silica Sands Church Road Mine: 43 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Clayton, Barron County, WI  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 4703662

Superior Silica Sands Church Road Mine has $6K 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
2019
Latest incident
Feb 2019
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2012
43
citations
14
significant & substantial
$6,024
proposed penalties
$6,024
paid to date
100% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $0 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2012
27
inspections on record
251
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: 251 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

Superior Silica Sands Church Road Mine has $6K 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.
$6K
proposed penalties
$6K
current assessed
$6K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
43 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $586 in penalties contested before the Commission, $486 was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2017-05-03.
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.
32.6%
significant & substantial
2.3%
high negligence or reckless
34.9%
reasonably likely or greater
51.2%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 27.9% low, 69.8% moderate, 2.3% 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.
3 citations taken to the federal commission · 7% of citations on record
  • Settled 2 · 67%
  • Vacated or withdrawn 1 · 33%
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%
17%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$586 proposed, $486 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 2012-11-06.
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
LAKE 2013-96M Settlement Zielinski 2013 $586 → $486
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: 2018-06-06, 8 years ago
7
samples
0
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
  • Respirable dust, <.1mg6
  • Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz1
Show the individual readings (7)
Date Contaminant Concentration Limit Conc / limit Occupation
2018-06-06 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Washer Operator
2018-06-06 Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz 0.14 Washer Operator
2018-06-06 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Mechanic
2018-06-06 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Washer Operator
2017-09-20 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Washer Operator
2017-09-20 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Washer Operator
2017-09-20 Respirable dust, <.1mg 0 Building Repair/Maint.
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.

Superior Silica Sands Church Road Mine recorded 0.00 reportable injury cases per 100 full-time workers in 2018.

Injury rate, 2018
This rate is reportable injury cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers per year, computed as 200,000 times cases divided by MSHA operator-reported employee-hours. Cases are injuries MSHA graded degree 01 through 07; accident-only events that hurt no one are excluded, and so are contractor injuries, whose hours do not attach to a single mine. Rates begin in 2000, when quarterly employment reporting starts, and are withheld below 20,000 hours in a year.
0.00
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
No reportable injury cases in any year shown. Employee-hours were reported in each of those years, so these are true zeros rather than missing data. Citations, listed in the compliance record above, are inspector-found violations and are counted separately from worker injuries.
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.95 and the all-US-mining average was 2.33 cases per 100 workers.
In Wisconsin, metal and nonmetal mining averaged 2.60 cases per 100 workers that year.
Under 100,000 employee-hours were reported that year, so a single case moves the rate by two or more. Read the figure as approximate.
Year total case rate days-away fatal
2018 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
2015 * 0.00 0.00 0.000
* Fewer than 100,000 employee-hours that year; the rate is less stable.
Source: injury cases from MSHA accident and injury records; employee-hours from MSHA quarterly employment reports. Rate is cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers, operator employees only.
Ownership history
  1. Midwest Frac 2012 to 2014
  2. Superior Silica Sands 2014 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2022 0
2021 0
2020 1
2019 1
2018 13
2017 10
2016 0
2015 9
2014 8
2013 7
2012 9
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

Superior Silica Sands Church Road Mine sits in Barron County, Wisconsin, where the Census mining category is 0.7% 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.
Barron County, Wisconsin · Population 46,741
0.7%
Mining share of county employment
$64,619
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
2022 Q1 0 0 0
2021 Q4 0 0 0
2021 Q3 0 0 0
2021 Q2 228 0 0 0.0
2021 Q1 0 0 0
2020 Q4 0 0 0
2020 Q3 0 0 0
2020 Q2 24 0 0 0.0
Show 30 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2020 Q1 80 0 0 0.0
2019 Q4 0 0 0
2019 Q3 20 0 0 0.0
2019 Q2 0 0 0
2019 Q1 520 0 0 0.0
2018 Q4 4,616 0 0 0.0
2018 Q3 7,005 0 0 0.0
2018 Q2 6,726 0 0 0.0
2018 Q1 2,432 0 0 0.0
2017 Q4 3,727 0 0 0.0
2017 Q3 6,292 0 0 0.0
2017 Q2 7,162 2 0 279.3
2017 Q1 890 0 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 2,148 0 0 0.0
2015 Q3 6,102 2 1 327.8
2015 Q2 6,279 0 0 0.0
2015 Q1 6,649 0 0 0.0
2014 Q4 2,538 0 0 0.0
2014 Q3 3,729 0 0 0.0
2014 Q2 2,980 0 0 0.0
2014 Q1 0 20 4
2013 Q4 1,430 0 0 0.0
2013 Q3 5,920 0 0 0.0
2013 Q2 800 0 0 0.0
2013 Q1 480 2 0 4166.7
2012 Q4 4,040 0 0 0.0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

1 on file

2019 · 1 incident

February 5, 2019 WI · Metal/Non-Metal maintenance man, mechanic, repair/serviceman, boilermaker, fueler, tire tech, field service tech HANDLING OF MATERIALS
Superior Silica Sands · Struck by falling object

The injured as removing a counter weight from a excavator after it was on the ground it appears the ground gave way because of ice and there was slack in the chains, as the weight tipped and chains tightened it broke a couple bolts and cylinder bracket and fell to ground