Mining Incidents

WIRTJERS PIT: 14 MSHA citations Metal/Non-Metal

Controlled by Patricia Wirtjers
Sac County, IA  ·  Abandoned
MSHA Mine ID: 1302024

WIRTJERS PIT has $7K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 3 contested dockets, plus health sampling and the full incident record.

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
2
Years on record
1996–2002
Latest incident
May 2002
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2001
14
citations
3
significant & substantial
$6,537
proposed penalties
$5,057
paid to date
77% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1,480 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
5
inspections on record
41
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: 41 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.

WIRTJERS PIT has $7K in proposed MSHA penalties and $0 outstanding across 3 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.
$7K
proposed penalties
$5K
current assessed
$5K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
14 assessments are final orders; 3 contested dockets.
Of $5K in penalties contested before the Commission, $2K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2001-10-10.
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.
21.4%
significant & substantial
14.3%
high negligence or reckless
21.4%
reasonably likely or greater
64.3%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 0.0% low, 85.7% moderate, 14.3% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
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
CENT20020088M Settlement Feldman 2002 $2K → $746
CENT20030009M Settlement Zielinski 2003 $2K → $1K
CENT20020173M Settlement Barbour 2002 $693 → $220
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.
Ownership history
  1. J W Ready Mix & Construction Inc 1984 to present
Source: MSHA controller and operator history, updated weekly.
Workforce and production
Year Employees
2002 3
2001 2
2000 3
Source: MSHA quarterly employment and production, updated weekly.

WIRTJERS PIT sits in Sac County, Iowa, 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.
Sac County, Iowa · Population 9,759
0.1%
Mining share of county employment
$70,991
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
2002 Q3 0 0 0
2002 Q2 718 0 0 0.0
2002 Q1 163 0 0 0.0
2001 Q4 824 6 3 7281.6
2001 Q3 375 8 0 21333.3
2001 Q2 402 0 0 0.0
2001 Q1 8 0 0 0.0
2000 Q4 299 0 0 0.0
Show 3 earlier quarters
Quarter Hours worked Citations S&S Per 1M hrs
2000 Q3 383 0 0 0.0
2000 Q2 513 0 0 0.0
2000 Q1 144 0 0 0.0
No fatalities recorded at this mine.

Reportable incidents

2 on file

2002 · 1 incident

May 22, 2002 IA · Metal/Non-Metal front-end loader, scraper-loader operator, pan operator, payloader, scraper rig operator OTHER
J W Ready Mix & Construction Inc · Caught in, under or between (Not Elsewhere Classified)

VERY WINDY DAY--WAS CHECKING WEED IN ALTERNATOR BELT, WIND BLEW HOOD AND HIT HIS BACK & KNOCKED FINGER INTO BELT.

1996 · 1 incident

February 22, 1996 IA · Metal/Non-Metal bulldozer operator, universal operator, heavy equipment operator, operating engineer MACHINERY
J W Ready Mix & Construction Inc · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object

GOT THUMB UNDER PRESS.