67% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $978,711 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Labor enforcement (WHD)
US Labor Department wage findings since 2023
1
labor cases
$134,626
back wages owed
46
employees affected
Violation types
Wage & hour (FLSA) (1)
Source: US DOL Wage and Hour Division enforcement records, matched by employer name and state.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2003
1,532
inspections on record
70,650
inspection hours
6.3
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.
4,465 citations across 70,650 inspection hours.
Source: MSHA inspections data, updated weekly.
Penalty disposition
ⓘDifferences between proposed and paid penalties reflect both settlements and conference reductions and amounts still owed. Outstanding is the balance currently owed.
$3.0M
proposed penalties
$2.0M
current assessed
$2.0M
paid to date
$18K
outstanding
4,357 assessments are final orders; 267 contested dockets.
Of $2.2M in penalties contested before the Commission, $1.2M was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2023-09-14.
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.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Injury rate, 2023
ⓘ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.
1.64
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Below average. The US coal mining average was 3.17 and the all-US-mining average was 2.10 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2023
1.64
0.00
0.000
2022
0.00
0.00
0.000
2021 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2020 *
2.09
2.09
0.000
2019
4.66
2.80
0.000
2018
1.20
0.00
0.000
2017 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2016
12.47
3.12
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.
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.
Respirable coal dust
ⓘRespirable coal dust and silica figures cover coal facilities. Dust compliance is measured against the current 1.5 mg/m3 standard; samples predating the 2014 standard are included, so compliance rates are a coarse historical signal.
Last sampled: 2023-09-14
92%
within 1.5 mg/m3
6,991
samples
12.49
dust max (mg/m3)
17
over MSHA ECV
ⓘThe excessive concentration value (ECV) is MSHA's own per-sample enforcement threshold, which builds in measurement uncertainty; a sample over its ECV can trigger a citation. The count covers only samples MSHA assigned an ECV.
3,080 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 3,911 by the operator.
Noise
ⓘThe share counts noise samples whose measured dose exceeded the 90 dBA permissible exposure limit. It describes the sampled workplace, not what reached the miner's ear: hearing conservation programs and the hearing protection worn during the shift are recorded separately and are not reflected here.
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.
1,216citations taken to the federal commission · 27% of citations on record
Settled
1,211 · 100%
Stood as issued
3 · 0%
Vacated or withdrawn
2 · 0%
58%
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 667 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
44%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$2.2M proposed, $1.2M 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 2015-09-29. Vacated and withdrawn citations are removed from the file this view attributes through, so that outcome is slightly undercounted here.
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 operator contested before the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, with the outcome on record.
January 13, 2007WV · Coalroof bolter, rock bolter, pinner, mobile roof support operator (mrs)Fatality · FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Brooks Run Mining Company LLC · Struck by falling object
Two MRS operators were in No. 3 entry approximately 35 feet inby survey station 1037, when a piece of rock approximately 8 feet by 8 feet fell without warning out of the middle of the entry causing fatal crushing injuries to these employees. 3 roof bolts broke.
January 13, 2007WV · Coalroof bolter, rock bolter, pinner, mobile roof support operator (mrs)Fatality · FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Brooks Run Mining Company LLC · Struck by falling object
Two MRS operators were in No. 3 entry approximately 35 feet inby survey station 1037, when a piece of rock approximately 8 feet by 8 feet fell without warning out of the middle of the entry causing fatal crushing injuries to these employees. 3 roof bolts broke.
Brooks Run Mining Company LLC · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
Employee was pinned between the coal rib and the ripper head of the continuous miner as he was moving the miner from the 2 right crosscut to the 2 left crosscut by radio remote.
Birch River Energy, LLC · Caught in, under or between collapsing material or buildings
PRELIMINARY INDICATIONS ARE THAT A PORTION OF THE STOCKPILE SLID, COVERING AN EMPLOYEE WHILE HE WAS DIRECTING A LOADER OPERATING DURING ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE MAINTENANCE ON AN UNDERGROUND RECLAIM FEEDER. THE EE WAS COVERED FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME AND WAS PRONOUNCED DECEASED AT THE HOSPITAL.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Birch River Energy, LLC stands on silica, penalties, and injury rate
MSHA's standard limits respirable silica to 50 micrograms per cubic metre, but MSHA publishes
dust and quartz as separate files and never the silica figure itself. We derive it per sample,
score it against the limit, and set the operator's injury rate against a benchmark built from
the full MSHA operator record. With the 26-year penalty trail, contest posture, and fatality
history. Delivered as a PDF with the underlying data as CSV.