85% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $210,466 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
730
inspections on record
24,881
inspection hours
9.4
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.
2,329 citations across 24,881 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.
$1.4M
proposed penalties
$1.2M
current assessed
$1.2M
paid to date
$0
outstanding
2,291 assessments are final orders; 64 contested dockets.
Of $715K in penalties contested before the Commission, $453K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-05-05.
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, 2025
ⓘ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.
1.71
total case rate
0.57
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
About average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.65 and the all-US-mining average was 1.97 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2026
2.40
0.00
0.000
2025
1.71
0.57
0.000
2024
0.60
0.00
0.000
2023
1.74
0.00
0.000
2022
2.89
0.00
0.000
2021
3.08
0.62
0.000
2020
0.00
0.00
0.000
2019
1.20
0.60
0.000
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.
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: 2026-05-20
8%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
443
samples
377
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz5415 over
Diesel particulate (total carbon)10811 over
Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz376 over
Nuisance dust, respirable, <1% Qtz113
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2026-03-27
22
samples
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.
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.
205citations taken to the federal commission · 9% of citations on record
Settled
202 · 99%
Stood as issued
3 · 1%
87%
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 128 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
32%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$663K proposed, $453K 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 2020-07-09. 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.
April 22, 2006TN · Metal/Non-Metalutility man, errand boy, service truck operatorFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Lhoist North America Of Tennessee, LLC · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
Utility operator was preparing to wash out the rail scale. The loader operator was weighing the loader on the scale. The loader operator announced on the radio that he was moving the loader off the scale. He slowly moved forward when he observed the utility operator on the ground. The utility operator apparently fell and was crushed by the front left tire of the loader.
December 23, 1998TN · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitmanFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Lhoist North America Of Tennessee, LLC · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
TEAM MEMBERS WERE CONDUCTING ROUTINE RAILCAR LOADOUT PROCEDURES. AFTER PULLING A RAILCAR OFF THE SCALES, HE STEPPED UP TO THE RAILCAR TO UNHOOK IT FROM THE LOADER OPERATOR WHILE IT WAS STILL I N MOTION. AT THE SAME INSTANT THE RAILCAR ROLLED PAST THE LOADER CAUSING THE ACCIDENT.
Lhoist North America of Tennessee, LLC · Struck by falling object
ROCK FELL FROM PILLAR STRIKING GROUND AND FALLING ONTO EMP, CRUSHING HIS HEAD BETWEEN THE DRILL DOGS AT BOTTOM OF DRILL AND ROCK.
May 1, 1984TX · Metal/Non-Metalwarehouseman, bagger, palletizer/stacker, store keeper, packager, fabricator, cleaning plant operatorFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Franklin Industrial Minerals · Caught in, under or between (Not Elsewhere Classified)
VICTIM WAS REPLACING BUCKETS ON A BUCKET ELEVATOR WHEN A CO-WORKER STARTED THE ELEVATOR AS NORMAL NOT AWARE THE VICTIM WAS IN IT. HE WAS CAUGHT BE HIND THE HEAD AND PINNED IN THE MATERIAL AT T HE BOTTOM OF THE ELEVATOR. RESCUE EFFORTS TOOK ABOUT 20 MINUTES DURING THIS TIME THERE WAS NO AIR OTHER THAN A SMALL HOLE DUG OUT.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Lhoist North America Of Tennessee, 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.