78% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1,106,603 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
449
inspections on record
17,379
inspection hours
18.1
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.
3,141 citations across 17,379 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.
$5.1M
proposed penalties
$4.0M
current assessed
$4.0M
paid to date
$0
outstanding
3,088 assessments are final orders; 127 contested dockets.
Of $3.4M in penalties contested before the Commission, $2.2M was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2024-10-23.
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.
0.00
total case rate
0.00
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 1.65 and the all-US-mining average was 1.97 cases per 100 workers.
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
2025 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2024 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2023 *
4.34
0.00
0.000
2022 *
0.00
0.00
0.000
2021
1.29
0.00
0.000
2020
1.64
0.33
0.327
2019
0.48
0.00
0.000
2018
0.53
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.
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: 2022-08-23, 4 years ago
8%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
113
samples
84
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Calcium oxide113 over
Nuisance dust, total, <1% Qtz103 over
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz311 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg23
Area samples (mill and shop air)
Last sampled: 2009-09-04, 16 years ago
6
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.
822citations taken to the federal commission · 26% of citations on record
Settled
777 · 95%
Stood as issued
42 · 5%
Vacated or withdrawn
3 · 0%
65%
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 475 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
34%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$3.3M proposed, $2.1M 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 2020-09-16. 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 23, 2020CA · Metal/Non-Metalhaul/off road/coal/ore/pit/quarry/rock/rubber tire truck driver, transportation truck driverFatality · SLIP OR FALL OF PERSON
Lehigh Southwest Cement · Fall from machine
Contractor truck driver was found lying on the ground on the drivers side of cement haul truck at the east truck access platform outbound lane by Golden Star trucking trainer and trainee at ~ 1:30-1:45 pm.
December 30, 2017CA · Metal/Non-Metallaborer, blacksmith, bull gang, parts runner, roustabout, pick-up man, pitmanFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Lehigh Southwest Cement Co. · Contact with hot objects or substances
A fatal accident occurred on December 30, 2017. The employee was driving a Dodge pick-up in a stockpile area and pulled in behind a Caterpillar 992G loader. As the loader reversed, it struck the pick-up which then caught fire. The resulting injuries were fatal.
Lehigh Southwest Cement · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
Employee was walking near a line of Gypsum Bulk Delivery trucks (18 wheel T/T) and apparently stopped to lean on the rear of trailer while making phone call. Trailer moved forward, EE fell under rear trailer wheels.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Lehigh Southwest Cement Co. 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.