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Mill Branch Coal Corp.: 3,163 MSHA citations operator

Controlled by Alpha Natural Resources, Inc.
MSHA operator ID: P23653

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
227
Mines on record
11
Years on record
1997–2015
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
3,163
citations
926
significant & substantial
$3,042,429
proposed penalties
$1,867,988
paid to date
61% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1,174,441 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
809
inspections on record
33,926
inspection hours
9.3
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.
3,163 citations across 33,926 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
$2.1M
current assessed
$1.9M
paid to date
$198K
outstanding
3,107 assessments are final orders; 228 contested dockets.
Of $2.8M in penalties contested before the Commission, $1.8M was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2016-02-24.
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.
29.8%
significant & substantial
5.0%
high negligence or reckless
29.7%
reasonably likely or greater
18.6%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.0% none, 14.2% low, 80.8% moderate, 4.7% high, 0.3% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Injury rate, 2015
ⓘ 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.
16.69
total case rate
5.34
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above average. The US coal mining average was 3.76 and the all-US-mining average was 2.72 cases per 100 workers.
Year total case rate days-away fatal
2015 16.69 5.34 0.000
2014 9.24 0.96 0.000
2013 12.35 2.85 0.000
2012 5.38 0.00 0.000
2011 5.31 3.54 0.000
2010 8.46 3.08 0.000
2009 7.33 3.26 0.000
2008 10.36 3.45 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.

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: 2015-07-30, 11 years ago
96%
within 1.5 mg/m3
2,972
samples
21.85
dust max (mg/m3)
6
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.
1,429 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 1,543 by the operator.
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR1,361
  • SHUTTLE CAR OPERATOR (STANDARD SIDE)332
  • ROOF BOLTER (TWIN HEAD) (RETURN SIDE)271

Silica (quartz)

Last sampled: 2015-08-05, 11 years ago
8.3
silica avg (%)
292
samples
29.6
silica max (%)
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR121
  • ROOF BOLTER (TWIN HEAD) (RETURN SIDE)30
  • BULLGANG FOREMAN/LABOR FOREMAN1
See US coal mines ranked by silica in their dust samples.

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.

Last sampled: 2015-01-21, 11 years ago
10%
over PEL
287
samples
Most-sampled occupations
  • SHUTTLE CAR OPERATOR (STANDARD SIDE)69
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR52
  • ROOF BOLTER (TWIN HEAD) (INTAKE SIDE)46
See US mines ranked by noise samples over the legal limit.
Source: MSHA respirable dust, quartz, and noise sampling records, 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.
1,266 citations taken to the federal commission · 40% of citations on record
  • Settled 1,212 · 96%
  • Stood as issued 54 · 4%
90%
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 740 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
36%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$2.7M proposed, $1.8M 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 2016-06-22. 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.
Docket Decision Judge Year Proposed / upheld
VA 2014-114 Settlement Lewis 2015 $346K → $140K
VA 2016-0106 Settlement Rae 2016 $207K → $103K
VA 2016-0105 Settlement Rae 2016 $140K → $70K
VA 2014-72 Settlement Lewis 2015 $70K → $40K
VA 2015-0235 Settlement Simonton 2016 $70K → $42K
VA 2016-0168 Settlement Rae 2016 $70K → $52K
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2015
26
2014
31
2013
41
2012
9
2011
8
2010
18
2009
10
2008
13
2007
4
2006
1
2005
10
2004
1
2003
7
2002
15
2001
14
2000
6
1999
6
1998
5
1997
2

Mines on record

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

Where Mill Branch Coal Corp. 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.

The federal record itself stays free on this site. What costs money, and why.

See a sample report
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