87% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $7,500 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
88
inspections on record
4,030
inspection hours
11.2
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.
451 citations across 4,030 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.
$58K
proposed penalties
$51K
current assessed
$51K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
443 assessments are final orders; 2 contested dockets.
Of $18K in penalties contested before the Commission, $10K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2003-12-30.
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, 2004
ⓘ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.
3.15
total case rate
0.79
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Below average. The US metal and nonmetal mining average was 3.73 and the all-US-mining average was 4.33 cases per 100 workers.
Year
total case rate
days-away
fatal
2004
3.15
0.79
0.000
2003
3.52
1.00
0.000
2002
2.38
0.40
0.000
2001
5.60
2.43
0.000
2000
2.50
1.50
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: 2003-12-10, 22 years ago
13%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
35
samples
30
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Total Carbon,TC304 over
Total Carbon,calculated from elemental carbon.293 over
Unlisted Particulate, respirable, <1% Qtz5
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.
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 17, 1991NM · Metal/Non-Metalshuttle car operator, mantrip operator, ramcar operator, rail runner, buggy operatorFatality · FALL OF ROOF OR BACK
Mississippi Potash Inc · Struck by falling object
A DEVELOPMENT PILLAR WAS BEING CUT IN A MODIFIED LONGWALL BY A CONTINUOUS MINER. THE ACCIDENT VICTIM WAS OPERATING A SHUTTLE CAR BEHIND THE MINER. BOTH THE OPERATOR'S HEARD A LARGE NOISE. T HE ACCIDENT VICTIM LEFT HIS SHUTTLE CAR AND WAS CRUSHED UNDER APPROXIMATE SIX INCHES OF SLAB. HAD HE STAYED WITH HIS EQUIPMENT, HE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN HURT. THE ACCIDENT VICTIM WAS FOUND APP
EMPL OPERATING JEFFREY HELIMINER 122M NEAR FACE OF SUB-MAIN ENTRY ROOM #1 IN AREA 169.WHILE LOADING ELMAC RAMCAR,ENTRY FACE AND BACK FAILED DUE TO NATURAL DEPOSIT OF INERT COMPRESSED GASSES LO CATED IN FISSURE IN ADVANCE AND SLIGHTLY ABOVE WORKING FACE.FLYING MATERIAL STRUCK EMPL AND CAUSED MULTIPLE INJURIES TO HEAD,CHEST AND ABDOMEN...FAILURE DIDNT RESULT IN IGNITION.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Mississippi Potash Inc 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.