Mining Incidents
Search Operators Mines Alerts Research Controllers Fatalgrams About
English Español
← All operators

North Star Mining Inc: 1,778 MSHA citations operator

Controlled by Carl Kirk
MSHA operator ID: P23909

Watch this operator

Email me when a new MSHA incident is filed at any North Star Mining Inc mine.

Fatalities
0
Total incidents
71
Mines on record
11
Years on record
1998–2008
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2000
1,778
citations
653
significant & substantial
$506,603
proposed penalties
$118,990
paid to date
23% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $387,613 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2000
402
inspections on record
13,438
inspection hours
13.2
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.
1,778 citations across 13,438 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.
$507K
proposed penalties
$497K
current assessed
$119K
paid to date
$378K
outstanding
1,738 assessments are final orders; 18 contested dockets.
Of $142K in penalties contested before the Commission, $123K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2009-03-03.
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.
37.5%
significant & substantial
2.4%
high negligence or reckless
37.6%
reasonably likely or greater
11.3%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.1% none, 10.3% low, 87.1% moderate, 2.4% high, 0.1% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Injury rate, 2008
ⓘ 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.
1.86
total case rate
1.86
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Below average. The US coal mining average was 4.41 and the all-US-mining average was 3.61 cases per 100 workers.
Year total case rate days-away fatal
2008 1.86 1.86 0.000
2007 2.50 2.50 0.000
2006 * 6.01 6.01 0.000
2005 15.68 9.65 0.000
2004 9.08 5.19 0.000
2003 8.08 6.06 0.000
2002 1.62 1.62 0.000
2001 0.00 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.

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: 2009-03-17, 17 years ago
93%
within 1.5 mg/m3
1,719
samples
9.98
dust max (mg/m3)
882 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 837 by the operator.
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR808
  • SHUTTLE CAR OPERATOR (STANDARD SIDE)171
  • SCOOP CAR OPERATOR95

Silica (quartz)

Last sampled: 2009-03-27, 17 years ago
8.5
silica avg (%)
134
samples
24.8
silica max (%)
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR90
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: 2008-09-23, 17 years ago
7%
over PEL
174
samples
Most-sampled occupations
  • SHUTTLE CAR OPERATOR (STANDARD SIDE)41
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR36
  • ROOF BOLTER (TWIN HEAD) (INTAKE SIDE)18
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.
90 citations taken to the federal commission · 5% of citations on record
  • Settled 74 · 82%
  • Stood as issued 16 · 18%
100%
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 38 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
1%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$101K proposed, $100K 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 2009-03-17. 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
KENT 2009-801 Settlement Melick 2010 $32K → $32K
KENT 2009-721 Default Lesnick 2011 $29K → $29K
KENT20020202 Settlement Zielinski 2003 $15K → $10K
KENT 2009-538 Dismissal Bulluck 2010 $12K → $12K
KENT 2009-450 Default Barbour 2011 $10K → $10K
KENT20010396 Withdrawal 2001 $9K → $0
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2008
4
2007
5
2006
3
2005
16
2004
7
2003
9
2002
2
2000
13
1999
6
1998
6

Mines on record

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

Where North Star Mining 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.

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

See a sample report
Need a different cut of the data? Ask us