94% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $1,392 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2001
67
inspections on record
967
inspection hours
n/a
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.
Rate withheld: 967 inspection hours is too few for a stable rate. A minimum of 1,000 inspection hours is required.
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.
$23K
proposed penalties
$22K
current assessed
$22K
paid to date
$0
outstanding
146 assessments are final orders; 1 contested dockets.
Of $3K in penalties contested before the Commission, $1K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2026-05-20.
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.
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: 2025-10-15
17%
of limit-tested samples over the exposure limit
15
samples
6
limit-tested
Most sampled contaminants
Quartz, respirable, >1% Qtz61 over
Respirable dust, <.1mg9
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.
2citations taken to the federal commission · 1% of citations on record
Settled
2 · 100%
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 2 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
53%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$3K proposed, $1K 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 2011-12-02. 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 26, 2022AR · Metal/Non-Metalfront-end loader, scraper-loader operator, pan operator, payloader, scraper rig operatorFatality · POWERED HAULAGE
Ouachita Rock, Inc. · Caught in, under or between a moving and a stationary object
EE was operating a loader at our pit. A co-worker was in a dump truck & was there to get loaded with but was having trouble with the air in the truck. The co-worker radioed to EE to go ahead and load another truck. EE returned from loading another truck and crawled underneath the co-worker's truck without telling the co-worker. The truck then rolled back on top of EE.
For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants
Where Ouachita Rock, 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.