Mining Incidents

The Harrison County Coal Company: 2,675 MSHA citations operator

Controlled by Robert E Murray
MSHA operator ID: 0143073

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Fatalities
0
Total incidents
236
Mines on record
1
Years on record
2016–2020
Compliance record
MSHA citations since 2016
2,675
citations
466
significant & substantial
$1,944,039
proposed penalties
$1,478,778
paid to date
76% of proposed penalties paid to date, a $465,261 gap.
Source: MSHA violations data, updated weekly.
Inspection activity
MSHA inspections since 2016
617
inspections on record
28,597
inspection hours
9.4
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.
2,675 citations across 28,597 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.
$1.9M
proposed penalties
$1.6M
current assessed
$1.5M
paid to date
$141K
outstanding
2,667 assessments are final orders; 78 contested dockets.
Of $1.2M in penalties contested before the Commission, $878K was upheld in final decisions.
As of the most recent assessment on 2020-09-10.
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.
17.5%
significant & substantial
2.8%
high negligence or reckless
17.5%
reasonably likely or greater
30.0%
permanently disabling or fatal if injury occurs
Negligence coding: 0.2% none, 47.7% low, 49.2% moderate, 2.8% high, 0.0% reckless.
Source: MSHA violations gravity and negligence coding, updated weekly.
Injury rate, 2020
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.
6.90
total case rate
5.40
days-away rate
0.000
fatality rate
Above average. The US coal mining average was 3.19 and the all-US-mining average was 2.08 cases per 100 workers.
Year total case rate days-away fatal
2020 6.90 5.40 0.000
2019 7.80 5.44 0.000
2018 7.41 6.51 0.000
2017 8.85 3.39 0.000
2016 11.57 1.78 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: 2020-09-10, 5 years ago
97%
within 1.5 mg/m3
2,705
samples
21.52
dust max (mg/m3)
32
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.
556 samples taken by MSHA inspectors, 2,149 by the operator.
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR715
  • ROOF BOLTER (MOUNTED) (RETURN SIDE)620
  • LONGWALL OPERATOR (TAILGATE SIDE)286

Silica (quartz)

Last sampled: 2020-09-03, 5 years ago
2.8
silica avg (%)
128
samples
8.0
silica max (%)
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR40
  • ROOF BOLTER (MOUNTED) (RETURN SIDE)28
  • LONGWALL OPERATOR (TAILGATE SIDE)18

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: 2020-09-01, 5 years ago
12%
over PEL
231
samples
Most-sampled occupations
  • CONTINUOUS MINER OPERATOR16
  • ROOF BOLTER (MOUNTED) (INTAKE SIDE)16
  • UTILITY MAN16
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.
786 citations taken to the federal commission · 29% of citations on record
  • Settled 769 · 98%
  • Stood as issued 17 · 2%
94%
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 311 decided S&S contests · industry: 79%
27%
Penalty reduction in decided contests
$1.2M proposed, $865K 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 2020-10-19. 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
WEVA 2020-0087 Settlement McCarthy 2020 $90K → $63K
WEVA 2020-0203 Settlement McCarthy 2020 $60K → $58K
WEVA 2018-0461 Settlement Paez 2018 $58K → $38K
WEVA 2019-0558 Settlement McCarthy 2020 $53K → $26K
WEVA 2018-0399 Settlement Paez 2018 $49K → $33K
WEVA 2018-0619 Settlement Lewis 2018 $44K → $31K
Source: FMSHRC civil penalty dockets and decisions (public record), updated weekly.

Top causes

Incident timeline

2020
25
2019
51
2018
50
2017
51
2016
59

Mines on record

For insurers, brokers, and safety consultants

Where The Harrison County Coal Company 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.

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