Contested Violations Data Set

Description:

The Contested Violations data set includes records of assessed violations that were contested (legally challenged) by the violator after being issued. When a violator disagrees with a citation, order, or the proposed civil penalty assessment issued by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), they can submit a request for legal review. If that request is accepted, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) assigns the case a docket number.

Links:

• Download (in text format)
• Definition File
• Definition File (in excel format)

Date Range:

January 1, 2000, to present

What’s in the Data Set:

• Citation Information:
  • CITATION_NO
  • CITATION_ISSUE_DT
  • ASSESS_TYPE_CODE
  • DOCKET_NO
• Mine Details:
  • MINE_ID
  • MINE_NAME
• Contest Process: Key dates related to the contest (e.g., when it was filed, any extensions, final decision), and the legal process it went through, including judge and court details.
  • CONTEST_DT
  • DOCKET_DECISION
  • JUDGE_FIRST_NAME
  • JUDGE_LAST_NAME
  • DECISION_DT
• The penalty amount proposed when the violation was contested and the final amount after a decision.
  • PROPOSED_PENALTY_AMT
  • DECISION_PENALTY_AMT
• Severity and Responsibility Indicators: Assesses how serious the violation was—likelihood of harm, number of people affected, injury type, and level of negligence.
  • ORIGINAL_GRAVITY_LIKELIHOOD
  • ORIGINAL_SIG_SUB_IND
  • ORIGINAL_GRAVITY_PERSONS
  • ORIGINAL_GRAVITY_INJURY
  • ORIGINAL_NEGLIGENCE
• Before vs. After Comparison: Compares violation details at the time of issuance and after the legal decision (e.g., changes in penalty, citation type, or gravity).
• Administrative Information: Identifies the district offices and MSHA representatives involved in issuing or handling the case.
  • ISSUING_DISTRICT
  • MSHA_REP_OFFICE_NAME

Notes:

• A docket is a legal case file that can include one or more contested violation(s). It is tracked through the formal legal process, which may result in a decision that changes MSHA's proposed civil penalty assessment or the violation details.
• A docket allows the legal and administrative system to track the progress of each contested violation contained in the docket.
• It serves as the official case number used in hearings, decisions, and legal correspondence.
• The data set can be linked to other data sets using this key field:
  • Mine ID – to connect it with the Mines data

Contact

For questions, please contact the MSHA Data Group.