Employees of Marissa company exposed to machine hazards

The Prairie State Generating Company in Marissa has been cited for safety violations by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for the fourth time since 2012.

OSHA, late last month, issued three repeated and four serious safety violations to Prairie State Generating for exposing workers to machine hazards, the agency said. OSHA opened its investigation in May, after receiving a complaint that alleged unsafe working conditions.

The agency also proposed a fine of $67,700, an amount that can be reduced if Prairie State can show the issues have been addressed, said Rhonda Burke, a deputy director for Public Affairs for the Department of Labor.

“OSHA has specific guidelines to protect workers from dangerous machinery,” said Aaron Priddy, OSHA’s area director in Fairview Heights. “By following these energy isolating procedures, employers can prevent workers from coming in contact with machine operating parts, preventing serious injuries.”

The agency found Prairie State failed to:

▪  Develop machine specific safety procedures to control hazardous energy sources

▪  Conduct periodic inspections of energy control procedures

▪  Follow procedures to isolate multiple sources of energy to operating machines

▪  Train workers in machine safety procedures

▪  Inspect work areas and equipment prior to removing lockout/tag out devices

OSHA previously cited Prairie State Generating for similar hazards in 2012, 2013 and 2014, the agency said.

“Lack of machine safety procedures cause hundreds of serious work injuries each year and are among the hazards OSHA most frequently cites,” Priddy said. “When OSHA cites employers like Prairie State Generating for repeat violations of the same safety standards, it shows a real lack of concern for employee safety. This is unacceptable and changes must be made immediately.”

The Prairie State energy campus includes a coal-fired generating plant and a coal mine.

The facility generates 1,600 megawatts of power, with 100 percent of the energy dedicated to nine public power utilities in the Midwest that provide energy to 2.5 million homes.

In a statement, Prairie State pointed out no employees were injured in any instances contained in the citations and that the power plant has not had a single lost time incident since September 2015.

Prairie State said it continues to work toward improving its safety system and its power plant leadership and safety teams are analyzing the alleged violations, while working to insure and improve the safety of all employees.

“The safety of our employees is of the utmost importance to everyone at Prairie State, and we take these citations very seriously,” said Don Gaston, president and CEO of the Prairie State Generating Company. “Prairie State has been and will continue to work with OSHA officials to reach a final conclusion.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2016 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Employees of Marissa company exposed to machine hazards."