Honor is 12th for Coleman Station and 37th all-time for entire Big Rivers Corporation
HAWESVILLE, Ky. (Jan. 14, 2015) – Department of Workplace Standards Commissioner Anthony Russell of the Kentucky Labor Cabinet joined employees and officials in Hawesville today to present the employees of Kenneth C. Coleman Station with the Governor’s Safety and Health Award. The honor recognizes the power plant’s approximately 100 employees for working 1,755,304 hours without a lost-time accident or illness.
Kentucky Labor Secretary Larry L. Roberts said the award shows a concerted dedication to safety.
“The people of Coleman Station and the IBEW Local 1701 deserve this award because it takes everyone working together for this to be possible,” said Secretary Roberts. “Safety is about teamwork, and it’s something that makes a whole operation more productive and a better place to work.”
Incorporated in 1961, Big Rivers has earned 36 previous Governor’s Safety and Health Awards throughout the years. The corporation is a member-owned, not-for-profit, generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Henderson. With more than 500 employees, Big Rivers owns, operates and maintains a 1,285-mile transmission system, three generating plants and 22 substations. Due to recent contract terminations, Coleman Station is in an idled state, but has 16 employees maintaining the facility until full operations resume.
“The safety and health of our employees is a priority in everything we do at Big Rivers,” said Bob Berry, CEO of Big Rivers. “It is an honor for our organization to receive such a distinguished award, and it serves as a reminder to the hard work and dedication our employees place on safety each and every day. We recognize this is a tremendous achievement for Coleman Station, and we are very proud of the Coleman employees who contributed to this remarkable achievement. It’s a team approach when it comes to safety, and today’s achievement took the leadership of the IBEW Local 1701 in addition to the employees, management and board of directors at Big Rivers.”
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1701 represents the employees at Coleman Station. The national IBEW union traces its roots to the late 1800s, and is the oldest and largest electrical union in the world.
“This achievement represents the safety performance and commitment of each and every employee to make this meaningful accomplishment a reality,” said Vice President of Production Jim Garrett. “I am very proud to see the Coleman Station employees maintain a culture of excellence in safety.”
Big Rivers is owned by three distribution cooperative members: Jackson Purchase Energy Corp., headquartered in Paducah; Kenergy Corp., headquartered in Henderson; and Meade County Rural Electric Cooperative Corp., headquartered in Brandenburg. These member cooperatives serve approximately 114,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in portions of 22 western Kentucky counties.
“To achieve Kentucky’s most prestigious safety honor demonstrates the long standing tradition and continuous commitment to safety that our employees at Kenneth C. Coleman embrace,” said Coleman Station Plant Manager Keith Scott. “Our people are the number one asset at Big Rivers, and that is why safety is the top value at this company. The Coleman Station employees embrace this culture and it shows by them earning 12 Kentucky Governor Safety Awards in its history as of today. Focusing on working safe is the goal each and every day here at Coleman and at Big Rivers in general. I’m pleased to be a part of such an outstanding accomplishment, and I thank each employee for the part they played in this significant achievement.”
The Kentucky Labor Cabinet presents the Governor’s Safety and Health Award in recognition of outstanding safety and health performance. An establishment may qualify for the award if its employees together achieve a required number of hours worked without experiencing a lost-time injury or illness. The required number of hours is dependent upon the number of employees. In the case of Coleman Station, the requirement is 250,000.
The Governor’s Safety and Health Award program is part of Gov. Steve Beshear’s efforts to improve the health of all Kentuckians. The Governor launched kyhealthnow in February as an aggressive and wide-ranging initiative to significantly reduce incidents and deaths from Kentucky’s dismal health rankings and habits. It builds on Kentucky’s successful implementation of health care reform and uses multiple strategies over the next several years to improve the state’s collective health.
Every establishment within the geographical boundaries of Kentucky is eligible, even if the establishment won the award the previous year. Eligibility is limited to one award during a 12-month period of time.
The award is a certificate mounted on a wooden plaque. The certificate contains the signatures of Kentucky Gov. Beshear, Secretary Roberts and Commissioner Russell.
Kentucky Labor Cabinet 