ST. LOUIS, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AmerenEnergy Generating Company's Hutsonville Plant announces that midnight yesterday (June 8) marked seven years with no lost-time accidents. The record is an important milestone toward Ameren's goal of attaining "zero unsafe acts" at its facilities.
Making the safety record even more impressive is the fact that the plant was recognized by the PRB Coal Users' Group as the 2009 "Plant of the Year"- small plant category at their annual meeting on May 11, 2009, held in Chicago. The award was presented to recognize the employees, the plant, and Ameren for their culture promoting safe and efficient handling of powder river basin (PRB) coals. Plants nominated for the PRB Coal Users' Group "Plant of the Year" are subject to rigorous reviews by the Users' Group's board of directors.
"As impressive as that honor is, it doesn't mean a thing if we aren't operating safely," says Hutsonville Production Superintendent Gregory Musch. "The combination of performance and safety records demonstrates that our employees believe that you can have both high productivity and an outstanding safety record in the workplace. We're just not doing our jobs unless every employee goes home safely at the end of the day."
"Everyone at Ameren can be very proud of Hutsonville's accomplishment," says AmerenEnergy Generating Chairman and President Chuck Naslund. "We have challenged all of our managers to commit to zero unsafe acts. While, as a corporation, Ameren has made significant progress in improving its safety record, we always have room for improvement. Hutsonville has shown that it can be done."
AmerenEnergy Generating Company's Hutsonville Power Plant is located in Crawford County near Hutsonville, Ill. The two-unit 151-megawatt (MW) plant was commissioned in 1953. The power plant was originally designed to use high sulfur Illinois Basin coal, but converted to PRB coal beginning with a test burn in 2004. The plant now uses 100 percent PRB coal. The plant efficiently operated while making numerous modifications to accommodate the use of PRB coal, including the entire replacement of an aged coal yard -- eliminating six existing conveyors, two crushers and other equipment.
With $23 billion in assets, Ameren Corporation, through its affiliates, serves 2.4 million electric and nearly 1 million natural gas customers across 64,000 square miles of Illinois and Missouri.
SOURCE: Ameren Corporation
Web site: http://www.ameren.com/