Region 7 News Release: 09-844-KAN
July 22, 2009
Contact: Jeremy Eggers
Phone: 303-844-1299

U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA partners with Nebraska Public Power Generation Agency and Black & Veatch Corp.
Partnership covers work on new power plant near Hastings, Neb.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Ensuring the highest level of employee safety and health during the construction of a 220-megawatt, coal-fired power plant near Hastings, Neb., is the goal of a new joint partnership between the Nebraska Public Power Generation Agency (PPGA), Black & Veatch Corp. of Overland Park, Kan., and the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) area office in Omaha.

OSHA will extend the agreement to project subcontractors as well with the intention of focusing efforts to eliminate or reduce injuries among all employees working on this project.

"This partnership showcases a commitment to the value of safety and health shared by PPGA and Black & Veatch and acts as a force multiplier to the advancement of OSHA's mission to promote the safety and health of working men and women," said Charles E. Adkins, OSHA's regional administrator in Kansas City, Mo.

For more information about this partnership, call OSHA's Omaha Area Office at 402-553-0171. Additional information about OSHA's Strategic Partnership Program is available at http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/partnerships/index.html.

OSHA's Strategic Partnership Program is part of the agency's ongoing efforts to improve the health and safety of employees through cooperative relationships with trade associations, labor organizations, employers and employees. More than 1.4 million employees and nearly 28,000 employers across the United States have participated with OSHA in more than 580 strategic partnerships since the program began in 1998.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, OSHA's role is to promote safe and healthful working conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, outreach and education. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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