Penalties for tunnel fire companies
Published March 27, 2008 by CSBJ Staff
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Federal regulators on Monday proposed more than $1 million in penalties against the two companies involved in a fatal tunnel fire last year in Colorado.
The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed $845,100 in penalties against RPI Coating Inc. and $189,900 against Xcel Energy “for alleged serious and willful violations of federal workplace safety and health standards.”
“This catastrophe could have been avoided if the companies had followed their critical safety procedures,” Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Edwin G. Foulke Jr. said in a release.
Dick Kelly, chairman, president and chief executive of Xcel Energy, said the company needed more time to review the government’s report, but added “we disagree with any statement that implies we acted without regard to the safety of our employees and contract workers.”
A spokeswoman for Santa Fe Springs, Calif.-based RPI declined to comment.
The fire began on Oct. 2 at the Xcel Energy Cabin Creek hydroelectric plant in Georgetown, Colo., while employees were in a tunnel cleaning a sprayer with a flammable solvent. Vapor from the solvent ignited and five employees working deep inside the tunnel died from asphyxiation.
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