Press Releases
ST. LOUIS, March 31 – Peabody Energy announced that its Cottage Grove Mine in Southern Illinois has earned the President’s Award for achieving the company’s safest U.S. performance for surface operations in 2013. Cottage Grove is being honored for a second consecutive year and helped drive the best safety results in Peabody’s 131-year history.
Cottage Grove achieved more than 29 months without a reportable incident and is among three Peabody operations that have operated more than one year free of a reportable incident. Cottage Grove employees worked more than 460,000 hours in 2013. Cottage Grove is located in Saline County, Ill., and has a workforce of more than 200.
“Cottage Grove shows an excellent example of a long-term commitment to excellence in safety,” said Peabody Energy – Americas President Kemal Williamson. “To achieve results of this caliber two years in a row, our employees must focus on safety each and every day. I am very proud of their achievement and commitment to safety. Working an entire year incident free is the goal we strive to reach.”
Strong communication, looking out for one another and innovative ideas are hallmarks of the safety culture at Cottage Grove. John Keller, Operations Manager at Cottage Grove, credited his team’s success to the strong camaraderie among the workforce. “This award brings recognition for what I see day in and day out the mine site,” said Keller. He expressed appreciation to the miners and support staff at Cottage Grove for their safety success. “We have a great team at Cottage Grove. Our workers take care of one another like family.”
Globally, Peabody achieved a 1.87 safety incidence rate per 200,000 hours worked drive, tying the 2012 safety record, the best in the company’s 131-year history.
Peabody Energy is the world’s largest private-sector coal company and a global leader in sustainable mining and clean coal solutions. For further information, go to PeabodyEnergy.com.
CONTACT:
Charlene Murdock
(307) 687-3987
SOURCE Peabody Energy