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May 14, 2008 8:54 pm US/Eastern
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OSHA Cites Salem Power Plant Where Blast Killed 3
SALEM (WBZ) ―
The owner of a Massachusetts power plant where an explosion killed three workers has been cited for federal safety violations.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration today cited Dominion Energy New England.
The agency says it failed to take effective steps to protect employees against burn hazards and other injuries.
The company has been issued 10 serious citations that carry a proposed fine of more than $46,000.
The citations follow a deadly steam-pipe explosion at Salem Harbor Power Station last November that claimed the lives of 20-year-old Mathew Indeglia, 41-year-old Mark Mansfield and 56-year-old Phillip Robinson.
A water tube on a boiler about 20 feet above the men exploded, blowing scorching steam on them.
Dominion spokesman Jim Norvelle says the company will fight the citations.
Regulators say the affected area had not been entered in more than nine years.
The boiler tubes contain high-pressure, high-temperature water and steam that turn the turbine-generator, which spins to produce electricity. The company said there were no indications of any problems before the rupture.
The coal-fired plant was purchased by Dominion in 2005. It employs 145 people and produces enough electricity for 740,000 homes.
Dominion bought the plant after the previous owner, PG&E National Energy Group Inc., went bankrupt. Under PG&E, the plant was known as one of Massachusetts' "filthy five" dirtiest power plants.
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(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)