News Releases

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently designated PPL Montana’s Billings office as a Voluntary Protection Program Star site. Star status is the highest recognition for sites that have distinguished themselves with the highest level of safety and health excellence.

Jeff Henckel, support compliance professional at PPL Montana, led the four year process to earn VPP’s Star status, which included a comprehensive written application process that addresses the major elements of the program; management and leadership involvement; worksite analysis; hazard prevention and control; and safety and health training.

OSHA officials also conducted an onsite review to evaluate the workplace safety and health programs, as well as employee interviews.

“We could not have successfully completed this process without the strong support of PPL’s management and employees,” Henckel said. “Safety is very important to PPL, and this is one way for our facility to showcase how we accomplish our work as safely as possible.”

OSHA recognized “areas of excellence” demonstrated by PPL Montana employees, including:

• Emergency coordinator bags strategically located throughout the workplace
• Ergonomic evaluations and acquisitions of equipment
• Employee leadership of safety meetings, trainings and presentations
• Hazard reporting systems
• Outreach, mentoring and community involvement
• Overall management commitment and leadership
• Training programs that are site-specific, tailored for each employee, and that correlate with employees’ tasks and the specific hazards they face on the job.

“There are 10 VPP Star sites in Montana,” Henckel said. “Eight of those 10 are PPL sites, further proving that our company has a strong commitment to safety.”

PPL Montana provides safe, reliable energy from coal-fired power plants at Colstrip and Billings, as well as 11 hydroelectric plants along West Rosebud Creek and the Missouri, Madison, Clark Fork and Flathead rivers. It has a combined generating capacity of more than 1,200 megawatts and has offices in Billings, Butte and Helena. PPL Montana and its 500 employees are dedicated to Montana and its communities, supporting educational, environmental and economic development programs across the state. PPL EnergyPlus operates a trading floor in Butte that markets and sells power for PPL Montana in wholesale and retail energy markets throughout the western United States. PPL Montana and PPL EnergyPlus are subsidiaries of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL).