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PPL Corporation's Brunner Island power plant received a top federal safety award for its outstanding health and safety programs during a ceremony at the facility this morning.

Representatives from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration awarded the plant "Star" certification in the agency's Voluntary Protection Program. The program recognizes companies that go beyond compliance to protect worker health and safety. The VPP Star certification is the highest safety recognition given within the program.

"PPL employees have the mindset that federal regulations are merely a starting point," said William F. Hecht, PPL chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Our goal is to set standards that go beyond the minimum. Through hard work and cooperation between management, labor and OSHA, the Brunner Island plant has done that. It is now a model for other companies throughout the country. It is a tremendous accomplishment."

Companies that qualify for VPP status view OSHA standards as a minimum level of safety and health performance and set their own, more stringent standards for effective employee protection. VPP participant sites generally experience 60 percent fewer lost workday injuries than would be expected of an average site for its industry. Only about 930 work sites have earned recognition in the program out of more than 7 million that OSHA monitors.

The Brunner Island plant's "designation as a VPP site is a testament to sustained excellence in all areas of your safety and health management system," wrote John L. Henshaw, assistant secretary for Occupational Safety and Health in the U.S. Department of Labor, in announcing the award.

OSHA evaluates the following components of a safety and health program to determine if a facility is worthy of VPP Star status: management leadership, employee involvement, work-site analysis, training, and hazard prevention and control.

"Today's recognition reflects the great effort and teamwork of plant employees, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1600, management and OSHA," said Bill Hilt, Brunner Island chief steward, IBEW Local 1600. "This process works because everyone gets involved in the safety improvement process."

An OSHA team re-evaluates VPP Star sites every three to five years for recertification. To be recertified, sites must continue to show improvement in their safety and health programs.

PPL's Brunner Island plant is one of six PPL facilities that have achieved VPP Star status. The 1,470-megawatt plant consists of three coal-fired steam- electric generation units located on the west bank of the Susquehanna River, about 15 miles downstream from Harrisburg, Pa. It employs about 210 people and began commercial operation in 1961.

PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), headquartered in Allentown, Pa., controls about 11,500 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America.

SOURCE: PPL Corporation

CONTACT: John Levitski of PPL Corporation, +1-717-560-2533, or fax,
+1-610-774-5281

Web site: http://www.pplweb.com/