In a rare criminal indictment over workplace deaths, Xcel Energy Inc. and a repair firm it hired are facing federal charges in the case of five workers killed in a 2007 chemical fire at a hydroelectric power plant in Colorado.
Also named in the indictment are Xcel's Colorado subsidiary, Public Service Co. of Colorado, repair firm RPI Coating of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., and two executives of RPI Coating.
Minneapolis-based Xcel issued a statement Friday that said the fire was an accident, not a criminal act.
Xcel and Public Service Co. of Colorado could be liable for as much as $5 million in fines if found guilty.
The October 2007 fire at Xcel's Cabin Creek Hydro Plant, in the mountains near Georgetown, Colo., occurred during the renovation of a large empty metal pipe down which water normally flowed to create hydroelectric power. Five employees of RPI Coating were trapped in the pipe when chemicals being used in the renovation caught fire and blocked their only exit.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ruled that violations of OSHA safety rules resulted in the fire and the men being trapped. Workers on the other side of the fire were able to escape.
The U.S. Department of Justice obtained the indictment from a Colorado grand jury based on the OSHA ruling and OSHA's resulting decision to refer the case to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
The New York Times reported in 2003 that OSHA rarely seeks Justice Department prosecution in cases where worker deaths resulted. Between 1982 and 2002, OSHA did so in only 7 percent of worker deaths, the Times reported.
