June 12, 2007

Nebraska Ethanol Board sign safety agreement with OSHA

The Nebraska Ethanol Board has partnered with the U.S Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Nebraska Workforce Development’s OSHA Consultation Program to promote practices that help ensure the health and safety of employees in the ethanol industry. The Nebraska Ethanol Partnership will create a set of protocols for ethanol workers to follow in the event of catastrophic incident during the production, storage or transportation of ethanol.

The agreement also aims to reduce the rate of incidents by 10 percent within two years. Voluntary participants in the program will also work with OSHA and the Nebraska Ethanol Board in promoting workplace safety training and education. Several training seminars are scheduled for September.

“Ethanol is the fastest growing industry in our state and within months Nebraska will have the capacity to produce one billion gallons of ethanol annually,” said Nebraska Ethanol Board administrator Todd Sneller. “Because this is such an important part of Nebraska’s economy, it’s extremely important that industry work hand-in-hand with government to ensure the health and safety of ethanol workers and all Nebraskans,” Sneller said.

The agreement was signed Monday, June 18 th at 11 am at the Nebraska Department of Labor Building in Lincoln.