NORTHERN STATES POWER CO DBA XCEL ENERGY

Worker Clearing Debris Falls Into River and Drowns

At approximately 12:30 p.m. on August 10, 2011, Employee #1 was working for an e lectrical utility at a power generation facility. Employee #1 and his coworker h ad just been dropped off by their supervisor and had returned to a work area fol lowing lunch. They were attempting to remove large logs and debris that were clo gging the grates of the generation facility. The logs and debris were in water t hat came from the Minnesota River. The coworker was operating a backhoe that cou ld reach out 20 feet (6.1 meters) beyond the edge of a 40 foot-long (12.2 meters ) stoplog concrete platform structure to retrieve large logs and debris that wer e clogging the grates. Prior to lunch, there was no need for anyone to go out on to the platform and push debris toward the backhoe. After lunch, though, Employe e #1 walked out onto the platform to push debris toward the backhoe with a garde n rake. The coworker stated that the first time he saw Employee #1 out on the pl atform, Employee #1 did not have a harness on or a life jacket. The coworker the n told Employee #1 to get his life jacket and harness on. The coworker stated th at he saw Employee #1 come back and put his harness and his life jacket on. The coworker continued to pick logs out of the water, rotate the backhoe away from t he water, and drop the log debris. As he turned back toward the water to get ano ther log, he did not see Employee #1 on the platform. At that point, the coworke r recognized that Employee #1 had fallen from the platform into the water. He ca lled the supervisor to call for emergency medical services. Employee #1's body w as retrieved from the river the following day.