“This past year, Peabody has taken aggressive structural steps to improve our safety processes at Willow Lake, and this honor recognizes the efforts and commitment of the workforce,” said Chuck Burggraf, senior vice president operations, Midwest. “The mine’s management team continues to actively engage MSHA, the state of Illinois, the workforce and union representation on safety and compliance awareness and training.”

In 2010, Willow Lake mine joined all Peabody operations worldwide in idling production to focus on safety, with emphasis on hazard recognition, emergency preparedness and sharing of best practices.

Peabody achieved another record year in safety in 2010, extending three consecutive years of improvement in the company’s global safety rate. The company’s 2010 U.S. incident rate was less than half the industry average. During the past year, Peabody earned more than 10 awards for safety and emergency preparedness, including the Sentinels of Safety Award.

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