The U.S. Chemical Safety Board on Wednesday will formally release its final investigative report on a deadly fire at Xcel Energy’s Cabin Creek hydroelectric plant in Georgetown three years ago.
The fire in an underground tunnel on Oct. 2, 2007, killed five workers and injured three others.
Xcel Energy tried in court to block the report’s release, but then earlier this month released a 200-page draft of the document.
In it, the CSB stated the utility and contractor RPI Coating Inc. disregarded worker safety before the fire, including “inadequate contractor selection and oversight, and insufficient regulatory standards pertaining to the use of flammables within confined space,” the report says.
The federal agency in charge of investigating industrial chemical accidents has scheduled a press conference at noon at the Embassy Suites hotel in southeast Denver.
