Worker injured at power plant site

EKLUTNA — A contractor working on the construction of the Eklutna Generation Station says one of its employees was seriously injured on the job last weekend.

Haskell Construction spokesperson, Ray Pierce, said in an interview that a worker was injured when he became pinned between a door and an aerial platform-type man-lift while working at the site. The man, whose name was not released, was hospitalized in Anchorage.

“He’s doing good. He had a surgery. The doctors did a surgery on him. There haven’t been any complications,” Pierce said. “We got his mother situated at the hospital with him.”

Pierce said that the man’s co-workers are also pitching in.

“He’s got good support from the crewmen that work with him; there’s a collection they’re taking up,” Pierce said. “These Union workers really look out for each other.”

Another worker involved in the accident was not injured.

“Safety is Haskell Corporation’s first and foremost commitment to our workers, clients and community,” Pierce said in a press release about the accident. “Our deepest sympathy goes out to the injured employee, his family and all those involved in the accident.”

Haskell Corporation is the main contractor working for Matanuska Electric Association to build the power plant near Eklutna.

“We’re doing pretty much everything. There are a few small areas of the project that are contracted out, but the majority of the work is Haskell Corp.,” Pierce said.

The natural gas-fired Eklutna Generation Station will provide electricity to Matanuska Electric Association customers in the Valley and Eagle River beginning Jan. 1, 2015. Construction of the Eklutna Generation Station will transform MEA from a company that only distributes electricity to one that generates and distributes electricity.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.