Wilmington Power Plant Has First Safety Inspection After Recent Death – N.C. Has Only 100 Safety Inspectors – Is That Enough?

An interesting article in the Wilmington Star News discussed the recent accident at Progress Energy’s Sutton Power Plant in Wilmington.  A couple of weeks ago, a generator exploded killing an employee.

The article notes that in North Carolina there are roughly 250,000 workplaces and only 100 safety inspectors.  In most cases, a facility will go decades without a safety inspection.  Indeed, there is no safety inspection on record for the 57 years the Sutton Power Plant has been in operation.  Of course, this does not mean that the Sutton Plant was not safely operated or maintained but simply that there are no enough inspectors to handle the number of workplaces in North Carolina.