An ethanol plant in Kansas is the first in the nation to win a U.S. government award for a safe working environment. The White Energy ethanol plant just outside of Russell, Kansas won the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) SHARP award for “upholding high standards for workplace safety and health.”

This article from the Hays (KS) Daily News says Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Department of Labor officials presented the award:

“I’m proud that the first ethanol plant in the nation to receive the SHARP award is a Kansas business,” Sebelius said. “Congratulations to White Energy and its employees on creating a safe work environment for this outstanding recognition. The award reinforces our state’s dedication to workplace safety and the future of ethanol and other renewable fuels production.”

“Our staff in Russell deserves credit for not only earning this award,” said Kevin D. Kuykendall, White Energy’s chief executive officer, “but also for their strong sense of pride and commitment to maintaining our company’s high standard by which all of our new and future plants will be emulated and measured.”

The plant employs 70 people who produce 50 million gallons of ethanol and 40 million pounds of wheat gluten a year.