Cottage Grove, which received the company’s president’s award for safety, is among three Peabody operations that have operated for more than one year free of a reportable incident.

More than 200 employees at Cottage Grove worked more than 460,000 hours in 2013, Peabody Energy Americas president Kemal Williamson said.

“Cottage Grove shows an excellent example of a long-term commitment to excellence in safety,” he said.

“To achieve results of this calibre two years in a row, our employees must focus on safety each and every day.

“I am very proud of their achievement and commitment to safety.

“Working an entire year incident free is the goal we strive to reach.”

Cottage Grove operations manager John Keller said strong communication, looking out for one another and innovative ideas were hallmarks of the safety culture at the mine.

He credited his team’s success to the strong camaraderie among the workforce.

“This award brings recognition for what I see day in and day out at the minesite,” Keller said.

“We have a great team at Cottage Grove. Our workers take care of one another like family.”