Employees at Mississippi Power’s Plant Watson in Gulfport recently surpassed 1.5 million hours of work without a lost time accident, a run of more than 45 months. They reached the mark December 12.

“This is a significant achievement because of the kind of work necessary to operate a facility like Plant Watson,” said Stan Connally, the plant’s manager. “We work in all kinds of weather in an industrial setting, but our team focuses on safety each and every day. It’s a source of pride for all of us that we can be safe and effective in doing our jobs.”

Earlier this year, the employees at Plant Daniel in Jackson County passed a milestone of working more than three years without an OSHA recordable accident. That set a record for all the major generating plants in the Southern Company fleet.

“There is no secret to working safely,” said Kurt Brautigam, company spokesman. “It comes from attention to detail and making safety a priority at all levels. All of our employees—at the plants, out in the field, or even in our offices—take ownership in our safety programs. In addition to the obvious personal reasons for doing so, working safely helps lower our operating costs and so is also beneficial to our customers.”

Plants Watson and Daniel, both of which have about 200 employees, are equaled by Mississippi Power’s other generating facilities in compiling excellent safety records. In August, Plant Sweatt near Meridian surpassed 14 years without a recordable accident and, in October, the Chevron Cogenerating Plant marked 26 years without a lost time accident, the longest such stretch in the Southern Company system. Plant Eaton, located in Petal, had its last lost time accident in 1983.

Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of the Southern Company, serves 192,000 customers in 23 southeastern Mississippi counties.