The APSB has posted several incidents recently where molten metal had ignited whatever it came into contact with. Whether aluminium dust/fines, hydraulic oil, workers clothes, etc. Here is a story of molten metal igniting a vehicle.
During the week of August 4, 2013 a leak of molten metal from a recycling furnace caused a small fire at ALCOA's South Plant, Alcoa, Tennessee in the United States.
According to public relations manager, the metal ignited a vehicle parked near the furnace. The Alcoa Fire Department responded and quickly contained the fire.
There were no injuries, no significant damage or impact to production.
As with many of the news media stories, there is little to scant information on the incident. But, what information there is, hopefully the reader can take away and learn from this incident.
For instance, the reader can think of their own plant and imagine the different scenarios in which molten metal (or another hazard) could come into contact with a vehicle. The next step is questioning whether or not vehicles needs to be there. Most do, but on occasion they do not. Then the reader can consider different procedures to eliminate (or minimize the amount of time) the vehicle near the hazard.
The APSB would like to congratulate this facility on responding to the fire, which resulted in no injuries. Good job!
Please comment.
2 comments:
Another consideration is to reduce the danger of fire in the vehicles. My policy is to use forklift trucks that handle molten metal in which the hydraulic oil has been changed to fire resistant fluids. Not all brands of truck can accept this, so they can't handle molten metals.
That is a great idea. The APSB posted an incident about 2 years ago where a molten metal explosion ruptured a gas line in the plant. Which ignited, as well as a nearby propane gas fork truck caught on fire. The fire department had their hands filled. Molten metal was thrown about, gas line was on fire, and the propane tank on the fork truck was about to blow up. Scary situation. That is another example on why all facilities should give tours to the local fire departments so they can become familiar with the plant layout.
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