"He was conscious and alert — all good signs.”

Scrap material is transported normally by truck to our plants. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has a story where the scrap did not make to the aluminium plant as expected. Here is the story:

Fire officials arrived at the scene just after 10:30 a.m. to find the dump trailer lying on its side across all three lanes of traffic. Pieces of aluminum cargo had spilled from the truck and were strewn about the left and center lanes, according to Deputy Fire Chief.

The 18-wheeler with a dump trailer accidentally clipped a bridge on I-95 between exits 14 and 13 on I-95 South late one morning during the week of November 17, 2013, forcing the truck to roll over and clogging up traffic on the Fairfield County corridor for hours.

Norwalk Deputy Fire Chief said the hydraulic pistons that lift the 18-wheeler’s dump trailer started to go up, raising the dump trailer without the knowledge of the truck driver. The trailer clipped the Scribner Avenue overpass, and the driver lost control of the vehicle.

The driver was entrapped in the vehicle, and firefighters from the Norwalk Fire Department had to extricate him. Deputy Fire Chief said the driver complained of neck, back and internal injuries.

“He was talking,” he said. “He was conscious and alert — all good signs.”

All three lanes of the highway were impacted by the accident, and no traffic could get through.

The debris spread in the left and center lanes, and the state Department of Transportation provided street sweepers, payloaders and personnel to help clean the debris.

Hydraulic oil also spilled around the cab. Crews from the state Dept. of Transportation and Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection brought in payloaders and street sweepers to help with the cleanup, Deputy Fire Chief said.

The accident occurred at approximately 10:30 a.m. and as of 2:14 p.m., the highway was reopened to traffic.

Looking at the photos the APSB initially thought the load that was spilled consisted of aluminium dross. But, after closer examination of the photos, it appears to be scrap from machining. What do you think the load consisted of?

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