Molten metal spills
in our industry have occurred with great frequency historically. The size of
spills can produce various results from explosions, starting fires, etc. Here
is a recent story of a molten metal spill:
The fire, which
was reported one afternoon during the week of February 22, 2015 in the United
States, was believed to have ignited lithium, which cannot be extinguished with
water.
The fire was
caused by a leak into the lithium furnance, an aluminium company spokesperson
said. Three employees were taken to the hospital as a precaution over concerns
of smoke inhalation, she confirmed. They were treated and later released from
the hospital.
The aluminium communications
director, said, the fire was contained within the equipment, and the aluminium
company’s emergency responders on site are trained to manage site-specific
safety issues.
The aluminium communications
director said, "We can confirm there was a small fire in the
aluminum-lithium cast house at our facility.
"The fire
has been put out," the aluminium communications director said. "There
were no injuries, however as a precautionary measure, three employees were
transported to the hospital for possible smoke inhalation.
"The fire
was put out with dry carbon dioxide and a graphite-based fire
extinguisher," the aluminium communications director said.
"There was no impact on production," the aluminium communications
director said.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays for the full recovery of the
injured worker’s physical injuries.
Molten metal spills are bad, molten metal spills of aluminum-lithium
can have catastrophic consequences. The Aluminium Association has a great
document titled “Guidelines for Handling Molten Aluminium”. It can be found
here.
The Aluminium Times had an article about safety pit coatings such as
Wise Chem. More information can be found here.
Lastly there is a presentation at the TMS 2015 that will briefly
mention this incident as well as others.
Please comment.
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