"overflow of 100 kilos of molten aluminum that caused a fire..."

Molten metal spills will occur in our industry on a regular basis. How our plants prepare for them can have vastly different outcomes. Here is a story of a plant that prepared for a spill, acted accordingly. Somehow the incident made it in the news media. We are posting this story not to place blame upon the company but to use this incident as an example of what can occur when you plan, prepare, and respond when a molten metal spill occurs.

A fire one night during the week of September 3, 2017 around 23:50, in an oven foundry sector of the Trimet aluminum plant in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. It required the intervention of thirty firefighters. An overflow of 100 kilos of molten aluminum that caused a fire. It was extinguished with powder. The company announced this morning that "the material damage caused relates to the equipment of a wire machine that will require repair work". There was no pollution or stop production. No injuries were reported.

We congratulate this plant in preparing, planning, and reacting when the molten metal spill occurred resulting in zero injuries. 200 kilograms of molten metal does not seem like a large mass. But, as history has shown us no matter the volume of spill. If the spill is not dealt with immediately it tends to flow to the lowest point. Which commonly are beneath furnaces or equipment. We have seen all too often molten metal flow into maintenance trenches and burn through electrical lines. We are confident that this aluminium plant had prepared and planned beforehand on how to respond to a molten metal spill. We hope that the equipment damage was limited and could easily be repaired.

How will your plant react when (not if) your plant has a molten metal spill? Have you prepared? Do you have the necessary materials (ppe for workers, material to contain the spill, etc) in stock?

Please comment.