Smelter mishap probed....

The Aluminium Plant Safety blog has commented about the importance of machine guarding in our industry. Here is a recent story where machine guarding may have prevented this worker's injury.

A New Zealand company is investigating how a worker injured his hand on the job.

An ingot operator at the smelter received laceration and bruising to one of his hands during the week of October 6, 2013 while on the night shift.

The operator was working on an ingot casting machine. He received treatment at a nearby hospital and was discharged. A company spokesperson said the worker was expected to make a full recovery.

The factors leading to the incident were being investigated, said the company spokesperson.

The APSB wishes that the injured worker a speedy recovery.

New ingot casting machines today are designed and constructed to minimize injuries to the operators. Unfortunately, older machines are currently used throughout our industry. Older ingot casting machines are not necessarily less safe then current machines, but they may lack current safety technologies. That is where the importance of retrofitting or updating to current safety technologies (as applicable) is important.

For instance, during a recent tour of a cast house in the United States, the cast house manager pointed out a dross press. The manager commented that the dross press was older, but still functioning as designed. Unfortunately, when the dross press was constructed (a long time ago) lock out tag out procedures were not in use. During a recent safety audit the dross press was noted to be lacking a mechanical method to "prevent the release of hazardous energy" of the hydraulic ram. The dross press was tagged as not compliant with current plant and corporate safety guidelines. The cast house is currently working with the dross press manufacturer to address those safety issues.

When performing safety audits, special care has to be taken when looking at older equipment. Can the machinery be locked out in accordance with current's industry standards? If your machinery can not, it is recommended that you contact the equipment manufacturer for assistance. Beware that there have been numerous instances where companies sell excess (obsolete) equipment (that do not meet today's current safety requirements) the new owner installs the equipment. Unfortunately a worker gets injured while working with that equipment, courts have declared in numerous cases that the original owner of the equipment was held responsible (financially).

Some aluminium cast houses destroy their obsolete equipment to prevent any possible liability in the future.

Regarding Occupational Safety & Health Administration has information on machine guarding. It can be viewed here.

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