"There was a failure..." (workers burned by molten metal)

Workers who get molten metal burns can result in lifelong scars (physical and mental) at minimum. At worse molten metal burns can result in death. Our industry has acknowledge the hazards of working with molten metal, but on occasion (some would say, too often) workers are injured and die because of contact with molten metal. Here is a story the emphasizes the continued need for molten metal safety.

Three workers were injured after a machinery malfunction at automotive manufacturing  facility in California in the United States during the week of November 17, 2013, according to the company. "There was a failure in a low pressure aluminum casting press. Three employees were injured by hot metal from that press," said director of global communications, in a statement. She did not elaborate on what conditions the workers were in but said they were receiving "best possible care."

One employee was seriously hurt and two other sustained minor injuries when the low-pressure press spilled hot metal shortly before noon, said a spokesman for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal- OSHA).

"Hot metal somehow burned the workers," said Cal-OSHA spokesman, who added that there was no fire inside the plant.

The most seriously injured worker received chest and upper-body burns, Cal-OSHA spokesman said. The three workers were taken to a nearby Medical Center with second-degree burns, Cal-OSHA spokesman said.

One of workers was released Wednesday afternoon, hospital spokeswoman said. She could not disclose the workers' identities or conditions due to privacy laws.

Company Chief Operating Officer said in an email Wednesday that he planned "to visit them in the hospital later today and will personally ensure that they receive the best possible care."

The incident was being treated as an industrial accident, Cal-OSHA spokesman said.

"We will be talking to any witnesses, reviewing training documents and manuals to see if they are in accordance with specifications as part of finding out what happened," Cal-OSHA spokesman said.

Update

Here is another article on the incident. This article has some quotes from the c.e.o. of the company. The c.e.o. in question needs to be complimented on the action he has taken to ensure that the injured workers are taken care of. Far too often in our industry company's release "no comment" to the media possibly from fear of the inevitable lawsuit or to protect the company's public image. "No Comment" does more harm to the individual company's public image than it does good. 

Our industry has to realize that the news media when given "no comment" will make information up to the detriment of your company. It is recommended that a typed press release be released to the news media than issuing a "no comment."

Two workers at automotive plant in California remain hospitalized at a local hospital burn unit after they were injured by a hot-metal spill caused by an equipment failure. A third worker was released from the local hospital burn unit late Wednesday.

The company CEO visited the injured workers. He said he wanted to make sure they were getting the best possible care.

The accident was reported at about noon.

"We had an equipment malfunction in our dye casting operation, essentially sending molten aluminum and that's the issue," the company C.E.O. said.

The three employees were taken to the burn center at the local hospital suffering from moderate-to-serious burns.

Cal-OSHA spokesman told the local tv news that his agency was called by the local fire department about the "incident" around noon. It’s being classified as an industrial accident.

Cal-OSHA spokesman said the most serious injury was to an employee who suffered burns to the chest and upper body.

The plant, which opened in late 2000, can be easily seen from the local Interstate Highway. The company designs, manufactures and sells cars and components.

The car company has been fined by Cal-OSHA, the agency that oversees workplace safety, in the past. There was an accident in 2011 when a worker's fingertip had to be amputated when he was pointing to a machine called a "shaker table" and was cut off when the machine malfunctioned, according to the state report. The car company was fined $18,000, an amount that was ultimately reduced to $5,400. There were other accidents at the company in 2010 and 2012.

As word got out about the incident at the factory, shares dipped by a few dollars, likely out of concern that another fire may have hit the company.  Shares ended 90 cents higher to.

"There does seem to be I think too much attention paid to (car company), good and bad," company c.eo. said late Wednesday. "It seems like we get an unusual amount of attention no matter what it is."

The importance of wearing the proper personal protection equipment (i.e., PPE) is highlighted in this story. One assumes If the injured workers were wearing the proper PPE their burns would have been minimized. Personal protection equipment is not only proper clothing, but includes , proper footwear, safety glasses, hard hat, hearing protection, and the protection of the open area behind neck (i.e., down the back of the shirt). It also includes what you should not wear when around molten metal. That includes (but not limited to):

• Jewelry - includes, necklaces, wedding rings. The APSB have seen some aluminium cast house workers get tattoo wedding rings.
• Synthetic clothing -  that includes long underwear. It is recommend that your underwear be made of cotton
• Eyeglasses - should not be metal framed

These news articles lack much information, but the APSB can make assumptions (which we are good at!). That the workers thought they were safe. Unfortunately, the APSB has posted too many incidents where the workers thought they were safe. Unfortunately the workers were injured or killed. Think you are safe, and actually being safe are two very different things.

These workers may have been operating under a false safety belief. A false safety belief is a habit or action that have been thought to be safe but are actually not. False safety beliefs can begin when a lack of knowledge transforms into a habit or a practice. Unfortunately these habits and practices only become known when an incident occurs. 

Imagine how many injuries and fatalities could be saved if we just minimized the false safety beliefs in our facilities....

Here is an interesting article about false safety beliefs.

Click here to download this document.