"The man suffered burns to his face, arms and legs..."

Our industry has come a long way regarding personal protection clothing worn around molten metal. The best safety practices now involve the wearing of primary or secondary clothing depending on the job function. Here is a recent story that emphasizes the need for employees to be wearing the proper safety clothing around molten metal:

An employee sustained burns in an industrial accident automotive parts manufacturing plant in the Midwest United States during the week of June 1.

"There was an accident involving molten aluminum," said Deputy Fire Chief. "I don't know exactly how it splashed but somehow it did."

The employee was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Deputy Fire Chief said. The accident occurred at the plant at about 6:00 a.m. The Deputy Fire Chief said the situation did not take long to contain.

"Once molten aluminum hits the floor it just hardens back up," Deputy Fire Chief said. "There really wasn't any chemical or hazardous issue other than really hot molten aluminium."

Another news article on this story.

Dispatchers said the worker was burned during a liquid aluminum spill shortly after 6 a.m. The company said a robotic machine was lifting a ladle clear of a pot of aluminum when some of the liquid spilled on the worker.

The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening burns. The incident remains under investigation.

           Another news article on this story.

An automotive parts manufacturing plant worker was injured in a liquid aluminum spill in Midwest United States during the week of June 1.

The incident happened early Monday at the company’s facility according to dispatchers. The man suffered burns to his face, arms and legs. Officials said the spill has been contained.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays for a quick recovery for the injured worker’s physical and metal injuries. The company should offer counseling to the injured worker’s coworkers.

It is unknown what or if any proper safety clothing was worn by the injured worker. Also, it is unknown if this facility has the capability to use other molten metals in their production. Any facility that process different types of molten metal should be aware that clothing designed for one molten metal maybe insufficient for another type of molten metal.

There have been several incidents in the foundry industry where a false safety belief resulted in molten metal burns that injured and killed. False safety beliefs are habits or practices that overtime have been thought to be safe but are actually not. It is only after an incident that companies soon realize that what they thought was safe, was actually very dangerous.

The APSB posted a few weeks ago about the Aluminum Association’s Cast House Safety Workshop. On the program was a “show-n-tell” where every plant in attendance explains to the entire group what specific personal protection equipment is in use at their facility(s). This allows for a dialogue to begin between attendees on what clothing, fabric, etc. work the best for them. Some plants find this part of the program to be extremely useful.

The Aluminum Association has sponsored some molten metal clothing tests. The document on their testing can be viewed here.

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