Out of
all the hazards in the aluminium industry molten metal explosions have the
potential to cause the greatest damage. Our industry has done a great job
acknowledging the hazard and worked diligently to educate. This incident emphasizes
the importance of plant education. This story came from a July 2014 newspaper
posting of a local fire department radio report. The report lacks detail so the
company name and location has been
omitted. Here is the story:
A small amount of molten aluminum spilled at an aluminium and
started a small fire. There was little damage.
A “small amount of molten metal” can vary widely depending which type of
facility. A foundry may consider a small amount of molten metal to be less than
100 kg. Whereas a primary plant may consider a few tonnes to be a small amount
of molten metal. Either way, our industry’s history is littered with incidents
involving small and large quantities of molten metal which have either exploded
or caused fires. Resulting in injuries and fatalities.
This aluminium plant considered
a small molten metal spill in the range of 15-20 tonnes. The “little amount of
damage” was damaged caused to some electrical conduit and control boxes under
the furnace. Congratulations to the
unnamed plant on acknowledging the seriousness of the issue and containing the
hazard. This facility no doubt has an excellent management and safety team that
has put forth the importance of safety education.
The question that the
Aluminium Plant Safety Blog puts forth to the readers is:
Where does a molten metal
spill go to?
Molten aluminium is a
liquid, albeit a very hot liquid. Any liquid when spilled will flow to the lowest
point (if allowed). In many of our facilities the lowest point is either a
casting pit, maintenance pit, or under a furnace. There have been numerous incidents
where molten metal flowed to the maintenance pit under a furnace coming into
contact with moisture, on bare concrete, steel or stainless steel resulting in a
catastrophic explosion. Our industry’s best safety practices are to coat any
bare substrates that have the potential of coming into contact with molten
metal with an approved safety pit coating. Here is a link to the industry’s
standard for safety pit coatings (here).
Unfortunately, there are
some facilities that operate under a false safety belief that their current
practice of not using an approved safety pit coating is fine. That false belief
is rationalized by either the statement “we’ve never had an explosion”, or
simply a lack of knowledge. The APSB has visited too many facilities who claim
that they have never had an explosion. But when the APSB questions why there is
dried molten metal on the bottom of the roofing (25 meters above the casting
pit) the plant personnel have no answer. The facilities that have a lack
knowledge are at least welcome to new safety information. Either way, safety
pit coatings need to be applied wherever molten aluminium can come into contact
with bare concrete, steel, and stainless steel.
The Aluminium Association (US) has been at the forefront of
molten metal safety in our industry for decades. Their Casthouse Safety Workshops
held biannually cover molten metal safety issues.
The next Casthouse Safety Workshop
will be held the week of October 27 in Nashville, Tennessee. More information
can be found here in the near future (here).
The Aluminium Association’s “Guidelines
for Handling Molten Aluminium” is considered to be the industry’s best
practices. It can be obtained here.
The importance of
incorporating the local fire department in your plant’s safety training has
been repeatedly made by the APSB. We are confident that the local fire
department in this incident who provided assistance had cooperated and
participated in the aluminium plant’s safety program and were well aware of the
hazards. As well as the current industry procedures for dealing with molten metal. The Aluminium Times this month had an article about the incorporating the local emergency management services in training.
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