Molten aluminum-lithium spill...fire breaks out...three workers injured...

Molten metal spills in our industry have occurred with great frequency historically. The size of spills can produce various results from explosions, starting fires, etc. Here is a recent story of a molten metal spill:

The fire, which was reported one afternoon during the week of February 22, 2015 in the United States, was believed to have ignited lithium, which cannot be extinguished with water.

The fire was caused by a leak into the lithium furnance, an aluminium company spokesperson said. Three employees were taken to the hospital as a precaution over concerns of smoke inhalation, she confirmed. They were treated and later released from the hospital.

The aluminium communications director, said, the fire was contained within the equipment, and the aluminium company’s emergency responders on site are trained to manage site-specific safety issues.

The aluminium communications director said, "We can confirm there was a small fire in the aluminum-lithium cast house at our facility.

"The fire has been put out," the aluminium communications director said. "There were no injuries, however as a precautionary measure, three employees were transported to the hospital for possible smoke inhalation.

"The fire was put out with dry carbon dioxide and a graphite-based fire extinguisher," the aluminium communications director said.

"There was no impact on production," the aluminium communications director said.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays for the full recovery of the injured worker’s physical injuries.                 

Molten metal spills are bad, molten metal spills of aluminum-lithium can have catastrophic consequences. The Aluminium Association has a great document titled “Guidelines for Handling Molten Aluminium”. It can be found here.

The Aluminium Times had an article about safety pit coatings such as Wise Chem. More information can be found here.

Lastly there is a presentation at the TMS 2015 that will briefly mention this incident as well as others.

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