On occasion the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog will come across a story and we’ll notice in the photo(s) a hazard that the subjects of the story have not realized. Or failed to realize the level of danger that they are exposing themselves to. We acknowledge that because of the nature of this blog we are aware of the various incidents that occur in our industry that many are not. The APSB believes that the subjects in this article are operating under a false safety belief. False safety beliefs are habits or practices that overtime have been thought to be safe but are actually not. False safety beliefs result in needless injuries and deaths in our industry. Here is a recent story:
Two college alumni and one
current student are engaging in the type of research that makes many people
uncomfortable and itchy: creating aluminum casts of fire ant colonies to study
the insects up close.
Two alumni, and one college senior,
make up the college’s self-proclaimed Fire Ant Research Team. The team formed
by happenstance: One alumnus was working with one of the college’s Professor of
Biology to determine the underground architecture of fire ant nests. Plaster
was prepared and poured down the entrance to fire ant mounds. After the plaster
hardened, the cast was excavated from the soil. Often, the plaster broke apart
during the excavation process.
“Originally, we were casting them
in pots. We were letting the ants dig their nests so we could cast them with a
dental plaster,” said the college senior said, who did not think that
methodology was successful. “It was artificial because they were in pots, so we
decided we had to make it more natural. We had to find some way to do it
outside.”
That was when they decided to
build a furnace to melt down aluminum in order to create casts of fire ant
colonies in their outdoor environment. College alumnus got the idea to build a
furnace while conducting an independent study with the college senior. He spent
several months building the furnace in order to melt aluminum down to its purest
form, which creates aluminum ingots that can be stored for later use. The idea
behind the initiative is to melt the ingots and pour the molten liquid into
fire ant colonies, creating 3-D sculptures of the inside chambers and tunnels
as the material hardens.
Although it took several months
to figure out how to best construct the furnace, they were successful building
it and began pouring casts right away. “The casting and molding allows us to
look at the nest its chambers and tunnels,” The college senior said, who was
excited to explore the colonies from the inside-out.
College alumnus said fire ants
are more resilient than other native species.
“They’re a lot more adaptive than
other ants,” college alumnus said, adding that they spend all of their energy
towards adapting to their environments. “They collaborate with one another and
work to take an environment to make it their own suitable colony.”
The team’s pouring schedule
varies. Some weeks they will pour upwards of 10 casts; other weeks they may not
pour any. The aluminum casts of fire ant colonies can provide detailed
information about the species.
“Ants are only one of a handful
of animals that build permanent home in which to house mothers and their
helpless young,” said The college senior, who wanted to know how ants cope with
physical obstructions like roots, rocks and cavities, and how many ants occupy
a chamber. She also wanted to know whether adding more ants would cause them to
excavate a larger chamber or more small chambers.
“With the aluminum casting
method, developed entirely by these three amazing students,” she said, “I can
answer each question in a matter of days.” In August, The college senior will
write a grant proposal to expand the research project on excavation that these
students started.
The team plans to use the casts
for academic purposes but also is considering donating some of the casts to
organizations and art museums.
The APSB has
chosen not to name the college nor participants in this study for fear that
they may feel that we are singling them out unjustly. It is
sincere hope that the participants may read this post and will reexamine their
safety protocols.
We acknowledge
that some may read this post and wonder what is the danger with the small amount
of molten metal these individuals were casting with? Any amount of molten
metal, from a kilogram (e.g., die casting industry) to tens of thousands of
kilograms (e.g., primary aluminium) is dangerous. In our opinion we have
noticed a tendency for individuals, companies, industries, etc. who handle
smaller quantities of molten metal to lessen the danger of this hazard. Whereas
on a yearly basis more workers are injured and killed when dealing with smaller
quantities of molten metal versus the plants that handle hundreds of thousands
of kilograms of material. There are numerous reasons why that is including but
not limited to: new equipment, historical incidents, seasoned workers, etc.
The
Alumium Plant Safety Blog would recommend that the individuals when casting
have no exposed skin. In addition the Aluminum Association’s “Guidelines For
Handling Molten Aluminium” should be consulted regarding proper safety clothing
when casting. The guideline can be found here.
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