Fire ants, false safety beliefs and molten metal.....

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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