There are variety of byproducts that are generated through the
manufacturing processes in our plants. A vast majority of these byproducts are
safe. But, there are some that can become hazardous when they are allowed to
accumulate. Here is a recent story where an accumulation of a manufacturing
byproduct resulted in a fire:
It took fifty five firefighters from the four different fire
departments in California in the USA forty minutes to put out a fire one
afternoon during the week of November 8, 2015 at an aluminum manufacturing business
according to the fire department’s Twitter
page.
They were called in at 2 p.m. after a fire was caused by an
equipment failure near a forging press machine, according to the local newspaper.
Apparently the machine caught fire and the blaze spread very quickly to the
roof, where a sprinkler system was activated. Reportedly an oily residue kept
igniting the fire on the ceiling according to the local fire department. Damage
was estimated to be about $50,000.
The company specializes in closed die aluminum and titanium
forgings, machined and finished components and assemblies, and aluminum open
die (“hand”) forgings. Their markets include every major aircraft/aerospace
manufacturer in the world, automotive O.E.M. and after-markets, recreation,
industrial, medical equipment, and others.
No one was injured in the blaze. About fifty employees were able
to exit the building safely. A hazmat crew was able to contain the runoff
mixture of water and chemicals – which would have posed a threat to the
environment had it made it to the storm drains.
The business may remain closed. This incident should be covered
by their property insurance policy. Their insurance policy may also provide
funding for the business interruption and the repairs needed after the fire.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog is glad that no one was injured in
this incident and it appears that the damage to both the facility and
production loss was minimal. We chose to omit the company name and location
because we were concerned on how our comments would be interpreted. Now with
that said. Too many plants in our industry allow for the accumulation of manufacturing
byproducts or waste. Which is done because of a lack of knowledge not by malicious
intent. The importance of good housekeeping varies from plant to plant. We have
viewed buildups of aluminum fines/dust on top of equipment and roof joists in
many plants. We have observed the accumulations of aluminum shavings on saws and
drill presses. This incident involved the accumulation of oil and/or grease
from a foundry press. That same issue has been viewed by the editors of the
APSB on many foundry plant tours. It should be noted that in this incident that
the fire sprinklers were activated but were effective in only containing the
fire. We assume that is because the fire was on the underneath of the roof and
above the fire sprinklers.
Please comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment