“We did evacuate. We are back running. We are still investigating.”

Every aluminium plant should hold emergency fire drills throughout the year. We were at one plant recently and a worker told us that fire drills occurred on the 3^rd Thursday of every month. While we commended that plant for hosting regular fire drills, the timing was too predictable. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog recommends that fire drills be held at random times to surprise the workers. The APSB has posted incidents where workers have become trapped in plants that have caught fire. Here is a recent story where an evacuation occurred.

Firefighters responded to a blaze late Tuesday, November 3, 2015 in morning at the Imperial Aluminum plant in Ohio, USA.

Local firefighters were not available for comment as of Tuesday morning.

“We are still accessing the situation,” Imperial Aluminium, plant safety director, said. “We did evacuate. We are back running. We are still investigating.”

She said there were no injuries. The plant is located in an industrial park on the south side of this village within Carroll County.

“I think it was a furnace,” said Police Chief. “I couldn’t get back in there.” The village police dispatch for the Sandy Creek Joint Fire District.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog hopes the fire damage and production loss was minimal. We would like to congratulate Imperial Aluminum on the successful evacuation. 

Occupational Safety & Health Administration has useful information about evacuation plans. That information can be found here. In addition the document below can be found here.