Almost every type of plant has some type of dust collectors. On the
rare occasion when an incident involves a dust collector is important that all
emergency personnel know beforehand how to handle aluminium dust fires. Here is
a recent story.
The Wapakoneta Fire Department was called out to a fire at General
Aluminum, Wapakoneta, Ohio in the USA at 3:47 p.m. on November 23,
2015, sending two engines, an aerial ladder and one rescue squad.
According to the Fire Captain there was "more smoke than
fire" and the fire was able to be contained using fire extinguishers only.
While the firefighters were told a robot had caught on fire, said the Fire Captain,
the fire was actually caused by a dust collector sparking some material.
The Fire Captain said after the firefighters extinguished the
fire, they helped clean up the debris and then left at about 5 p.m. Another Fire
Department had been on standby for about 15 minutes, the Fire Captain said, but
the situation was under control.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog is glad that no aluminium company
personnel nor emergency management personnel were injured. We have posted
incidents in the past involving dust collectors with worse results.
The APSB commends the aluminium company for acknowledging the
seriousness of this fire and immediately contacting the local emergency
management services.
The Occupational & Safety Health Administration has some useful
information here.
Please comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment