The hazards of dealing with aluminium fines/dusts in our industry
have been placed to the forefront after a series of catastrophes that have
claimed hundreds of workers lives. Here is a recent incident that emphasizes
that the continued need for safety training involving aluminium fines.
Three workers were today charred to death and
another seriously injured in an explosion in a chemical factory in Southern
India, police said.
Workers in the factory were making aluminium
powder from the aluminium lump by hitting it when it exploded. While one of the
workers died on the spot, three others were taken to a Government Hospital over
220 kilometers away from where they were referred to a private hospital 50
kilometers away, police said.
One of the workers died on the way to
hospital while another died at the private hospital. The condition of the
injured worker is stated to be serious. The factory owner is absconding. Local police has registered a case.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog offers our sincere condolences to
the deceased workers’ family, friends, and coworkers. We also pray that the
injured worker recovers fully from his burns.
We assume that a molten metal
explosion occurred which resulted in the aluminium fines igniting. We have seen
numerous similar incidents with similar incidents. Each and every incident is
preventable. The news article stated that the factory owner has absconded. In
other words he failed to surrender himself to custody to the local police.
Please Comment.
I noticed in the write-up that it says: "Workers in the factory were making aluminium powder from the aluminium lump by hitting it when it exploded." It would seem that this is a case of dry-grinding of an Al block to create fines for their chemical reaction. I would not expect to see molten metal at a "chemical plant".
ReplyDeleteBUT, it is well known that impact sparks can initiate a combustible dust fire and/or explosion. I would assume that this is a more likely scenario with housekeeping (or lack thereof) as a contributing factor.