The use of natural gas in our facilities is commonplace. On a day to
day basis the hazard of natural gas is forgotten because incidents are so rare.
But, on occasion incidents involving natural gas do occur. Here is a recent
story.
Serious
burns have been reported to one man who was injured in an industrial explosion
and fire late one afternoon during the week of November 15, 2015 in the Midwest
USA.
A local
fire department news release said the natural gas blast occurred as an employee
was attempting to relight a dryer. When the alarm came in, there was a report
that besides the one burn victim, two workers were missing. However, all of the
other employees were accounted for.
The
victim, whose name wasn’t released, was treated at the scene and taken by ambulance
to a local hospital with what were described as non-life threatening injuries
to his hands and head.
Fire
damage was contained to the dryer and other machinery in the plant with the
flames brought under control using multiple fire extinguishers. Firefighters were
on scene for over an hour.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays for the injured worker to
recover fully from his physical and any mental injuries. We are unaware of the
status of the “two worker (who) were missing”. Due to no follow-up stories on
this incident we assume that they were found safe. When an explosion occurs
emergency management programs have to be enacted immediately. How well workers
respond depend directly on their training and drills. On plant visits we will
ask workers “when was the last fire drill”. If workers cannot remember within
seconds of when the last drill occurred, it has been too long.
OSHA has some useful information pertaining toward emergency
evacuations. Which can be found here.
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