The transportation of molten aluminium over the roadways is common
throughout our industry. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted incidents
involving the transportation of molten metal over the road. Here is a recent
story:
A
truck carrying molten aluminum overturned on June 27, 2016 in the Southeastern
USA.
City
officials said the aluminum was so hot that it melted the asphalt road.
The
local fire chief told the crash happened just before 8 p.m. at the intersection
of two highways.
The
tractor trailer was hauling aluminum from an aluminum smelting plant. It was
heading to another aluminum plant.
When
the truck overturned, it spilled about 25,000 pounds of molten aluminum onto
the highway. Officials said they don’t know what caused the truck to overturn. Police
told the local news the accident is still under investigation, but the Police Chief
said preliminary findings indicate several factors.
“We
believe it’s a combo of things – speed, the load shifted and the driver said
the chains broke off the pot and the pot slid to the side of the truck, so it
was a redistribution of weight, a little bit of speed and the 90-degree turn he
went around,” the police chief said.
The
roadway reopened to motorists mid-afternoon Tuesday.
Charges
are not expected against the driver of the truck.
Crews
had to wait for the aluminum to cool before removing it from the road. After
that, the road was repaved and resurfaced. The road was reopened by 10 a.m.
Tuesday. City officials said no one was injured.
The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog is glad that the truck driver nor
any bystanders were injured in this incident. The preliminary investigation identified,
speed of the vehicle, load shifted, chains broke, etc. We hope that the root cause(s) of this
accident are determined and procedures, actions are taken to prevent
recurrence.
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