"There was an explosion and an air line hit him in the face.”

On our travels across the globe, we ask to speak to workers about safety. We request to speak to maintenance department workers. It is not uncommon for us to speak to numerous shifts of maintenance workers. Why? Because no other department in our industry has suffered more incidents that maintenance. With prior input from the aluminium plant we talk about the importance of following your training, never skip steps, never make assumptions, and no regrets. We utilize recent incidents (we try to never mention the company name) to emphasize those points. Here is a recent story:

An employee injured in an explosion at the aluminum smelter last week has been moved from intensive care at a hospital 160 kilometers away.

Industrial electrician was in satisfactory condition four days after the incident a hospital official said.

The worker was injured in an apparent explosion at the plant in the morning during the week of October 9, 2016 a local union official said.

The a local union official said workers who were present when the explosion occurred said worker was working on an air compressor atop a crane when the compressor exploded. “We don’t know the details,” the local union official said. “There was an explosion and an air line hit him in the face.”

The aluminium plant spokesman said a local fire department firefighters treated the injured worker at the scene and took him by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he was flown to a trauma center 160 kilometers away.

“The (company) is working to determine the cause of the incident,” the aluminium plant spokesman said.

We pray that the injured worker heals fully and is able to resume his job. We obviously do not know the specific circumstances regarding incident other the news media article. It appears to be a freak accident. Unfortunately, freak accidents or random incidents occur with regularity and injure or kill workers in our plants. For maintenance workers who are exposed to more variety of hazards in their daily activities “freak incidents” are sadly common. That is why we hammer on the importance of never make assumptions.

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