"said that it was their metal and that they still weren’t going to cover it..."

The importance of each aluminium plant maintaining a good relationship with their surrounding communities should go without saying. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted story after story (which we love to!) about the good works our plants perform around their communities. But, there are some plants that fail to acknowledge the importance of maintaining let alone promoting themselves within their local community. Here is a recent incident that could have turned out worse.

A resident says he takes the same road to and from work every day. He says metal shavings from an aluminium plant are to blame for his popped and punctured tires. “There was one there, one there, one there,” said the resident. He recently paid just under 200 dollars for new tires. “Had to get some patches done and then I also had to get two new tires,” said the resident. He drives (in front of the aluminium plant) every day as he heads to and from work. That drive takes him past the company, an aluminum supplier. The resident says that when the wind blows, tiny metal shavings cover the road. “This is all metal that comes from that place,” said the resident. He says he took his car into (a local tire shop) last week. “They took me into their shop and they showed me all the metal and they go, you have at least 24 pieces of metal in your tires,” said the resident. “They went through and circled them for me and they told me that I should go to the place where it happened.” The resident says he spoke to a plant manager at (aluminium company) who asked him for proof, so he brought his tires in. When he did, he says he didn’t see the manager, but was instead met by a maintenance worker. “He took a metal detector, like a metal thing, and tested it and said that it was their metal and that they still weren’t going to cover it,” said Friend. Newschannel 3 spoke with the plant manager on Wednesday, he says he’s aware of the situation, but says steel, not aluminum, was responsible for the tire problems and that’s a metal that you find at his plant. The local TV news channel also reached out to the local Police Department, City Manager’s Office, and County Road Commission and were told they were not aware of any issues, but will check into it. The local TV news channel spoke with the local tire company by phone, who say they’ve had several complaints similar to the resident.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog is glad that this issue did not result in the puncture of a motorist’s tire which could have resulted in an injury or fatality. We acknowledge that there is a real possibility that the aluminium plant in question is not at fault. But, in our experience of visiting dozens upon dozens of plants we lean toward believing the motorist in question that aluminium shavings or grindings were the culprit in his numerous flat tires. Where the aluminium debris came from is question. We assume it came from a truck delivery scrap to the aluminium plant. The truck was either not tarped or improperly tarped.

We have reached out to the aluminum company in question. It would be our recommendation to contact the tv news channel and the angry motorist. On live tv offer the motorist four new tires. Because right now the story that aired on the local tv news was not positive toward the aluminium company. Imagine the news coverage if the motorist wrecked?

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