"ventilation pipe for the furnace was blown from the roof..."

Furnaces come in all different sizes and shapes in our industry. No matter the furnace’s capacity or fuel source the hazard if very real. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has posted many incidents involving furnaces. Here is a recent incident that emphasizes the continued need for furnace safety education.

A small furnace explosion led to the evacuation of a manufacturing business in the Northwest USA. A fire occurred one afternoon during the first week of May 2017.

Employees of a die casting and metal injection molding company reported a small explosion in a hydrogen operated furnace, which is used in their manufacturing process.

Firefighters arrived at the scene and confirmed that all employees had safely evacuated and the fire was contained to the furnace.

While the fire did not spread, a piece of ventilation pipe for the furnace was blown from the roof area and landed near an adjacent business. The other business did not sustain any damage.

There were no injuries reported and a damage estimate was not immediately available. The cause of the explosion is under investigation.

We are glad that no one was injured in this incident. Especially with the pipe that was blown off the roof. One wonders if that pipe should have had a blowout panel that would prevent a future recurrence. We are very pleased that the plant was evacuated safely with no injuries. It is very important to have regular randomly scheduled evacuation trainings.

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