"a spurt of molten metal" ???

We have learned overtime that some companies fear bad press. In response they choose a path that in hindsight does not serve their company’s best interests in the short term and most definitely not long term. This commonly happens in the acknowledging of incidents to the news media. For fear of omitting a company we will not mention any of the companies (and there are many!) that we think do a great job! There are some companies who fail to provide information on an incident. Or worse yet refuse or even deny one occurred. Those companies do a disservice to their employees and to our industry. How can a company not talking about an incident harm our industry? Well, history has shown us that incidents in the aluminium industry get repeated. The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog is filled with incidents that are very similar that have occurred in different plants. In many ways it is only through communication throughout our industry that we can stop these incidents from recurring. That is why we do this blog.

Now back to the topic at hand. When an incident occurs a company should tell what has happened. That sounds easy. But for many it is hard to do. All too often companies fear either bad press, government enforcement agencies, lawyers, etc. Regardless of those companies should consider a self-serving reason. Their employees moral. Workers know instantly if a company is hiding or is not scared about the public reaction after an incident. Would a worker recommend to a friend employment at that company if they have an issue regarding plant safety? No.

Here is a recent incident that we will comment afterwards and we challenge the reader to find the word in the news story that was the inspiration to the previous paragraphs.

The Fire Department battled are one night during the week of February 17, 2019 at an aluminium die-casting plant, for almost an hour before reporting about 8:45 p.m. that it was largely under control. Thick black smoke could be seen coming from the roof on one portion of the building, where parts for the automotive industry are manufactured. The aluminium die cast company President said 55 people were working in the building at the time of the fire. “Everybody was evacuated safely with no injuries at all,” the company president said the following day. “The (local) Fire Department did an outstanding job and put it out right away. There is some supercial damage to the roof, but we’re up and running right now.” The building was evacuated as the fire spread across the roof, and the power supply to part of the building was also turned off. The company president said the blaze appeared to begin in the foundry when a spurt of molten metal caught some roofing insulation on fire. “Luckily there’s very little damage,” company president said.''

We are glad that no one was injured in this fire. New media reported that eight fire trucks and dozens of fire fighters and support personnel responded to the fire. The company personnel responded as trained when the incident occurred. They immediately called the fire department and safely evacuated the building. In the past we would have mentioned the company in name and commend them for following a safe evacuation. But, there was a description that we found to be dumbfounding. Have you guessed the word? The word was “splurt”. The phrase “when a spurt of molten metal caught some roofing insulation on fire” diminishes the hazard of molten metal explosions. An explosion is when molten metal leaves its intended container. That container can be a casting machine, furnace, drain pan, etc. If molten metal traveled a distance to the ceiling of a building that was done by an explosion. Referring to it as a “splurt” downplays the seriousness of this hazard. Molten metal explosions are one of our industry’s most dangerous hazards in terms of lost revenue and injures/fatalities. We hope the readers will always refer to a hazard appropriately.

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