"So far, 7 people have been killed, 1 seriously injured..."

The proper storage of waste material in our industry is sometimes overlooked. In our opinion this is done because of a lack of awareness of a particular hazard or a false safety belief. Here is a recent incident involving waste product:

The metal processing plant in Asia exploded yesterday, causing the whole plant to fall into flames. So far, 7 people have been killed, 1 seriously injured, 4 people have been slightly injured, and the cause of the fire to be clarified. At present, the foreign owned parent company have not received any casualties in this explosion.

The local Municipal Governments WeChat public account “(location) Release” pointed out that at 7:12 am yesterday, on the outdoor site of the production line of the metal process company in the comprehensive security zone of (local city), a container for storing scrap metal exploded, causing the production line to catch fire. The deputy director of the (foreign country) Affairs Office of local City, said on the same day that he has not received any (foreign) casualties in the bombing.

The company's walls have been smouldered into black, and the smoke and fire at the scene of the accident have been extinguished, but the air is filled with odor. The main road around the company has been blocked by the police and is forbidden to enter. CCTV released photos of the factory in the afternoon, and the whole factory has become a ruin.

Witnesses pointed out that after the explosion, the injured person escaped from the factory, the clothes were peeled off, and the whole body was blacked up and sent to the ambulance. The night shift staff of the factory was involved; the employees of the factory said that there were pregnant women in the injured and deflagrated containers. The piled material inside is the production of waste magnesium.

We are saddened by the workers deaths, and pray that the injured workers recover fully from their burns. We pray for the deceased worker’s family, friends, and coworkers. It appears that some if not all of the workers clothing was flammable.

Other news articles stated that this company processed aluminium and magnesium together. Many news articles state that the fire started outside and went into the factory and the explosion occurred. If we find out further information we will post it.

We found in one news article quoting a government press release. “The focus of investigation is on the storage of processing waste.” Which is consistent with all the of the news articles that we have read.

As horrific this incident is. We hope that each reader will look at their plant or company on the storage of their processing waste. If one single plant uses this incident to change their current practices for the better. Then maybe the lives lost in this metal processing plant will prevent future deaths.

That is our goal. That is why we post these incidents. To prevent recurrence.

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