"the damage will be close to a million....”

 

Understanding past incidents can hopefully prevent future incidents. Here is a recent story emphasizing the need to understand why past incidents occur.

 

The foundry has been affected by fires several times, and another major operation took place one day during the week of September 13, 2020. The cause of the fire and the amount of damage are still unknown. “But the damage will be close to a million”, feared the managing director of the aluminium company located (in Europe), which specializes in the manufacture of die-cast parts from aluminum alloys, after the extinguishing work was completed.

On the day at lunchtime in a production hall, one of the largest machines in the foundry, which was used to manufacture transmission parts for an automobile manufacturer at the time of the fire, started to burn.

“When the fire brigade arrived, the machine was in full fire,” said the operations manager of the (local) volunteer fire brigade, who had been alerted around 12.30 p.m. Because it was a die-casting machine in which aluminum chips were processed, He continued, the top priority was not to use water for extinguishing. “We then extinguished with powder. In the first phase with fire extinguishers from the production hall, then with re-ordered material from the fire department. "

After around 30 minutes, the fire brigade extinguished the flames and was able to check the roof with the thermal camera before the workers who had previously been evacuated were allowed to return to the production hall. “The evacuation of the workers had already worked extremely well before we arrived,” the operations manager of the (local) volunteer fire brigade praised the exemplary behavior of the employees concerned.

 

“We have a production downtime on a machine group. As it looks at the moment, we can start producing again tomorrow with the rest of the machines, ”speculated managing director of the aluminium company immediately after the flames had been extinguished. It must now be checked whether the affected machine can be repaired. “But that definitely means a downtime of eight to twelve weeks,” said the managing director of the aluminium company, quantifying the impending duration of the partial production downtime. As the possible cause of the fire, so the thoughts of the managing director during the extinguishing operation, in such a machine only a broken hydraulic line could actually be considered.

 

The police are still investigating the cause of the fire. One of the company's employees was slightly injured in the fire and had to be taken to hospital. The fire brigade was on site with twelve vehicles and 46 men.

We pray that the injured worker recovers fully from their injuries. We pray that the equipment is not severely damaged and can be quickly repaired. 

We commend the aluminium workers assisting the fire department in extinguishing the fire. No doubt without the cooperation of the workers this fire would have gone on longer.

Yet again, we read that the flammable hydraulic fluid might be the cause. We recommend that all hydraulic fluid in your plant should be inspected for it’s flammability. If it is flammable, a suitable non flammable fluid needs to be found.

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