"rescuer fell into a casting well...."

 

Using translating apps can be difficult to say the least. Some of the translations make no sense. Regardless, one can always take a learning point from any incident. Here is an incident from two years ago that we stumbled upon recently that we wanted to post.

"110? Our company's gas pipe burst!" On the morning of June 28, the local District Safety Supervision Bureau of (Asian city), together with multiple departments, carried out a comprehensive emergency rescue exercise for the aluminum profile industry melting and casting accidents, simulating a sudden electrical appliance in the melting and casting workshop of an aluminum profile company The failure caused a power outage on the whole line, causing aluminum water leakage, causing a gas pipeline leak and causing an accident that a rescuer fell off the casting well and was injured.

At 9:30 in the morning, a sudden electrical failure in the melting and casting workshop of (aluminium company) caused a power outage on the entire line, and the casting machine was shut down. During the emergency treatment process, a large amount of high-temperature aluminum water leaked to the ground. The company launched an emergency plan and carried out an emergency. Disposal. Later, in the rescue process, a rescuer accidentally fell into a casting well and was injured. The company organized rescue operations and requested 120 support.

At 9:40, because the aluminum water overflowed to the ground too large, it hit the natural gas pipeline during the lifting of aluminum ingots, causing gas leakage, and the accident gradually escalated. The enterprise reported to 110 and the town (street) to which it belonged, and the relevant departments of the district and town Start emergency plans and organize forces to rush to the scene to carry out emergency rescue and accident handling. 

It is reported that this exercise adopts a "double-blind" emergency drill mode without prior notice of the drill time and location. The person in charge of the activity stated that the purpose of carrying out this exercise is to test the pertinence and operability of the emergency plan, to further improve the mechanism, and to exercise the rapid response and actual combat capabilities of the emergency team. On the other hand, it is to improve the various departments of (local District name omitted). The ability to respond quickly to production safety accidents and the level of emergency response, and use this exercise as an opportunity to generalize emergency management knowledge, improve the people's risk prevention awareness and self-rescue ability, and minimize the casualties and property losses caused by the accident.

"This exercise has achieved the expected goal." Said director of the (local ) District Work Safety Supervision Bureau, believes that various departments and units responded quickly during the exercise, and the participants can organize the emergency team of their department and unit in time after receiving an emergency notification. And equipment quickly reached the scene of the accident; the enterprise can respond quickly, clearly divide labor, cooperate closely, and handle orderly in the emergency handling of power outage furnace leakage and personal injury accidents.

We hope the injured fire department rescuer recovers fully from his injuries. We are confused (not the first time) on the exact reason on why the fire department was at the casthouse. Were they there because of a training exercise or a response to a molten metal leak? Regardless of the reason, an individual fell into a casting pit. This hazard is very real in our industry. Numerous incidents have occurred with injuries and fatalities resulting. In response to these tragedies our industry has acknowledge this hazard. Casthouses have either retrofitted their pits or installed new equipment with fall protection. All workplaces involving any open pit(s) without fall protection is a hazard waiting for an incident to occur. These pits can either be vertical direct chill casting pits, adjacent maintenance pits to casting pits, maintenance pits under furnaces, machinery pits, etc. Any and all pits need to be protected.

Recently, we made an observation known to a greenfield plant from a video the company posted. The response was, “well no workers should be in that area”. We tried. That is all we can do. We make our safety observations known. If a company chose not to listen, and an incident occurs (which we pray does not happen) we feel no guilt. Because we tried. Over the years our observations that have been disregarded have resulted in injuries, some fatalities, and hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in loss production and equipment damages. All we can do is pray that our observations are investigated and corrected if deemed hazardous. 

The Light Metal Age magazine had an article about slips, trips, and falls. The article can be found here.

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