"flames caused a significant release of smoke...three workers"

 

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog has repeatedly posted about the importance of performing fire drills. Here is a recent incident that emphasizes this point:

About twenty firefighters intervened this one day during the third week of February 2021 around 2:30 p.m. at the die-casting factory, in a town in Europe. An outbreak of fire on an aluminum injection machine is at the origin of the alert. The flames caused a significant release of smoke which inconvenienced at least three workers. The latter were taken care of by the rescuers.

A momentary shutdown of production. In addition, nearly 70 employees had to be evacuated from the production site. This outbreak of fire was quickly brought under control by the firefighters. According to a member of the management of of the company the news media was able to reach at the end of the day, the site's activity was able to resume normally in the course of the afternoon.

We pray that the injured workers recover fully from their injuries. Smoke inhalation symptoms may include but not limited to coughing, shortness of breath, hoarseness, headache, and acute mental status changes. The symptoms may last for days. We pray that the workers have no lasting medical issues from their injuries.

Fires in our injuries commonly generate quite a lot of smoke. The APSB has posted numerous incidents where workplaces quickly filled up with smoke within minutes. It is imperative that workers evacuate the building in a safe, orderly, and quick manner.

On my travels we like to ask workers “when was your last fire drill?” If workers can not recall quickly. We know it has been too long. So we ask the reader. When was the last time your workplace had a fire drill?

 

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