"worker was burnt to death and another sustained injuries....."

The relighting of furnaces is a hazard that many plants acknowledge. Here is a recent incident highlight what can go horribly wrong with relighting a furnace.

A worker died and another was injured in an explosion caused by accumulated gas at an aluminium factory in (location omitted) today.

The deceased was identified as (name omitted) (35) while the injured as (name omitted) (25), reports our local correspondent quoting police.

Local Model Police Station's Officer-in-Charge (OC) said that the explosion happened at (company name omitted) in (location omiited) area around 8am.

(the first worker) died on the spot while injured (second worker) was sent to (name of hospital omitted) of Burn and Plastic Surgery in critical condition (30 km away).

The OC said, the explosion was caused by accumulated gas inside the furnace. Legal action will be taken following an investigation.

The factory manager, told reporters that there was no gas for the entire day yesterday. The gas supply started this morning and accumulated in the furnace which caused the explosion.

We offer our sincere condolences to the deceased worker’s family, friends, and coworkers. We pray for them as we pray that the injured worker recovers fully from their injuries. We assume that their clothes were not fire resistant and ignited. Because we have heard of similar incidents and workers with fire resistant clothing survived. Regardless, there are a few questions about what occurred. The news article state that the gas to the plant was not flowing in the day before. Then the gas flowed and either built up and then found an ignition source. Or the gas built up and the workers tried to ignite it and were unaware of the excess gas.

Every incident we feel can be used to educate workers. This incident should be printed and brought to you personnel and reviewed. There have been numerous incidents where gas accumulation during the igniting of a furnace.

How does your workplace prevent the accumulation of gas during the ignition phase when lighting a furnace?

Please comment.