"electrician fell into a liquid aluminum furnace...."

 

Sadly, there are no unique incidents in our industry. After 12 years of reporting incidents, we all too often see incident recur. Just a different workplace, different country, but they recur. Our sincere hope that by bringing awareness to incidents we can stop this endless cycle. Here is a recent incident highlight the hazard of working around molten metal:

A 25-year-old electrician fell into a liquid aluminum furnace while working. He entered the molten metal up to his knee.

On Wednesday evening, two maintenance workers were working on an aluminum holding furnace. The furnace contained liquid aluminum maintained at a temperature of 720 degrees. During the work, a 25-year-old electrician fell through an opening in the cauldron and sank into the molten aluminum up to his knees. He was able to lean on and pull himself up again on his own.

The man was taken care of by the medical services and two (nearby) emergency doctors, then airlifted to hospital. He suffered significant burns and injuries. The exact reasons for the accident are under investigation by the municipal police of (of the nearby town).

We pray that the injured worker recovers fully from his injuries. We can assume that the worker was on top the furnace and failed to recognize or forgot that the insulation pad was covering the furnace opening. Regardless, the news media article states that he went into up to his knees into the molten bath. From the photo of the furnace we assume the workplace was either a small foundry or die caster. From our experience those types of plants typically do not require ppe as do other workplaces who handle larger volumes of molten metal (e.g., smelters, casthouses, etc.). In other words we doubt the electrician was wearing molten metal resistant boots that were dipped tested in molten bath. Nor do expect that the pants the worker were fire resistant. Though as an electrician we hope that their pants were.

If we hear of any further information on the worker’s injuries and how he is recovering we will update this post.

Now how can the reader use this incident to make your plant(s) safer. By using it as a toolbox talk. But, how do you frame the story to bring out a positive response? Our suggestion would be to tell the story and ask the question. How could this happen? Caution against the answers “he was stupid, he was dumb, etc.”. Manage the conversation. How could a worker step into a open furnace top? The hope that afterwards the leader can say “As crazy as this incident is, we learned all it takes a moment of forgetfulness of failing to follow one’s training for an incident to occur.”

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