The use of anodizing in our
industry is commonplace. Many extrusion plants have onsite anodizing
departments. We have toured many anodizing departments looking for hidden
hazards. Sadly, we will remember this tragedy.
Authorities have released
more details about a fatal explosion on (name) Street in (town name)
Wednesday afternoon.
County Emergency
Management says a vacuum truck waste hauler from (company name) was
removing an alkaline lye solution from a holding tank at (the anodizing
company) on (name of street omitted) when white smoke or steam
started coming from the area of the truck which was parked directly in front of
the building.
The tank containing
approximately 300 gallons of the solution reportedly failed at its end
cap seam sending the cap into a vacant lot and the tank went through
the exterior of the building, through an interior partition hitting a support
beam before finally coming to a stop near the rear of the building.
Authorities say a
34-year-old died when the flying tank struck him and another employee working
near the center of the building. Also injured was the driver of the truck who
was thrown into the vacant lot and a (town name) city employee and (local) firefighter
who had seen the initial smoke while eating at a restaurant and went to help.
(local) Fire Department
Chief says his brother (was the fire fighter the responded to the smoke) suffered
second and third-degree burns from his chest up and chemical burns in his mouth
and eyes.
The fire department chief’s
brother remains at a University Medical Center in major city (50 kilometers
away) and is unable to talk but is doing good Fire Department Chief says adding
his family would like to thank all of the emergency personnel along with
everyone who has reached out to help.
The (name omitted) State
Fire Marshall and the (name omitted) Environmental Cabinet
are investigating the explosion and at this time
authorities believe that for some reason an organic fat such as cooking
oil became mixed with the alkaline wastewater in the tank which resulted in an
exothermic saponification reaction.
This reaction reportedly
raised the temperature inside the tank causing the water portion of the
solution to boil and raising the pressure inside it to a point beyond its
designed strength resulting in the failure of the tank seam.
Two people were reportedly transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital. The road was blocked off as hazmat, officials with the EPA, and other investigators worked to clear the area and investigate what happened. The anodizing company specializes in custom Aluminum Anodizing to include Type IC, II Sulfuric Acid & Type III Hard Coat Anodizing to include both Clear and Color Classes.
We offer our sincere condolences to family,
friends, and coworkers of the worker who died in this explosion. We pray that
the injured firefighter and two other individuals recover fully from their
injuries and have no scars. We hope that the company provides mental health counseling to all employees in the future.
We hope that this incident will result in changes
at anodizing companies or workplaces with anodizing departments. That any contractor
that removes waste have their containers empty before removing any anodizing waste.
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