Thanks for attending...

I wanted to thank everyone who attended my TMS 2018 presentation in Phoenix on Monday. Which dealt with a 2016 aluminium casthouse explosion in the USA. What happened? An isolated power failure occurred affecting only the casting station. Resulting in all of the engineering controls failing at the same moment. No audible/visual alarms notifying the workers of the emergency. Battery backups did not function. When the power failed the emergency water system turned on automatically. The pumps in the casting pit to prevent the water from getting to high were also affected. Resulting in the pit eventually overflowing with water. When the sole worker watching the cast realized something was wrong. He immediately started the emergency shutdown procedures. First he plugged the furnace and then broke the v-gate to remove any metal in the troughening by directing it into the emergency drain pan. The emergency drain pan was recessed into the floor and unbeknownst to the worker the overflowing water had flowed into the pan. A large explosion resulted when the molten metal came into contact with the bare steel pan. That worker suffered injuries from the explosion. I pray that he has recovered. The aluminium company received no citations nor fines from OSHA. In my opinion the company could not have predicted this incident to occur. Regardless, this incident can be used in your plant to reinforce the importance of engineering controls and worker training. It was my hope that I planted a seed into those that attended on Mon. For them to go back to their facilities and make their company, their plants, and their workers safer!