Forklift foundry furnace explosion - GIF

[Jon]

Forklift foundry furnace explosion.




Previously:

Steel mill explosion - GIF
Giant molten metal spill at steel mill - GIF
Steel mill cobble GIF
Steel mill wet charge explosion - video

[Frank S]

I can't tell if there was but I would hope there was some kind of a windshield on the front of that forklift if for nothing else as a heat deflector when loading the furnace.
Judging by the way the molten splash didn't appear to strike the operator there probably was a clear panel.
the guy didn't seem to have been seriously injured if injured at all from the way he backed away then drove the forklift over to the side before exiting the forklift in the cloud of smoke.

[mwmkravchenko]

Looks like there was water in that bundle. water and molten metal make steam and that makes for a mess. I agree with Frank the driver walked away rather calmly after parking on the right side of the furnace. If there wasn't a windshield he would have been in some serious trouble.

[somyunguy]

Back when I worked in Phamaceutical manufacture we had an incident , the day shift had fallen behind in SVP (Small Volume Parenterals) on a batch of drug with a high hydrogen peroxide content.
Come tea time , everybody went on tea except for one fellow who took it upon himself to unload the sterilised batch from the Autoclave to try and make up some time.

The Autoclave operators had strict instructions never to unload a batch of this specific drug before ambient temperature had been reached.

Unfortunately , this fellow for some reason , ignored this , obviously thinking the temp was low enough to be safe , the forklift went in ok , lifted cleanly but on the way out , as the wheels crossed the land between the floor and the mouth of the Autoclave , the load jogged , the vials cracked together and the whole trolley load exploded.

The forklift was equipped with a screen but this melted and covered the operator entirely over his front , melted his cleansuit into his flesh , he died 3 days later.

When we visited in ICU , all he could say was "Please don't touch me!!"

I used to drill my maintenance guys - Always find out what the product is and NEVER ever open a hot Autoclave for any reason!!

[mwmkravchenko]

Going on to prove that there are very few accidents.

[hemmjo]

More troubling to me, since the operator seems to be OK, is those large rolls of what looks like nice aluminum sheet apparently headed for the furnace!!!!

[carl blum]

Hi Gang:
When I worked at an Aluminum Smelter there was a rule: "NO CANNED DRINKS INSIDE THE PLANT!" just for this reason. After I left a new concrete slab exploded when hot slag was dumped on it. Took the roof off the slag building.
Carl.