Molten metal spills, 4 workers burned, managers arrested...

The use of contractors in our industry has grown exponentially over the past decade. The training of these contractors varies from company to company. The best in our industry treat contractors “as their own employees” regarding their safety training and requirements. Here is a recent story emphasizing the importance of proper training of contractors:

Local Police on arrested two employees in India for the mishap at the company's aluminium plant, in which four workers were injured one day during the week of May 3, 2015.

Four contractual workers had sustained injuries when molten aluminium spilled in the plant. The officials, who were arrested, included a senior manager and an assistant manager.

The workers had gone to the smelter plant for maintenance work one day during the week of May 3, 2015. However, molten aluminium spilled from the pot and fell on the workers, resulting in injuries to four of them.

Two of them sustained critical injuries and were shifted to a speciality hospital 300 kilometers away for treatment.

"The two officials were booked under section 287 and 337 of IPC, (acts of negligence)" said inspector in-charge of the local police station.

"It was an unfortunate incident. The workers, who were shifted to [a specialty hospital] for medical care, are convalescing," said deputy general manager, corporate communication of the aluminium company

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays that all the workers recover fully from their physical and mental injuries. It is unknown from the news article on what training was given to the contractors upon entering the facility. What is known is that there was a molten metal leak which resulted with four workers being burned. Two of the workers’ burns were so severe that the local hospital could not provide adequate care. Luckily these injured workers were transported 300 kilometers to a hospital equipped to care for the severe burns.

It is unknown what type of personal protection equipment (i.e., clothing) if any these workers were wearing. But what is known is that the clothing that they were wearing was inadequate for the task(s) they were performing.

The Aluminium Times magazine had an informative article about contractor training a few years ago. The information in the article is still relevant today.

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