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in a foundry youre never really safe when you think you are

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posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 05:33 AM
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that happened a couple days ago. this is on the warehouse side. my office is maybe 50 feet in front of this. my bud from shipping almost got creamed. camera showed a truck coming in, backing up to the door so my bud went to hit the button to open it. started walking back towards the offices and the door was about 3 feet up and rising and the dude just backed up all the way through it. he was out of the way but not by much.

you never expect an accident to happen which is why it is an accident but on the foundry side # happens every day and you kind of shake it off cause it is almost expected. on the warehouse side though you feel a little more relaxed then something like this happens.



several months back a dude went to slag out the melter before he tapped and he thought it a good idea to clean(with water) the slag stick and droplets got trapped in the nicks and such and when he put in in the melt it flashed off and he got molten bronze in his mouth. he was in bad shape for a while.

about a year ago some dude was walking on the wail and tripped on his spat and when he tried to right himself he stepped right into the melt and went down to almost his knee. he is #ed for life. had to get flown to the burn unit.

crazy stuff man



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 05:52 AM
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Foundries are dangerous places.
Gotta be on your toes at all times.
I heard tale of a foundry that had a roof panel collapse during a heavy rain.
The water fell into a melting pot and exploded with disastrous results for anyone standing near.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 05:55 AM
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originally posted by: skunkape23
Foundries are dangerous places.
Gotta be on your toes at all times.
I heard tale of a foundry that had a roof panel collapse during a heavy rain.
The water fell into a melting pot and exploded with disastrous results for anyone standing near.


oh dude i believe it.

one of ours blew out before i started at this place. one of the water cooler lines blew, went into the tundish and one of the plates shot out like a bullet man. think of a 300lb bullet flying across the place.
no joke.

i got my left ring finger cut off at the last one i worked at.

someone is always hurt.

you can only be so safe when you are in that environment. there is just too much going on with too many variables. you could do everything right but some other dude makes some tiny mistake and someone else gets messed up.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 07:27 AM
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a reply to: TinySickTears

Yah, the melt.

Controlled volcano type stuff.

Image search



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 07:30 AM
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originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: TinySickTears

Yah, the melt.

Controlled volcano type stuff.

Image search


thats it. exactly what i am talking about.
we have 4 drop continuous cast furnaces and 3 continuous cast furnaces going at the same time. overhead cranes. tow motors. lot of action man.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 07:34 AM
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originally posted by: TinySickTears

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: TinySickTears

Yah, the melt.

Controlled volcano type stuff.

Image search


thats it. exactly what i am talking about.
we have 4 drop continuous cast furnaces and 3 continuous cast furnaces going at the same time. overhead cranes. tow motors. lot of action man.

I think they are awesome. Never worked in one, had some gold and platinum scrap smelted on a couple of occasions. They let you watch...



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 07:50 AM
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I am guessing it's sort of the same thing that prompted my grandfather to get rid of his motorcycle.

He sold it off because he said he was getting too comfortable with it, and he said that's when he knew it was time to give it up because that's when he was going to do something really stupid with it. He said so long as he was just a tiny bit afraid, he still had the right amount of respect for it, but when that was gone, he was in danger.

I'm guessing that's the problem at a foundry. About the time you get too comfortable working around the molten metal is when you are prime to make those tiny mistakes that can lead to disaster. You should always be a tiny bit afraid around it because that makes you pay attention to what you are doing.

Of course, the environmental stuff no one can take into account. Sh!t happens, no?



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 07:51 AM
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originally posted by: intrptr

originally posted by: TinySickTears

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: TinySickTears

Yah, the melt.

Controlled volcano type stuff.

Image search


thats it. exactly what i am talking about.
we have 4 drop continuous cast furnaces and 3 continuous cast furnaces going at the same time. overhead cranes. tow motors. lot of action man.

I think they are awesome. Never worked in one, had some gold and platinum scrap smelted on a couple of occasions. They let you watch...


oh its super cool. just dangerous work. hard work.

there is a lot to it that people really dont think about. it is very complicated to get correct. you dont just melt some # and pour.
chemistry has to be perfect. we are running a job on the 12th that is very specific. has to be between 59 and 61 percent copper. .5 over or under and the job is scrap. it is very touchy to get in the range. it has about 35% zinc but zinc burns off so when they take a sample in the furnace and test a sample if it is correct they have very little time to tap. too much time zinc burns off so copper goes up. melter temps have to be perfect. water that cools it has to be within a few degrees. has to dwell for a certain amount of time before it strokes.

these variables go off spec and physical properties and mechanical properties change.

lucky me i get to work 12 hours that week so i can verify their chemistry from every sample every 20 minutes. it makes for a long week.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 07:53 AM
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a reply to: ketsuko

yes. after a while you get complacent. you do a thing 100 times and you have it perfect so you let your guard down a little bit and relax and then youre #ed.

the big thing too is people just dont stay. they cant handle it. to be fair some of them really do try but it is not for everyone so you have a constant rotation of new guys and that causes problems.
they dont have their confidence yet or they are not professional on the tow motor or any number of things.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 08:01 AM
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As an electrician for a while, i worked at an aluminum foundry for a year and a half. They were strick about even lighters. Only incident i ever saw, was a man run over by a HUGE forklift. I will never forget the puddle he left.

In college, i worked a summer in a steel milk. First day, getting "the tour", i saw the cooling bed cobble, and a guy got a red hot rebar shot into his arm. He calmly pulled it out and went to the hospital....it was the 3rd time in 10 years that it happened to him.

Glad i am an engineer/it guy now...bless all of you who do the dirty work, pls be aware and safe.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 08:18 AM
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originally posted by: TinySickTears

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: TinySickTears

Yah, the melt.

Controlled volcano type stuff.

Image search


thats it. exactly what i am talking about.
we have 4 drop continuous cast furnaces and 3 continuous cast furnaces going at the same time. overhead cranes. tow motors. lot of action man.


lol, tow motors? never heard of forklifts being referred to as that til now.

But anyway, just out of curiosity, what were the consequences of the incident? At my work, if some idiot shunter even nearly backed a truck into a roller door, all hell would break lose.

Their would be worksafe training for all employee's, new safety barriers put up everywhere and investigations by the higher ups galore... to try and ensure it doesn't happen again.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 08:54 AM
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a reply to: Subaeruginosa

It depends. If the truck and driver were not part of the company OP works for, then while the truck company might be doing all those things you suggest, it isn't really any fault of anyone in the OP's company, so this incident might not have caused any ripples there.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 09:18 AM
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a reply to: TinySickTears

Being a mine engineer, I know exactly what you mean when you say everyday it's something else. Because it really is something every single day that could end someone's life in the blink of an eye.
We have 500 employees and we rely on them to take the initiative to report their findings, or do a stop and correct : you see it, you own it.
But there's always the lazy bastards that take short cuts, or turn a blind eye to potentially very dangerous situations.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 09:51 AM
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originally posted by: TinySickTears


that happened a couple days ago. this is on the warehouse side. my office is maybe 50 feet in front of this. my bud from shipping almost got creamed. camera showed a truck coming in, backing up to the door so my bud went to hit the button to open it. started walking back towards the offices and the door was about 3 feet up and rising and the dude just backed up all the way through it. he was out of the way but not by much.

you never expect an accident to happen which is why it is an accident but on the foundry side # happens every day and you kind of shake it off cause it is almost expected. on the warehouse side though you feel a little more relaxed then something like this happens.



several months back a dude went to slag out the melter before he tapped and he thought it a good idea to clean(with water) the slag stick and droplets got trapped in the nicks and such and when he put in in the melt it flashed off and he got molten bronze in his mouth. he was in bad shape for a while.

about a year ago some dude was walking on the wail and tripped on his spat and when he tried to right himself he stepped right into the melt and went down to almost his knee. he is #ed for life. had to get flown to the burn unit.

crazy stuff man


A few deaths here in Dearborn Ford Motors Plant when there was a massive explosion and fire. You have to be on your toes and 110% aware 120% of the time around any foundry or parts/sections of one.I wouldnt want any foundry worker job at any pay...and loading dock accidents as you say...happen all the time.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 10:56 AM
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originally posted by: Subaeruginosa

originally posted by: TinySickTears

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: TinySickTears

Yah, the melt.

Controlled volcano type stuff.

Image search


thats it. exactly what i am talking about.
we have 4 drop continuous cast furnaces and 3 continuous cast furnaces going at the same time. overhead cranes. tow motors. lot of action man.


lol, tow motors? never heard of forklifts being referred to as that til now.

But anyway, just out of curiosity, what were the consequences of the incident? At my work, if some idiot shunter even nearly backed a truck into a roller door, all hell would break lose.

Their would be worksafe training for all employee's, new safety barriers put up everywhere and investigations by the higher ups galore... to try and ensure it doesn't happen again.





nobody here calls them forklifts.
must be a regional thing


no consequences.
it was an outside company hired to pick up/drop off so its their deal not ours



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 10:59 AM
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originally posted by: mysterioustranger
.I wouldnt want any foundry worker job at any pay...


its rough and i hate it a lot of the time but i like it a lot of the time too. while i have to work on the melt deck sometimes and on the foundry side sometimes i am in a little better spot cause i am tech. i spend a lot of time in the lab. a lot of time on the warehouse side after # has been cast. im good at what i do. that helps

the big thing for me is i have to deal with very few people and of course they are all roughnecks like me. no customer service stupid # with people complaining. i have to sit in meetings and i dont like that.

if i could make the same money at wal mart or at a restaurant or something i would not do it. that would be far worse for me.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 11:12 AM
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The reality is that in life you're never really safe when you think you are. Nowhere, no place, us completely safe. We all live daily on the edge of destruction. It's a big, dangerous world.



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 11:18 AM
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Any sort of milling or factory operation, where there are constant moving parts, is dangerous.

I left a sawmil job because I had to pull my friend out of the “edger”, a cluster of verticals saws that turns logs into boards. He turned off the machine, locked it out, opened it up to replace a saw, but the saws had yet to completely stop. The saw caught his shoelace, pulled his right leg in up to his pelvis, shredding all of it into pieces. We pulled him out and applied first aid until the paramedics arrived.

He survived but afterwords I, being green, was tasked with cleaning the mess. I had to crawl through the conveyor belts looking for his boot, which may or may not have contained a foot. It was stuck on a magnet in the chipper, luckily for me the rest had already gone through.

I was promoted to his position, but instead I quit. Now I work a cushy desk job in an office running my own operation.

Be careful, man.
edit on 4-2-2018 by LesMisanthrope because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 11:21 AM
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a reply to: LesMisanthrope

yeah you see some crazy #.

about 3 months before i started at my last foundry a guy went under a belt like you just mentioned and somehow his arm got pulled in and it ripped it right off. not sure the details

i do cushy office work about 30% of the time i would say

its always something.
random fires
random floods



posted on Feb, 4 2018 @ 11:23 AM
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originally posted by: TinySickTears
a reply to: LesMisanthrope

yeah you see some crazy #.

about 3 months before i started at my last foundry a guy went under a belt like you just mentioned and somehow his arm got pulled in and it ripped it right off. not sure the details

i do cushy office work about 30% of the time i would say

its always something.
random fires
random floods


Getting caught in a conveyor belt is my worst nightmare.

It’s always something. It’s like working in the middle of a big machine.




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