INDUSTRIAL STUDIES

Industrial Studies

Industrial Studies

Introduction

It is important to take important steps and measures to ensure safety at plant. Any negligence could severe problems for the plant and the surrounding areas. It is also dangerous for the lives of the people. Same problem was witnessed in the explosion of No. 5 Blast Furnace, Corus UK Ltd, Port Talbot. In this paper, we will discuss the problem and detail about the event:

Discussion

Sequence of the events leading up to accident

The assignment is based on the incident that took place in November 2001 at the premises of Corus UK Ltd, Port Talbot, and South Wales. The explosion led to several deaths, which was a, tragic incident in the history of UK furnace industry. This accident created a huge concern for many people who did not take a lot of care while carrying out work in this industry. There were various sequences of events that led to the unfortunate incident. The origin of the incident occurred in a way that at the premises of Corus UK Ltd, Port Talbot, No. 5 Blast. The whole furnace had a lot of weight that measured around 5000 tonnes, which was completely, damaged during the incident (Argiriou, 2000, pp. 811-820).

The explosion caused a serious damage to the nearby materials as well which comprised of the large amount of tonnes that got badly affected because of the incident. The names of the three employees who died during the incident were Andrew Hutin, Stephen Galsworthy and Len Radford. There were more than twelve employees and contractors who faced serious injuries during the incident. Some of the other people also sustained minor injuries. These incidents always produce serious damage to the place where the incident took place. The result of the explosion was considered as one of the most serious incidents of the steel-making industry. The reason was the mistakes made in keeping secure the premises of furnace. There were some technical reasons as well related to the steel industry that led to this incident. The incident gained world wide attention from the people, and, it allowed the steel industry authorities to take of this factor in the future (Athienitis, 1994, pp. 1024-1030).

Main causes of the accident

The main cause of the accident was the technical faults that were there in the premise of the furnace industry. There are several risks associated with the steel making industry, and, it also posses threat to the lives of the people. This is the reason why it is said that the special steps should be taken by the experts working in this industry to prevent the occurrence of these accidents in the future. The examples of some of the reasons were that water cooling system for the material did not have a proper instrument which was required for the premises of furnace. Secondly, the employees were not appropriate instructions regarding safety management. The other factor was the lack of risk assessment that is always carried out for these industries (Bemporad, 2010, ...