In a textile manufacturing plant for automotive, a fire broke out on the napping machine (thermobonding furnace) and the dust treatment and ventilation system. The cause of the fire was related to heating of the textile material which was located at the furnace entrance. This heating was caused by stuffing phenomena related to poor cleaning of the installations and inefficient response of the staff responsible for providing rapid intervention in order to contain the fire. The Inspection Authorities for Classified Facilities asked the operator to establish an efficient control of the cleaning operation and to carry out emergency drills to train the staff to have good reflexes. However, as this site had already experienced other fires, it did not seem sufficient to retain only these two organisational procedures.
The operator was therefore asked to improve its safety rules by carrying out a segmented analysis of its manufacturing line (powder distribution hopper, thermobonding furnace and fraying napping, dust aspiration and incineration line). This reflection should reinforce the early waring hotspots detection systems on the furnaces (stuffing detector, etc.) and suction systems. It should also enable the operation to examinate the possibilities for improving the rapid handling of a fire using automatic or semi-automatic mechanisms (inerting, hot water or steam injection). This reflection had already been carried out on the fraying installation in this same plant with the installation of a carbon dioxide fire extinguishing system over almost the entire manufacturing line of the fraying machine presenting the same fire risks.
The Inspection Authorities for Classified Facilities requested the operator to provide complements on the regulation file of the operating permit on 16/05. It proposes that the Prefect reminds the operator the urgency to find technical solutions to deal with this type of incident. The operator should show diligence in the risk analysis for its site and in the solutions that must be submitted to the Prefect and the Inspection Authorities.
