Molten glass spilt from a kiln at an industrial glass factory at around 1:45 a.m. The alarm was raised by a technician working near the kiln. The establishment’s internal contingency plan was initiated, and the power supply was shut off. The melt was located at a height of 1.50 m in the kiln (out of a total glass height of 1.60 m). The diameter of the leakage hole was estimated at 4 cm.

Water hoses were deployed to cool and freeze a glass plug in the leak. The time required to solidify the glass was estimated at between 30 and 45 minutes. Surveillance cameras and thermal probes were used to ensure that there were no hot spots. The glass was collected on a grating between the oven and the bottom retention.

As the incident was quickly brought under control, the size of the hole did not increase any further. The glass jet damaged a nearby metal outlet but did not interfere with the operation of the installations and production continued. The facility operator issued a press release.

The cause of the leak appears to be the wear and tear of the refractory elements (furnace at the end of its service life) and the relative fragility of the area where the leak occurred (angle of the charging machine + passage of the power lines to the thermal cameras and temperature sensors).

Following the event, the Classified Facilities Inspection authorities asked the operator to:

• review the sizing of the retention basins for the four corners of the kiln,
• explore solutions to prevent a recurrence of such an event,
• plan preventive actions in at-risk areas to test their reliability.

The plant operator plans to refurbish the furnace at the end of the year, making an investment of several million euros.