Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

At around 3:00 a.m., a fire broke out on a cold-forming machine at a metal parts plant. At the time of the fire, the machine’s hydraulic circuit was filled with 300 l of oil. The fire was detected by an employee who was getting ready to make a weld on the machine. He notified the guardhouse staff, who called the firefighters. They fought the flames using water and foam. The smoke was exhausted outside by the automatic ventilation system. The machine was destroyed and the nearest machine was damaged. The workshop’s 15 employees were sent home for the day to allow the operator to reassign its equipment so that operations could be resumed the following day.

There were two possible explanations for the event:

  • an electrical fire started in a motor at the machine’s rear;
  • chips became jammed at the pointing station and a high pointing speed raised the temperature while the flow of oil was low.

The fire may have been fanned by the compressed air and operating ventilation system. Since the accident, the operator is considering installing a suction cut-off controlled by a chip level sensor. The operator is also considering:

  • the possibility of installing a chip level detector to turn off the pointer;
  • step up preventive maintenance on the machine; 
  • review the fire alarm procedures.

A fire occurred on different machine at the same plant four months earlier (ARIA 50287).