Case Studies

May 1st, 2004

Emergency Work

In Late May of 2004, a carpet fiber plant experienced a small disaster: Fire! Please see below for some suggestions in making your worksite safer in regard to fire and the plastics industry.

The company had an eighteen foot square pipe containing oil heated by a heat exchanger which in turn heated an internal pipe carrying extrudate to six die heads further down the line. The pipe had developed a leak, introducing plastic to the oil causing a fire destroying the heat exchanger and very nearly seriously damaging the surrounding building.

The on-site crew decided that they would change to an electric heating system and contacted Thermal Corporation to see what could be done. A Thermal Engineer was on site the next day and within only five days, a new heating solution had been designed, manufactured and installed.

Problem solved? Nothing?s ever that easy. Days after the installation, a major design change was decided on by the fiber plant. They decided to completely remove the square pipe serving as a conduit for the heating oil and adapt to a more conventional method of heating the extrudate with heaters in zones. Another call to Thermal Corporation made, another heating solution designed, manufactured and installed in a matter of days.

Fires are one of the many potential emergencies the plastics processor faces. The losses can be catastrophic in terms of life, property and production. Here are some suggestions to reduce your risk and by doing so improve the profile you present to insurers. This information was originally published by the British insurer Aon at http://www.aon.com/uk/en/about/topical_issues/plastics/issues.jsp

? Avoid a build up of deposits on dies

? Regular planned maintenance of oil heat transfer units, press forming machines, hydraulic oil machines and the like as leaks are often the source of a fire

? Try to avoid the use of naked flames to clean die heads or to heat previously extruded product after an interruption, to enable it to pass through spreaders and rollers. Where this is not possible make sure you have carried out a thorough risk assessment

? Readily combustible materials (e.g. those associated with finishing or packing, shavings and dust from saws and cardboard cartons) should be kept to a minimum and stored away from potential sources of ignition

? Where printing is done there is a risk from flammable inks and solvents and therefore only minimal quantities should be kept to hand and contaminated rags should be stored in metal bins and removed from the premises in accordance with any waste conditions on your insurance policy

? Install automatic cut-offs on machinery or heating equipment (such as infrared electric heaters) used to laminate materials. This will help reduce the risk of the laminates igniting in the event of a break or distortion of a sheet or if there is a stoppage which does not immediately lead to the heating being switched off

? Quantities of combustible raw materials, finished goods and packing materials too close to working machines could result in a minor incident escalating into a major fire, hence the premises layout is an important consideration

? As part of your risk assessment consider how you can reduce the risk of explosive dusts being produced by polishing machines or flammable vapors

? Wherever possible, provide a minimum 2 hour fire segregation between storage/warehousing and production areas

? Ensure fixed wired electrical installations are tested in accordance with current IEE Recommendations and PAT testing schedules are up to date

? Consider installing localized fixed fire protection (e.g. CO2 ) in or around particularly hazardous process plant such as printer