HAZARDS IN IRON & STEEL INDUSTRY

Iron and steel industry is a heavy industry, involving a whole range of processes-chemical, metallurgical, mechanical, electrical, construction, road and rail traffic, materials handling, earth moving, nucleonic and many others. Each of these processes has many in-built hazards, falling broadly into three categories.

  • Those that can be eliminated: e.g. leakages of gases, dust in motor house, pollution through plant chimneys, blazing of coke ovens, narrow workspaces, etc.
  • Those that can be controlled: e.g. noise level in pump houses and turbine halls, heat level in cast houses, dust level in sintering plant, gas concentration at working levels etc.
  • Those against which protective measures need to be taken i.e. those that can neither be controlled nor eliminated: Liquid hot metal (Heat and Glare), Noise in Rolling Mills.

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    HAZARDEOUS POINT AT THE BSM PROCESS


    Ø Billet should be thrown away at the time of charging in the furnace, due to failure of inlet roller.
    Ø When furnace oil burns in furnace several gases come out like CO, Carbon dioxide, which is hazardous for health.
    Ø Electrical cables tunnels and oils cellars should be burn in high temperature.
    Ø During the process of moving of bed of furnace, sudden stop of furnace occurred due fault in the process.
    Ø Hazard may occur at the first mill stand which is also called as De-scaler machine. From which flying scale causes accident or injurious to health of operator when the billet passed through the machine, where water pressure is high about 100 bar. The flying particles are harmful for the eyes and body part.
    Ø During the process, if the pinch roller fails or break (by knocking) there should be possibility of happening major hazard or accident.
    Ø Also accident happen due to cobbles means material coming out of the process which is hazardous for the process and operator. Which may be break the link of the production.
    Ø Accident happens during the E.O.T. crane operation like loading, unloading of material and also shifting. Shifting of machine which is under maintenance.
    Ø Checking of finished product by using of acid like conc. HCL, HNO3 for the checking the quality and composition of material.
    Ø The fumes come out from this process are harmful to health. Fumes are reddish brown and smell is pungent.
    Ø During operation of E.O.T. and magnetic crane in stack yard for stacking of finished product. Due to the failure of current, horse play, negligence of operator, lack of training to operator.

    CHECH POINT DURING OPERATION AT ROLLING MILL

    ü Is the roll or guide cooling water maintained?
    ü Is the guide properly guarded?
    ü Check the guide operation time?
    ü Check condition of roller loopers?
    ü Check freeness of funnel roller and chick roller?
    ü Check loop height more, and then maintain double loop height?
    ü Check the new stand coming from workshop?
    ü Check or see the guide opening?
    ü Check front end bending and material twisting?
    ü Is there fin at the rare stand?
    ü Is the all CT roller moving?
    ü Is the cutting of material maintain or there any scrap?

    LOADING OF WAGONS

    Lashing chains are to be tied over the wagons loaded with finished products. While tying the ends of lashing chains with wires, the persons should ensure a secure and balanced footing and also refrain from applying too much pressure in order to avoid breaking of the wire which can lead to loss of balance and falling of the persons from the wagon or sliding of the materials from the bundle and falling on the persons.
    During adjustment of loads at the weight bridge, persons should take a safe position. A slight swing of the load can crush a person standing near the wall of the weigh bridge.
    For the inspection of rails and other structural products, persons are required to walk over these products on the finishing beds. To avoid spraining of foot, the persons should ensure a secure and balanced footing.

    STACKING

    Stacking of rolled products should be done safely, to a safe height and leaving safe moving space in between the stacks so as to prevent sliding or toppling down of the pieces. No piece should project from the stack. Persons should not stand in close proximity to stacks, when pieces are being placed / the removed from these stacks. Magnet cranes are used for shifting rolled products from the cooling bed to the stacks stacks to wagons or on to the finishing beds. Persons should stand at a safe distance from these moving loads. The crane operators should ensure that during movement, the load does not fall with the stacks of materials. Persons should not stand in the wagons while loading finished products in to the wagons. Persons engaged in tilting of rails on the finishing beds should be very vigilant and ensure that the fork fits on the rail properly before applying pressure for tilting the rail. Slipping of fork can result in serious injure to the fork man.
    Stacking of coils should be done in a safe manner. During removal of coils for loading into the wagon, there is a grave hazard of slipping and falling down of adjacent coils. Persons engaged in supervising loading of coils should take a safe position anticipating the above hazard.
    After stacking merchant products, the sling ends should not be left dangling as during movement of crane these may get entangled with the stacks and hit the persons. The second loose eyes of the slings should also be put over the hook.

    MAGNET CRANES

    Magnet cranes are used to handle rolled products like blooms, billets, rails and other structural products, merchant products and scrap like bloom and billet butts. Power failure can cause the above materials to drop down abruptly and can lead to dangerous consequences. To safeguard against this, fingers are provided in magnet cranes but at the time of power failure, materials will drop because of missing or non use of fingers.
    The main stand of blooming mill presents a serious hazard in the form of red hot flying scales. Similarly, at 1000 ton shears, there have been incidences of metal splashes from molten cores of blooms. In these areas, if one does not remain very vigilant, one may get exposed to hazards from flying scales metal splashes.

    GAS HAZARDS & E.O.T. CRANES

    A mixture of coke oven and blast furnace gases is used for heating in soaking pits and reheating furnaces. Persons should not take rest near gas hazardous areas.
    A number of E.O.T. Cranes are used in the Rolling Mills for handling materials. During maintenance or repair of a crane in a particular bay, steps should be taken to ensure that other cranes do not come within the safe limit of 20 feet from either end of the crane that is under repairs. Maintenance crew should not leave any spares or loose materials like nuts, Bolts etc. New or discarded over the crane after completion of the repairs, as during the movement of the crane, due to vibrations, these can fall down and injure persons working below.

    COBBLES

    Cobbles of metal can never be predicated and the worst part of it is that the route the cobbled metal is likely to take is beyond the imagination of any individual. If cobbling occurs, persons working nearby should lose no time in running away ot some safe place.
    Carrying of cobbled metal by E.O.P. cranes is a specialized job as the irregular shape can cause damage to pulpit or other mill equipment. Gas cutters engaged in cobble cutting have to exercise care, and should stand at a safe place as after gas cutting, the metal gets tilted and falls down. Supervisors should ensure that gas cutters follow laid down practices.

    SAFE PASSAGE

    While moving about in rolling mills, persons should use authorized passages. No one should cross the roll tables, except by the cross over bridges.
    In soaking pit area, persons should not cross the ingot buggy track lest the moving ingot buggy that is operated by persons in remote cabin hits them. Further, they should not go on the adjacent tracks meant for placement of heat trains as there is hazard of molten metal droplets falling, falling of ingots themselves from tongs when the tongs crane removes red hot ingots from the soaking pits and places these on the ingot buggy.

    SAFETY AT ROLLING MILLS

    Some degree of hazard is associated with every type of activity in steel industry and about 40% of accidents are attributable to handling of materials. In rolling mills, as compared to other units of a steel industry, much of a steel industry, much of the handling is done by mechanical means and therefore, hazards due to handling are less. But fast movement of hot metal in the process of rolling poses additional hazards. Study and analysis of past accidents in rolling mills reveal that the causes of most of the accidents are simple. The prevention of these is equally simple. Before carrying out any job, the employee should ask himself, “Am I doing the job in the correct way”? “Is the job likely to cause injury to me or may colleagues or cause damage to any equipment?” If a safe method is used to carry out the job, there will not be any injury.

    MAINTENANCE CULTURE

    Over a period of time, in addition to the normal wear and tear, a machine or equipment is hardly maintained in its original form. What happens is, when the machine is new, it is run loaded to its maximum capacity, every time postponing its scheduled maintenance and when it starts going under breakdown, then one wakes up for its repair. When repairs are done, all its attachments are not restored or replaced either due to pressure of production or lack of spares, since it is still possible to somehow run the machine to give production. When the limit switches become defective and control gauges also become defective, these are ideal situations and unsafe conditions for any mishap to happen. The more complex the machine or the installation, the more chances of hazards created by maintenance culture for any accident to happen.
    To prevent this, it is essential to evolve a culture of carrying out the maintenance of equipment and inspection of the installation as per schedule and as per its technology, not compromising with quality at any stage.

    INSTRUMENTATIONS AND PROCESS CONTROL

    Mechanical workshops; electrical repair shops; refrigeration and air-conditioning systems; electronic data processing systems; fire services; safety engg. Services and pollution control.

    1. PROJECT AND CONSTRUCTION DIVISION
    2. APPROACH TO HAZARD CONTROL



    One basic approach to any hazard control has been that in the first place, the hazard to be controlled has to be controlled has to be identified. A typical “safety hazards and emergency steps” should be studied. Such studies are made shop-wise and process control sheets are prepared indicating the hazards involved. Safety measures required and the safety appliances needed norms are to be taken from those prescribed under the factories act and rules, environment, water and air pollution act and rules.

    ABOUT TRAINING :

    Merely having updated safety books is not enough If these are to be strictly followed, regular on the job training is essential for the operation on the machines and producer and for the employees in there respective trade. Employees have also to be trained before they are put on the job whenever there is a change of trade or transfer to another department. This is necessary to acquaint themselves fully with the hazards of the new trade and new work place.

    IRON AND STEEL IT HAS THREE ZONES :

    1. IRON ZONE COMPRISING OF -

    Ø Raw materials storage, preparation and handling yard.
    Ø Coke ovens and by-products plant.
    Ø Sintering plant
    Ø Blast furnaces.
    Ø Gas holders and pipe lines.

    2. STEEL ZONE COMPRISING OF -

    Ø Steel melting shop
    Ø Continuous casting shop
    Ø Oxygen plant
    Ø Slag and scrap yard
    Ø Gas holders and pipelines

    3. ROLLING MILLS ZONE COMPRISING OF -

    Ø Different rolling mills,
    Ø Gas booster stations and pipelines
    Ø Loading bays for dispatch of finished materials
    Ø Electrical cable tunnels and oil callers.

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