It's Been a Tough Few Weeks

The last six weeks have been tough for our industry, seeing three major fires and a fatality involving a worker run over by a 30-ton loader. The fatality is still under investigation, but the facts are fairly self-evident: The operator didn't see the man who was crossing behind the loader.

Wherever heavy equipment is in operation, the issue of blind spots has to be addressed. We all know the basics: If you can't see the operator, the operator can't see you; unless you have the operator's attention, you don't enter the danger zone. We install backup alarms and backup cameras, and we train employees to be watchful, yet people in the recycling industry still end up in the wrong place at the wrong time at an alarming rate.

And it's not just workers. A disturbing number of visitors or customers are likewise hit by heavy equipment in our facilities. In the case of nonemployees, the problem is particularly daunting because we have no ready mechanism for training them on the proper way to protect themselves. They arrive, they wander into harm's way, and accidents happen.

I wish I had a solution beyond emphasizing that every operator needs to be fully aware of his surrounding every minute of every day. I wish there were a piece of protective clothing or shielding that would make the hazard go away, but training is really the only tool we have. To help with that training, ISRI Safety has posted a PowerPoint training program on our Web site called "No-Zones," which shows typical areas of limited visibility and blind spots for a wide assortment of vehicles and operating equipment. The training program is available free of charge by visiting www.isri.org/no-zone.

As difficult as it is to remain ever vigilant around moving vehicles, the challenge of fire prevention might be even worse.

Summer comes every year. As the mercury rises, the risk of fires in scrap piles increases right along with it. Increased heat accelerates the evaporation of flammable liquids that inevitably are present, and where vapor concentrations are higher, so are the risks of fires.

With plenty of fuel available, all that's missing is a source of heat. Don't think flame—at least not exclusively. The heat created by the friction of metal-on-metal contact can be plenty to touch off flammable vapors, thus making scrap pile fires almost inevitable.

In order to limit the damage that can be caused by fire, we have to assume that they will occur.

Let's start with the basics: What's the real hazard of a scrap pile fire? It's not the fact that the pile burns, is it? Sure, a fire pumps a lot of smoke into the surrounding neighborhood and attracts news cameras and is sort of a public relations nightmare, but the burning scrap pile in and of itself is not the thing we worry about most.

The real hazards of a scrap fire are the threats posed to surrounding exposures—equipment, buildings, even other piles.

To prevent that kind of fire spread, you've only got a few options: You either put the fire out quickly, or you engineer enough separation distance between exposures that the fire will stay contained in the location of origin.

Scrap fires are difficult to extinguish in part because they frequently start in the middle of the pile and burn for quite some time before they are noticed. Once the alarm is sounded, in order to apply enough water to the seat of the fire to put it out, the pile needs to be pulled apart—and that takes time. The extinguishing effort itself typically requires huge amounts of water applied continuously over the course of several hours.

In your facility, where is that water going to come from? Do you have hydrants or drafting ponds on your property? If so, are they easily accessible to fire apparatus? Are your hoses and couplings compatible with those of municipal emergency responders?

If the source of water is more than a few hundred feet from the location of the fire, it’s likely that an additional pumper will be required to deliver the required quantity of water at the required pressure. Is your facility designed to accommodate that?

It's important to reach out to your community emergency responders and seek their input in your emergency planning. They're the ones who will be charged with saving your property if the big one happens.

Within the last couple of years, at least one major scrap yard fire was triggered by a brush fire that encroached upon the property. The loss was huge in terms of both real estate and dollar value. If you live in an area that is prone to brush fires, make sure that your yard is protected by adequate fire breaks.

In the safety business, prevention will always be king. That's why we concentrate so much on training and education. But when it comes to fires and natural disasters, sometimes the best strategy is merely to plan for the worst.

—John Gilstrap,
Director of Safety