'Procedural Lapse in Handling Liquid Metal' Caused VSP Mishap

Vijayawada: Procedural lapse in handling the liquid metal for steel-making process is one of the main reasons for Monday’s mishap in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, a preliminary inquiry showed.

"In this process, the liquid metal that comes out of the blast furnace after smelting pig iron is added with additives like ferromanganese or ferrosilicon, depending upon the requirement to produce special steel," officials of the factories department who did the investigation said.

They explained, "In the process of adding oxygen for the oxidation process, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide get generated and come out. In some cases, they get entrapped. To avoid this, organ gas will be used to rinse the liquid metal, so as to nullify any reactions for a certain time, so that excess carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide etc will come out."

"The metal samples will be collected to check and analyse things."

"On Monday, the liquid metal was supposed to be sent to the continuous casting machine for casting. The liquid metal in the ladle was filled up to the capacity of 140 tonnes against the full capacity of 150 tonnes and this was kept in position, in order to release it to the continuous casting machine for making steel rods, flats and others."

However, the rinsing operation meant to vent out gases generated in the liquid metal, it appears, was not done properly, resulting in an accumulation of gases.

It is noted, "During the movement of the ladle towards the continuous casting machine, a splash of the liquid metal occurred. This hit the roof of the building and then fell down, like rain, on the workers standing down below, causing the death of eight of them and injuring six persons."

“Improper conduct of rinsing operation and a failure to conduct sample tests to know about properties of liquid metal in the ladle resulted in the mishap,” the preliminary investigation report said.

Factories department officials say that the rinsing operation of liquid metal is so important that the adding of additives like ferromanganese or ferrosilicon should be done by properly mixing this in the liquid metal, leaving no lumps. The oxidation process meant for releasing gases should also be done properly.

Though the entire process is supposed to be done for up to 18 minutes, this was done in less time, as per feedback the investigators got from the workers who survived the mishap.

AP factories director in-charge, Mohan Rao, said, “As per our preliminary assessment, procedural lapses mainly dealing with rinsing and oxidation of liquid metal in the ladle, before transferring this to the continuous casting machine, resulted in the mishap.”

Meanwhile, the authorities are trying to verify the records and discussing matters with the surviving workers to identify the reasons for the mishap, while the steel plant is currently abuzz with the visit of VIPs.

The factories department officials say they are working out plans to strengthen the safety norms so as to avoid a recurrence of such mishaps in the steel plant.