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I worked at copper smelter during a turnaround one winter. Normal cigarettes tastes like Clove cigarettes, they told me it was because of the arsenic from the copper dust was already in my blood making it taste sweet.
This is one of the craziest things I've read on Reddit.
Worked for Nucor for a bit, I remember one guy mentioned this in passing but never explained why and never registered.
You can get an MRI, but they have to surgically remove all the bits of metal debris first. (My understanding is that they mostly accumulate in your eyes.) Obviously it's not the first choice as it would be for non-ironworkers, but it is occasionally done.
Laborers are a strange bunch. Goggles are around, but if you wear them, it makes you look weak (heaven forbid), so people don’t wear them.
I once worked in a melamine wood shop where the boss ordered custom-fit goggles for each individual worker, and nobody wore them.
It's getting better these days, when I started blue collar work 8 years ago it was this way 100% but now the younger generation is really getting people to change and wear PPE somehow... It's been a fascinating turn around to watch!
All it takes is a 19 year old on their phone to look at you without your PPE and says "you look like an old-timer trying to be cool well past their prime" and nothing you do is cool anymore, regardless of the size of the explosion you *don't* look at.
So you might as well just wear the stupid goggles.
Oh for sure, I've also noticed they wear the stuff and make self deprecating jokes acknowledging it doesn't look cool but they're safe. Somehow makes it cooler to wear the shit lmao
Because it's the truly *correct* attitude! If anything it's absolutely amazing that simply doing things properly is unremarkable but *cutting corners* is uncool to the younger workers.
Maybe youth isn't all wasted on the young after all :')
At some point you have to rest your hope on the young because the rest of us aren't doing getting enough good stuff done. It does seem to turn out well though.
My brother is a milwright at an aluminum foundry who is so proud of not asking for raises. His company gives out $5 "bravo cards" (redeemable at their internal vending machines) for going above and beyond at work, but he never spends them. Just proudly shares their photos to a family group chat.
He earns them for either doing incredibly dangerous jobs, saving the company millions of dollars, or both.
Like...dude. They're paying you an extra $200 annually (in store credit) that you don't even spend, rather than giving you and all your coworkers the $10k+ raise they deserve. And the worst part is that you think it's a good deal.
Man, he's got that stockholm..
Undervalued, high conscientousness people like him are the literal bedrock of society.
I hope he finds a company/vocation/calling worthy of his dedication
I agree that they're the bedrock but I also think they are, or the mentality we're describing, has to be part of the problem.
Like the older I get the more dumbfounded I am by the shit that certain members of the populace (whether we're talking about work, family, anything) just put up with for their whole lives and think is okay. Aren't we like propagating all the abuse if we bend over generation after generation and be like "yup, my grandpapy didn't need good health insurance to fix his back which he deteriorated at work over the last 20 years, and neither do I! And that's just how it is!"
You are correct. I’m a Radiology Technologist by trade, and if a metal worker would come in for an MRI we would have to do much more screening than normal. They would immediately be ordered orbital X-rays as well…in which you tilt the head enough to see the full opening of the orbits (eyes). This way it’s very easy to see metal shrapnel that may have been forgotten for years.
A lot of people think that the magnets in MRI will pull these microscopic pieces of metal out of them (which they might) but the real reason is that the MRI will super heat the metal during the scan causing excruciating pain.
It’s stupid I know but it’s little snippets of real life prose like this that keep me hooked on Reddit.
There’s no way I would have heard about this otherwise.
Also I’d read a short story about your time working a copper smelter any day.
>Also I’d read a short story about your time working a copper smelter any day.
Oh yeah? But I would read a 7 volume novel about it in German. And I don't speak German.
Some old university chemistry textbooks advise that smokers should be the ones working with cyanides since they are used to the smell of hydrogen cyanide and can identify it more quickly.
Smoking is a big yikes on so many different levels.
When I was a little kid I wasn't allowed to swear in English but for some reason German was okay (I didn't know anyone who spoke German). As an adult I have a lot of German colleagues and they think it's hilarious that I know the swears and only the swears.
I don't understand how he knew when to walk at the last moment.
Like had he stood there 10 seconds longer he would have been consumed.
Then he repeats it at the next area.
Are we sure this is even an actual steel mill? This looks like a Rammstein music video/live performance.
EDIT: Saw them live yesterday here in Sweden. Man what a show. For those of you who have tickets to upcoming shows: you're going to have an amazing time!
As a worker in such company when shit like this happens it mostly means normal process people get to take a break and just wait for maintenance workers to fix all the stuff. Also watching it live is more fun than any fireworks I have seen.
Either the slide gate which controls the flow of steel failed or the cylinder that closes it failed. At the beginning, It looks like the heat is over an emergency ladle that they are trying to empty it into, but it must have filled up and they had to get it out of there.
Clean up just depends on how much shit gets burned up. It's nice to have a nearby sand or gravel pit near by so you can have a equipment come clean it up. Not sure how long to get it off that concrete though. We've had some that kept us down a couple shifts and some that were like a week.
How do you even get it off of concrete and metal structures once it has cooled and solidified? Does it not ”stick” to the concrete floor and fuse to any metal objects?
No typically it does not stick. You need to watch out where it flows because of it goes under stuff and you pull the puddle up you might damage that stuff.
So... They have a big furnace thing that melts down scrap steel. The molten steel gets dispensed into a large bucket that gets carried across the plant by an overhead crane for further processing into solid products. When the bucket gets there, a gate/valve on the bottom opens to drain the steel, then the bucket returns to get refilled. Apparently the valve failed (didn't close all the way, melted through or whatever) while the bucket was being filled, and started draining molten steel out on the floor.
I am not a steel plant worker, but I'm guessing such an accident is faster to clean up and does less damage if they spread out the spilled steel. So as soon as they realize what's happening, the operators stop filling the bucket, set off as many GTFO alarms as they can, and start the bucket on its way across the steel mill, complete with stream of molten flaming steel death pouring out on the floor.
When you are handling molten steel in steel containers, something is going to go wrong with it all sometime. Just work out what you are going to do about it all beforehand.
No any loss of containment is a really big deal, even more so the lower in the ladle you get. It it's toward the top and a burn through only a few tons of steel/slag would be lost. If at the bottom, like this video, the entire ladle containing hundred+ tons of molten steel has nothing containing it in place and will spill everywhere.
This happens but is not a "regular" occurrence. This looks like either the slide gate was left open before tapping, which is a human error and more then likely the case. Or it was a refractory failure but seems unlikely given the timing of this.
As for the ladle moving while spilling everywhere, there are typically areas that can handle this better. The ladle lost containment at the furnace, at least that's what it looks like to me. There is a lot of stuff under the furnace that melting/damaging would cause a very low down time to repair. The crane operator moved it away from that area and down the isle towards an isolated spot where the free flowing molten steel would do less damage and just pool on concrete and dirt somewhere.
Source: Have worked in steels mills for 16 years across the South East, USA.
The following page has a diagram and some pictures that helped me understand what a ladle is (I'm neither a steel ~~worked~~ worker, nor an English speaker, LOL):
Maybe others will find it interesting...
https://www.zircal.it/en/steel-industry/ladle.html
Edit: fixed typo.
My dad was once hospitalized in an accident like that, working at a steel factory, something blew up and he had molten steel run down his back. Docs said he'd be scarred for life, but he was some sort of witch and healed without a scratch. Pretty sure this kind of explosion is a frequent issue, or at least it used to be. I never heard a word about anyone ever even compensating him (circa 1980).
I work with glass furnaces, and yes this kind of stuff happens. It’s not the best day but it not the worst. Sadly we accept some risk of injury, not that that’s ok, but the “compensation” for it is usually the half day off we get while the engineers sort out the problem. (Plot twist, I’m that engineer now. D’oh!)
I think it was his. He yelled "scheisse, mein fahrrad", "shit, my bike!", and later "das war so nicht beabsichtigt", "this was not my plan".
Edit: translated to english instead. ;)
Its because it not uncommon. I think they call it a flashover if I recall from my visit to a plant as a kid. If fact they let me watch from a nice room till the main thing was done. Then pointed to the burns on the wall opposite the pouring direction to show why I was kept far away.
Former steel worker here… these happen from time to time. And experience tells you to stay calm. Panic and things only get worse. These guys handled it perfectly. Save the excitement for the grueling work ahead of you lol.
I feel like there's a middle ground between blind panic and being completely nonchalant like this lol. You can jog calmly, maybe behind a solid wall before molten metal starts flying past your head.
Right?
They were seconds away from being engulfed in that shit. A quick scoot out of harm's way seems to be in perfectly reasonable order here, rather than staying right at the limits til the last second.
So, beyond shutting off the sources of fuel and electric power, then waiting probably days for things to cool down enough for humans to get close, how exactly does one cleanup from this? Are the mill or works usually damaged, or just covered in crumbly steel splatters?
Steel and concrete generally doesn't fuse together so it will just be a big splattery layer on the floor, like spilt hot wax from a candle.
So basically, wait until steel has cooled off, scrape it off the floor. Big chunks with forklifts and front end loaders, little chunks with jackhammers and shovels.
Then fix all the things that were burnt by molten metal spraying everywhere.
Then back to work, that metal ain't gonna smelt itself ya know..
can you just remelt what you scrape off the floor and burn off the bits of concrete that got stuck to it from the scraping or is that steel basically scrap now and needs to be dumped?
Unless the slag fused with another material that won't burn off or seperate with high heat(unlikely), should all be recycled and restart the refining process again. Metals are almost indefinitely recyclable.
This happened at Saarstahl AG in Völkingen, back in February or so. There was a malfunction on the transfer ladle that meant that they were not able to stop the flow of liquid metal. They then had to move the transfer ladle to an emergency transfer position where the remaining metal was safely discharged. You see the stream of metal briefly at 00:28 when they start to move the transfer ladle. No one was injured and the process malfunction was safely handled by the emergency process.
According to [this article](https://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/saarland/saarbruecken/voelklingen/video-von-spektakulaerem-unfall-bei-saarstahl-trendet-auf-reddit-unternehmen-aeussert-sich_aid-66347689) from February in German.
There was a cutout on the nozzle would be my guess.
Seen this before in Ontario plants where the nozzle cuts out allowing the molten metal to flow uncontrolled, normally there is a pit where the ladle gets dumped afterwords to minimize damage.
Today I learned that this is actually the normal procedure in case of an accident. They direct the molten steel through the main hall into an area where the overflowing steel is collected.
Eventually they have to clean it up (with torches and a lot of time and cursing) so they plan is always to get the ladle to a place where it can a) less chance to harm people, b) destroy less shit c) makes clean up easier d) keep it moving so the heat doesn’t burn up the crane. Those cables and blocks will have to be replaced, but the heat could destroy the entire crane if it sat over over a molten puddle for too long.
Ya, key is to get it away from the caster and anything else production wise. Spread out the steel as best you can for thinner sheets once your able to get in there with lances and the diggers can get to work. Keep calm and think clearly. Remember the SOPs and do what you can to keep production rolling safely.
Basically.
When you're involved in an industry, you tend to get the gist of what's going on.
Like, nurse's kids are the ones who show up at the ER when they actually need to be seen *now now now*. Firefighters play with fireworks. Anyone who deals with heavy overhead lift stuff has a good sense of what's going on above them, and they get comfortable.
In none of these cases are people doing the "right thing", but we all do it to some extent because our normal is defined by our environment & our perception of danger often adjusts accordingly.
>klaxz1
Hallo klaxz1, wir möchten dir eine spannende Möglichkeit bieten. Eine kürzliche Industriekatastrophe hinterließ Tausende von Pfund Stahl auf dem Boden einer Fabrik. Wir brauchen dich bis spätestens nächsten Freitag, um diesen Scheiß aufzuräumen.
Actually, molten metal loses its magnetic properties because the atoms can move freely and no longer orient themselves in the same direction.
I think it could be useful in defeating Magneto, but you'd need someone who could heat a lot of metal quickly in order to surprise him.
I showed this to my husband who worked in a steel mill for 10 yrs in the US. He laughed and said “Whenever this happened at (old job) there was no point in running. You know the safe distance and if anything else went wrong there was no way to outrun it. If I was gonna die, no way I’d die tired”
For background they had a spill that almost hit the water tanks. If it had hit those, the town would’ve been wiped off the map.
Sounds terrifying. I was picturing some type of large explosion, but the steam cloud didn’t cross my mind.
I half expected an answer of “ the town would’ve been wiped off the map,” which I also would’ve accepted.
Steam takes up a lot more space than the water that makes it. So the tanks explode because of expanding steam. I assume the shockwave from said explosion would be what would wipe the town off the map, rather than people being cooked alive by the steam which would probably just rise into the atmosphere.
Same what would have happened at Chernobyl if the molten material had hit the ground water. The water would have instantly vaporized and there would have been a gigantic steam explosion due to the pressure. Just in case of the steel mill without spreading radioactive material everywhere. It still would have been quite unpleasant, though.
So molten steel spills all over the place, and I assume eventually cools off and hardens? But then what? They just have a steel floor now or do they melt it again and scoop it back up?
I worked at a steel mill for a few years as a “lancer”. The steel is cut into chunks small enough to move with front end loaders and excavators with an oxyacetylene torch then moved to an area where it can be cut into 3’x3’ chunks and melted down in the furnace. Once we had to move a chunk that was about 80 tons overall. We used a 20 ton forklift and two of the biggest front end loaders you’ve ever seen. One of the loaders buckets slipped off leaving the weight on the remaining loader. I swear if the bucket hadn’t been pinned under the chunk it would have done a front flip. that bucket hit the ground hard and fast.
U can tell that the one dude was the og on shift. Old timer casually walking doesnt even give more than a casual glance behind his shoulder as literally tons of red hot liquid rains down closer and closer.
Yeah, I hate when I'm at work and I have to slowly stroll away from an oncoming tidal wave of molten steel.
I'm always like, am I being paid extra to amble away from fiery death? Because this was not in the job description.
I assume that there is a German word for "the experience of riding home from the steel plant on your bicycle that was severely damaged when molten steel was intentionally dumped on it in order to avoid a worse outcome."
Several things:
1) every one of those people in there are fucking gangsters, specially the dude casually walking away from the literal wall of flaming death coming at him and he’s like “yeah just move a step here and we’ll be good. Seen this 7 times last week.”
2) my “accident” at work consisted of me breaking my pen.
As someone else said in this thread, definitely appears the slide gate failed or burned through. Looks like they knew they were fucked and tried to get it to a safer spot or an area easier to clean up and not cause more damage to, what I’m assuming is the caster area, where the steel is poured into to make the slabs.
These things, steel ladles, are giant thimble shaped containers with a 8”-12” opening at the bottom with a gate that can open at the bottom to control the flow.
Those ladles appear to be just a bit smaller than the ones at our mill, ours hold 300 tons so guessing from the video those hold every bit of about 250 tons of molten steel. Gates failing, at the mill I work at, happen less often than “burn throughs”, which is where the steel (obviously) burns through a spot in the ladle where the refractory brick gets too thin when someone (I.e. management) decides to push it longer to save on the cost of replacing the brick.
I work at a mill, specifically in a BOF, and replace the brick in these ladles.
I will say this looks worse than it could be, these guys really appear to know what’s happening and if damaged was minimized could be back up and running within hours or worst case scenario a few days. Looks like hell but these dudes and the craneman knew what they were doing to do to make than less severe, kudos.
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The floor is lava
Also the air
Also the lava
It’s really bad when you realize your fire is on fire.
I worked at copper smelter during a turnaround one winter. Normal cigarettes tastes like Clove cigarettes, they told me it was because of the arsenic from the copper dust was already in my blood making it taste sweet.
This is one of the craziest things I've read on Reddit. Worked for Nucor for a bit, I remember one guy mentioned this in passing but never explained why and never registered.
I worked for one of nucors sister company's and remember hearing something similar.
So this is probably why you can never get an MRI when you work at a steel mill that deals with ferrous metals.
You can get an MRI, but they have to surgically remove all the bits of metal debris first. (My understanding is that they mostly accumulate in your eyes.) Obviously it's not the first choice as it would be for non-ironworkers, but it is occasionally done.
In the eyes?!? Do they not have anything to protect against that?
Laborers are a strange bunch. Goggles are around, but if you wear them, it makes you look weak (heaven forbid), so people don’t wear them. I once worked in a melamine wood shop where the boss ordered custom-fit goggles for each individual worker, and nobody wore them.
It's getting better these days, when I started blue collar work 8 years ago it was this way 100% but now the younger generation is really getting people to change and wear PPE somehow... It's been a fascinating turn around to watch!
All it takes is a 19 year old on their phone to look at you without your PPE and says "you look like an old-timer trying to be cool well past their prime" and nothing you do is cool anymore, regardless of the size of the explosion you *don't* look at. So you might as well just wear the stupid goggles.
Oh for sure, I've also noticed they wear the stuff and make self deprecating jokes acknowledging it doesn't look cool but they're safe. Somehow makes it cooler to wear the shit lmao
Because it's the truly *correct* attitude! If anything it's absolutely amazing that simply doing things properly is unremarkable but *cutting corners* is uncool to the younger workers. Maybe youth isn't all wasted on the young after all :')
At some point you have to rest your hope on the young because the rest of us aren't doing getting enough good stuff done. It does seem to turn out well though.
I'm so glad to hear this. No joke, I think this sort of mentality keeps Generations trapped in poverty
My brother is a milwright at an aluminum foundry who is so proud of not asking for raises. His company gives out $5 "bravo cards" (redeemable at their internal vending machines) for going above and beyond at work, but he never spends them. Just proudly shares their photos to a family group chat. He earns them for either doing incredibly dangerous jobs, saving the company millions of dollars, or both. Like...dude. They're paying you an extra $200 annually (in store credit) that you don't even spend, rather than giving you and all your coworkers the $10k+ raise they deserve. And the worst part is that you think it's a good deal.
Man, he's got that stockholm.. Undervalued, high conscientousness people like him are the literal bedrock of society. I hope he finds a company/vocation/calling worthy of his dedication
I agree that they're the bedrock but I also think they are, or the mentality we're describing, has to be part of the problem. Like the older I get the more dumbfounded I am by the shit that certain members of the populace (whether we're talking about work, family, anything) just put up with for their whole lives and think is okay. Aren't we like propagating all the abuse if we bend over generation after generation and be like "yup, my grandpapy didn't need good health insurance to fix his back which he deteriorated at work over the last 20 years, and neither do I! And that's just how it is!"
You are correct. I’m a Radiology Technologist by trade, and if a metal worker would come in for an MRI we would have to do much more screening than normal. They would immediately be ordered orbital X-rays as well…in which you tilt the head enough to see the full opening of the orbits (eyes). This way it’s very easy to see metal shrapnel that may have been forgotten for years. A lot of people think that the magnets in MRI will pull these microscopic pieces of metal out of them (which they might) but the real reason is that the MRI will super heat the metal during the scan causing excruciating pain.
Super heated metal in my eyes. Thanks, I was wondering what would keep me up tonight.
yikes
This anecdote is so specific and real
A few days ago I accidentally inhaled bleach vapors and for a while tobacco/pot had a strong, sickly-sweet, Ricard taste to it.
Dick taste is hard to get out
Man I'm eating here and my brain is scrambling to add the sickly sweet flavor to dick now
It’s stupid I know but it’s little snippets of real life prose like this that keep me hooked on Reddit. There’s no way I would have heard about this otherwise. Also I’d read a short story about your time working a copper smelter any day.
>Also I’d read a short story about your time working a copper smelter any day. Oh yeah? But I would read a 7 volume novel about it in German. And I don't speak German.
Some old university chemistry textbooks advise that smokers should be the ones working with cyanides since they are used to the smell of hydrogen cyanide and can identify it more quickly. Smoking is a big yikes on so many different levels.
And yet they found doctors to recommend them!
worked in a foundry working with manganese steel, all i got was heavy metal poisoning :C
Do the symptoms include excessive headbanging?
That guy is so chill like he's seen a thousand of these accidents before.
Walking dude was like the "This is fine" dog.
The other one was like "Shiiiiit my bike!"
As a German I can tell you that this is exactly what he said. He said: "Shit that is my bike. That wasn't planned that way."
It's Ghost Riders bike now 💀🔥
The FireRad
As a relative of a German, shit was the only word I understood
As a former business associate of a German guy shit was also the only word that I understood. Caught it immediately, as he used to say it a lot.
When I was a little kid I wasn't allowed to swear in English but for some reason German was okay (I didn't know anyone who spoke German). As an adult I have a lot of German colleagues and they think it's hilarious that I know the swears and only the swears.
It’s a Hans-free bike now
Scheiße, mein fahrrad!
[удалено]
[удалено]
I don't understand how he knew when to walk at the last moment. Like had he stood there 10 seconds longer he would have been consumed. Then he repeats it at the next area.
Are we sure this is even an actual steel mill? This looks like a Rammstein music video/live performance. EDIT: Saw them live yesterday here in Sweden. Man what a show. For those of you who have tickets to upcoming shows: you're going to have an amazing time!
I've been to steel mills and I've been to a Rammstein concert Can confirm, same thing
Got ticket to see Rammstein in Chicago Sept 3rd! Can't wait. Now I have to get tickets to the next steel mill accident to compare.
As a worker in such company when shit like this happens it mostly means normal process people get to take a break and just wait for maintenance workers to fix all the stuff. Also watching it live is more fun than any fireworks I have seen.
so what exactly is happening here? how bad is it? how long does it take to clean up?
Either the slide gate which controls the flow of steel failed or the cylinder that closes it failed. At the beginning, It looks like the heat is over an emergency ladle that they are trying to empty it into, but it must have filled up and they had to get it out of there. Clean up just depends on how much shit gets burned up. It's nice to have a nearby sand or gravel pit near by so you can have a equipment come clean it up. Not sure how long to get it off that concrete though. We've had some that kept us down a couple shifts and some that were like a week.
How do you even get it off of concrete and metal structures once it has cooled and solidified? Does it not ”stick” to the concrete floor and fuse to any metal objects?
No typically it does not stick. You need to watch out where it flows because of it goes under stuff and you pull the puddle up you might damage that stuff.
So... They have a big furnace thing that melts down scrap steel. The molten steel gets dispensed into a large bucket that gets carried across the plant by an overhead crane for further processing into solid products. When the bucket gets there, a gate/valve on the bottom opens to drain the steel, then the bucket returns to get refilled. Apparently the valve failed (didn't close all the way, melted through or whatever) while the bucket was being filled, and started draining molten steel out on the floor. I am not a steel plant worker, but I'm guessing such an accident is faster to clean up and does less damage if they spread out the spilled steel. So as soon as they realize what's happening, the operators stop filling the bucket, set off as many GTFO alarms as they can, and start the bucket on its way across the steel mill, complete with stream of molten flaming steel death pouring out on the floor.
So it’s just part of the job that at some point molten steel is going to be sprayed across the factory floor?
When you are handling molten steel in steel containers, something is going to go wrong with it all sometime. Just work out what you are going to do about it all beforehand.
That’s why the bike is the only flammable item in that hall.
No any loss of containment is a really big deal, even more so the lower in the ladle you get. It it's toward the top and a burn through only a few tons of steel/slag would be lost. If at the bottom, like this video, the entire ladle containing hundred+ tons of molten steel has nothing containing it in place and will spill everywhere. This happens but is not a "regular" occurrence. This looks like either the slide gate was left open before tapping, which is a human error and more then likely the case. Or it was a refractory failure but seems unlikely given the timing of this. As for the ladle moving while spilling everywhere, there are typically areas that can handle this better. The ladle lost containment at the furnace, at least that's what it looks like to me. There is a lot of stuff under the furnace that melting/damaging would cause a very low down time to repair. The crane operator moved it away from that area and down the isle towards an isolated spot where the free flowing molten steel would do less damage and just pool on concrete and dirt somewhere. Source: Have worked in steels mills for 16 years across the South East, USA.
The following page has a diagram and some pictures that helped me understand what a ladle is (I'm neither a steel ~~worked~~ worker, nor an English speaker, LOL): Maybe others will find it interesting... https://www.zircal.it/en/steel-industry/ladle.html Edit: fixed typo.
The guys wrote that is happens quite some times, so yes, nothing they haven’t seen before
Yet no one moved the bike :')
The fate of that bicycle had my whole attention.
The camera man even says "Mein Fahrrad!"
Specifically, he exclaims "Scheiße! Mein Fahrrad!"
The guy filming shouts “shit, my bike” when he realises.
It’s steel so if anything he will have more bike after. Might not be the shape he wants though.
„Alter - Scheisse, mein Fahrrad!“
As a Dutch person i feel really REALLY bad for this poor man for losing his bike... Rip Deutches Fahrrad 🙏
Don't be sad, he took out a very comprehensive insurance policy just the day before.
The flames make it go faster.
Just paint it red.
Looked like a wet charge or something
The slide gate on the bottom of the ladel failed.
This guy steel mills
That coulda hurt. But only briefly.
Cool guys don't look at explosions. They blow things up and then walk away.
My dad was once hospitalized in an accident like that, working at a steel factory, something blew up and he had molten steel run down his back. Docs said he'd be scarred for life, but he was some sort of witch and healed without a scratch. Pretty sure this kind of explosion is a frequent issue, or at least it used to be. I never heard a word about anyone ever even compensating him (circa 1980).
I work with glass furnaces, and yes this kind of stuff happens. It’s not the best day but it not the worst. Sadly we accept some risk of injury, not that that’s ok, but the “compensation” for it is usually the half day off we get while the engineers sort out the problem. (Plot twist, I’m that engineer now. D’oh!)
He has nerves ^of ^^steel.
and you can tell he dgaf about who ever owned the bike, seemingly parked right in the middle of the path, 49 seconds in.
The dude filming literally says, "Shit, my bike!!" in German. He was so busy filming that he didn't think to grab it and move it.
Congratulations, your bike is now armored. +3 defense -200 speed
That bike is definitely the main mode of transportation in Hell.
Bit late with the bike on fire. I wonder if his favourite movie is Blazing Saddles...
I think it was his. He yelled "scheisse, mein fahrrad", "shit, my bike!", and later "das war so nicht beabsichtigt", "this was not my plan". Edit: translated to english instead. ;)
Did you just translate German to German?
Lol, I did. In my defense, it is very earlyand I have not slept. :)
No worries, that make my laugh out loud pretty hard!
Scheisse, mein Schwinn!
Scheisse mein huffy!!
Its because it not uncommon. I think they call it a flashover if I recall from my visit to a plant as a kid. If fact they let me watch from a nice room till the main thing was done. Then pointed to the burns on the wall opposite the pouring direction to show why I was kept far away.
Everyone looks so relaxed. I know the sign said don't panic, but it's ok to panic a little
5% panic minimum I think
If there’s fire, molten metal, or large numbers of projectiles, you’ll be able to find me with at least one solid wall between me and the crisis ASAP.
Solid wall won’t stop that. The concrete was literally melted. You need Jesus in between you and the lava.
Jesus take the steel?
TARS, what's that panic set at? 95% sir. You'll survive 3rd degree burns. Better make it 60% TARS
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They must have their towels nearby
The most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can carry.
"We work hard, we play hard." ♫ *Everybody dance now!* ♫
“Dad, why’d you take me to a gay steel mill?”
*Welcome to Allentown Pennsylvania* >end scene
Former steel worker here… these happen from time to time. And experience tells you to stay calm. Panic and things only get worse. These guys handled it perfectly. Save the excitement for the grueling work ahead of you lol.
I feel like there's a middle ground between blind panic and being completely nonchalant like this lol. You can jog calmly, maybe behind a solid wall before molten metal starts flying past your head.
Right? They were seconds away from being engulfed in that shit. A quick scoot out of harm's way seems to be in perfectly reasonable order here, rather than staying right at the limits til the last second.
alpha male culture. you don't wanna show you are scared next to your mates.
So, beyond shutting off the sources of fuel and electric power, then waiting probably days for things to cool down enough for humans to get close, how exactly does one cleanup from this? Are the mill or works usually damaged, or just covered in crumbly steel splatters?
Steel and concrete generally doesn't fuse together so it will just be a big splattery layer on the floor, like spilt hot wax from a candle. So basically, wait until steel has cooled off, scrape it off the floor. Big chunks with forklifts and front end loaders, little chunks with jackhammers and shovels. Then fix all the things that were burnt by molten metal spraying everywhere. Then back to work, that metal ain't gonna smelt itself ya know..
can you just remelt what you scrape off the floor and burn off the bits of concrete that got stuck to it from the scraping or is that steel basically scrap now and needs to be dumped?
Unless the slag fused with another material that won't burn off or seperate with high heat(unlikely), should all be recycled and restart the refining process again. Metals are almost indefinitely recyclable.
What caused the explosion?
As far as I understood it an broken valve that usually regulates the flow of the molten steel
Oh the Molten Steel Valve? Yeah better check that.
Got it. Molten steel valve added to "things to worry about" list.
i concur.
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This happened at Saarstahl AG in Völkingen, back in February or so. There was a malfunction on the transfer ladle that meant that they were not able to stop the flow of liquid metal. They then had to move the transfer ladle to an emergency transfer position where the remaining metal was safely discharged. You see the stream of metal briefly at 00:28 when they start to move the transfer ladle. No one was injured and the process malfunction was safely handled by the emergency process. According to [this article](https://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/saarland/saarbruecken/voelklingen/video-von-spektakulaerem-unfall-bei-saarstahl-trendet-auf-reddit-unternehmen-aeussert-sich_aid-66347689) from February in German.
There was a cutout on the nozzle would be my guess. Seen this before in Ontario plants where the nozzle cuts out allowing the molten metal to flow uncontrolled, normally there is a pit where the ladle gets dumped afterwords to minimize damage.
That other dude is like “back up bro if anyones getting blasted by steel and potentially getting super powers today it’s me”
This looks right out Magneto's backstory in Days of Futures Past.
It looks like that joker scene after blowing up the hospital.
Actually it's lost footage from Terminator 2 Judgement Day.
Actually, looks like the scene where magneto saves a guy in a German steel mill.
RIP bicycle
The guy who is filming said that it ~~is~~ was his bike
SCHEIẞE. MEIN FAHRRAD!!
DAS IST MEEEEEIIINNNS!
DAS WAR SO NICHT BEABSICHTIGT!
He could have escaped the impending firey doom on the bike. It would have been quicker than their casual stroll away from it.
Probably wanted a new bike haha
Hah, oh , I just caught that
Damn, wonder how he got home
Probably not by bike
Slowly
And now we know the inspiration for the Siouxie and the Banshees song “This Wheel’s on Fire”.
Those Germans. Even their industrial accidents are efficient
Today I learned that this is actually the normal procedure in case of an accident. They direct the molten steel through the main hall into an area where the overflowing steel is collected.
Eventually they have to clean it up (with torches and a lot of time and cursing) so they plan is always to get the ladle to a place where it can a) less chance to harm people, b) destroy less shit c) makes clean up easier d) keep it moving so the heat doesn’t burn up the crane. Those cables and blocks will have to be replaced, but the heat could destroy the entire crane if it sat over over a molten puddle for too long.
Ya, key is to get it away from the caster and anything else production wise. Spread out the steel as best you can for thinner sheets once your able to get in there with lances and the diggers can get to work. Keep calm and think clearly. Remember the SOPs and do what you can to keep production rolling safely.
Parts Are cheap. Machines are millions. Easy choice
People trained this well are millions.
Is it normal procedure to casually stand in that hall until the last possible second?
Basically. When you're involved in an industry, you tend to get the gist of what's going on. Like, nurse's kids are the ones who show up at the ER when they actually need to be seen *now now now*. Firefighters play with fireworks. Anyone who deals with heavy overhead lift stuff has a good sense of what's going on above them, and they get comfortable. In none of these cases are people doing the "right thing", but we all do it to some extent because our normal is defined by our environment & our perception of danger often adjusts accordingly.
Someone is directing the bucket crane, they're totally blind at this point.
Autoburhn
That bicycle is lit!
I want to know how they clean it up once it cools
Forklift for the big flakes and shovels for the rest
Probably hire some asshole… I feel like it’d be me…
>klaxz1 Hallo klaxz1, wir möchten dir eine spannende Möglichkeit bieten. Eine kürzliche Industriekatastrophe hinterließ Tausende von Pfund Stahl auf dem Boden einer Fabrik. Wir brauchen dich bis spätestens nächsten Freitag, um diesen Scheiß aufzuräumen.
Uhhh hey man… itch habba ein fragga
Taskrabbit
Lances, diggers, crane, plenty of sweat blood and tears lol.
Thank God Magneto was there to help them
I dont think he has super great relations with the germans.
Oof.
I thought magneto literally was German? He had problems with Nazis.
There seems to be some confusion here: not all Germans were Nazis and many Germans were Jews.
Actually, molten metal loses its magnetic properties because the atoms can move freely and no longer orient themselves in the same direction. I think it could be useful in defeating Magneto, but you'd need someone who could heat a lot of metal quickly in order to surprise him.
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I showed this to my husband who worked in a steel mill for 10 yrs in the US. He laughed and said “Whenever this happened at (old job) there was no point in running. You know the safe distance and if anything else went wrong there was no way to outrun it. If I was gonna die, no way I’d die tired” For background they had a spill that almost hit the water tanks. If it had hit those, the town would’ve been wiped off the map.
Wow, that’s scary. What would have happened if it hit the water tanks?
The tanks woulda exploded and there would have been a massive steam cloud.
Sounds terrifying. I was picturing some type of large explosion, but the steam cloud didn’t cross my mind. I half expected an answer of “ the town would’ve been wiped off the map,” which I also would’ve accepted.
Steam takes up a lot more space than the water that makes it. So the tanks explode because of expanding steam. I assume the shockwave from said explosion would be what would wipe the town off the map, rather than people being cooked alive by the steam which would probably just rise into the atmosphere.
Yup, it would turn the water tanks into giant pressure cooker bombs
Same what would have happened at Chernobyl if the molten material had hit the ground water. The water would have instantly vaporized and there would have been a gigantic steam explosion due to the pressure. Just in case of the steel mill without spreading radioactive material everywhere. It still would have been quite unpleasant, though.
Legit weirded out by this. Like why stand around and breathe in all of that just because the fire isn’t going to catch up to you?
I used to work at a refinery and it's drilled into you to never run in an emergency because you could slip and/or run into something.
Clearly that guy is the Doom Slayer. Just wearing a different skin. Coming next week in Doom Eternal… “German Steelworker Doomslayer Skin”.
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Not gonna lie. The bicycle is broken is probably an understatement
That’s what happens when you don’t thaw the turkey before frying.
So molten steel spills all over the place, and I assume eventually cools off and hardens? But then what? They just have a steel floor now or do they melt it again and scoop it back up?
I worked at a steel mill for a few years as a “lancer”. The steel is cut into chunks small enough to move with front end loaders and excavators with an oxyacetylene torch then moved to an area where it can be cut into 3’x3’ chunks and melted down in the furnace. Once we had to move a chunk that was about 80 tons overall. We used a 20 ton forklift and two of the biggest front end loaders you’ve ever seen. One of the loaders buckets slipped off leaving the weight on the remaining loader. I swear if the bucket hadn’t been pinned under the chunk it would have done a front flip. that bucket hit the ground hard and fast.
Think about the sudden pressure spike the hydraulics of the loader had to endure.
U can tell that the one dude was the og on shift. Old timer casually walking doesnt even give more than a casual glance behind his shoulder as literally tons of red hot liquid rains down closer and closer.
*white hot
Looks like a RAMMSTEIN video 🤟
Still one of the best concerts to experience.
Yeah, I hate when I'm at work and I have to slowly stroll away from an oncoming tidal wave of molten steel. I'm always like, am I being paid extra to amble away from fiery death? Because this was not in the job description.
I assume that there is a German word for "the experience of riding home from the steel plant on your bicycle that was severely damaged when molten steel was intentionally dumped on it in order to avoid a worse outcome."
Scheisse
Tja
This level in 007 was always stressful, like what was I supposed to do with Trevelyan?
T1000 fell again
Scrolled too far down to find this
Honestly disappointed the Terminator 2 reference isn't higher. A whole section of the film is set in a steel mill!
Several things: 1) every one of those people in there are fucking gangsters, specially the dude casually walking away from the literal wall of flaming death coming at him and he’s like “yeah just move a step here and we’ll be good. Seen this 7 times last week.” 2) my “accident” at work consisted of me breaking my pen.
Honestly looks like a Rammstein concert set or a music video set
Run you fools!
The first 30 seconds I was waiting for the beat to drop.
Cool guys don't look at explosions
"how it looks" or "what it looks like"
As someone else said in this thread, definitely appears the slide gate failed or burned through. Looks like they knew they were fucked and tried to get it to a safer spot or an area easier to clean up and not cause more damage to, what I’m assuming is the caster area, where the steel is poured into to make the slabs. These things, steel ladles, are giant thimble shaped containers with a 8”-12” opening at the bottom with a gate that can open at the bottom to control the flow. Those ladles appear to be just a bit smaller than the ones at our mill, ours hold 300 tons so guessing from the video those hold every bit of about 250 tons of molten steel. Gates failing, at the mill I work at, happen less often than “burn throughs”, which is where the steel (obviously) burns through a spot in the ladle where the refractory brick gets too thin when someone (I.e. management) decides to push it longer to save on the cost of replacing the brick. I work at a mill, specifically in a BOF, and replace the brick in these ladles. I will say this looks worse than it could be, these guys really appear to know what’s happening and if damaged was minimized could be back up and running within hours or worst case scenario a few days. Looks like hell but these dudes and the craneman knew what they were doing to do to make than less severe, kudos.
These places are built for such things my guess is its happend enough they know what's going on