Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1501206.015 - Gerdau Midlothian Steel Mill

Inspection Information - Office: Fort Worth Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 6:30 a.m. on November 4, 2020, an employee was working at an iron and steel mill. He was a trainee. He worked in metal production, in the casting stage. He worked in the melt shop, on the "A" casting line. The company had a non-union workforce of 916 workers at this plant. Some 251 employees worked in the melt shop. The plant recycled metal by melting it down in furnaces. About 24 operators worked at the "A" caster in several shifts. The employees worked seven days on and seven days off, in 12-hour shifts. The employees worked from a car that slid along a rail. The car had attached work platforms from which the employees did such tasks as pouring molten metal from a ladle into a tundish bowl. The molten metal was then poured from the tundish bowl into molds. Employees performed many tasks from the work platform during pouring and casting. In this incident, the employee was working from the third step of the platform. The ladle had not opened properly, and he was performing a start-up. Once workers had removed the ladle shroud and stroked the gate, some molten metal did come out of the nozzle. It partially filled the tundish bowl and impact pad. Employees reinstalled the ladle shroud and attempted to pour a run, but the molten metal had cooled or frozen back off. Workers once again removed the ladle shroud, and the steel pourer burned ("lanced") the ladle open. The employee stepped off the platform, but too far. He stepped into a gap between the platform and the tundish bowl. It was an open hole approximately 6 in. by 124 in. (150 mm by 3.15 m) that employees could fall through. The employee fell on top of the tundish bowl roof. Part of his upper body entered the tundish bowl. The employee broke his fall with his left hand, which went into molten metal. The employee suffered deep third-degree burns. He was hospitalized. Workers on the "A" caster steel-level pourer work platform were exposed to fall hazards of up to some 9 feet (2.7 m) to the caster floor below.

Keywords: Burn, Carbon Steel, Caster, Casting, Elevated Work Plat, Elevated Work Platform, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Floor, Floor Opening, Foundry, Furnace, Hand, Inexperience, Lack of Engineering Controls, Ladle, Melting Furnace, Mill--Plant, Molten Metal, Pouring, Scald, Steel-Melting Furn, Training, Unguarded, Unguarded Fl Opening, Walking Surface, Work at Elevation