Week 7: LODD – Hazardous Materials LODD

Review the NIOSH – F2009-31: One Fire Fighter Killed and Eight Fire Fighters Injured in a Dumpster Explosion at a Foundry—Wisconsin report.

Did the conclusions in this report offer recommendations for future prevention of similar incidents? What relation did established regulations and standards have to the events surrounding the fatality?

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#1

Did the conclusions in this report offer recommendations for future prevention of similar incidents? What relation did establish regulations and standards have to the events surrounding the fatality?

In this week’s reading, the NIOSH report stated the death one firefighter and multiple injuries of the crew on scene. The crew arrived on scene to find a dumpster fire emitting blue and green flames. Upon using different methods to extinguish the fire an explosion erupted sending shrapnel and barrels into the immediate vicinity. The conclusion of this report does in fact offers recommendations to prevent future occurrences. Although all recommendations were useful and warranted, a few stuck out to me. (Bowyer, 2010)

To be honest I did not know what a foundry was before this week. Recommendation two spoke about the need for specialized training for hazardous materials. Being that this factory was in the jurisdiction of the fire department, the department should have offered training on dealing with these special hazards. The lack of knowledge and training contributed to the explosion by adding copious amount of water. Another recommendation that stood out to me was number four. It spoke about the need for conducting a proper scene size-up and risk assessment for high risk occupancies. This is a very important task when communicating due to the crew in route. When dealing with an industrial structure it can be a lot of ground to cover, continuous communication is beneficial to surrounding crews making them aware of changing situations. 

Recommendation five stood out to me as well because the Assistant chief allowed the junior firefighter into a hazardous zone without proper personal protective equipment. Even though he was only sent to the apparatus anything could have transpired that could cause a possible injury. By having a junior FF program, it would benefit everybody by having guidelines that show where and what they can do during an emergency. Last but not least recommendation 8 instructed the manufacturing facilities to basically have bulk dry extinguishing agent on station. By having this on station helps out the emergency responders in mitigating the situation by cutting the time down with the time down with the agent.

Bowyer, M. (2010, July 06). One Fire Fighter Killed and Eight Fire Fighters Injured in a Dumpster Explosion at a Foundry—Wisconsin. Retrieved from NIOSH: https://edge.apus.edu/access/content/group/security-and-global-studies-common/EDMG/FSMT405/NIOSH%20-%20F2009-31_Dumspter%20Explosion_LODD.pdf

#2

Did the conclusions in this report offer recommendations for future prevention of similar incidents? What relation did established regulations and standards have to the events surrounding the fatality?

In this week’s reading in December 2009, a 33-year-old male fire fighter died and eight fire fighters, including a lieutenant and a junior fire fighter, were injured in a dumpster explosion at a foundry in Wisconsin. NIOSH stated some of the contributing factors were, wet extinguishing agent applied to a combustible metal fire. The lack of hazardous materials awareness training. No documented site pre-plan. Insufficient scene size-up and risk assessment. Inadequate disposal/storage of materials (NISOH 2010).

This incident could have been avoided if there was proper training about the martial on hand in the Foundry.  This Foundry was in this departments area of operation. I am not sure on how well the local fire department knew what really went on in there. We had a plant in our area and we did a walk through once a year to know the plant and its hazards. They gave us a list of what hazarders they had on hand. NISOH did recommend fire departments have a plan and conduct a walk through. Departments with high risk sites need extra and special training. When places like the Foundry have unique combustible metals, departments need a plan in place to deal with the hazards associated with it. Annual and routine training need to reflect places like this in your area. When new personal is brought on board they need to be aware of the dangers. One JR fire fighter was sent in without the proper PPE for the job. The lack of knowledge of the Foundry and martials on hand cost them.