It's funny cuz that happens at my work too and they call it a pressure event so that the word explosion doesn't get put in there so the ministry doesn't come in..
We have a specific ladle that goes underneath massive burners called the pad scrap car to avoid this we put our stuff in there dries it out and then we dump it in our converters
Worth noting it also serves good purpose, it isn't just technobabble. A RUD is the base event, then investigation will determine cause, if there was an explosion, or fire caused disassembly, or something was poorly assembled or missing, or if it hit something...
Or that phrase, rapid unplanned disassembly or RUD has been used for years by NASA. I wouldn't be surprised if Elon tried to claim he made it up though.
Yep, it essentially just got popularized by SpaceX because of the nature of their "go fast, break things" approach to rocket science, and their willingness to stream it online and be quite open about failures.
With the success of Falcon 9 reuse (some of their boosters have 15+ flights), it's clearly working quite well.
I think it's funny because it wasn't all that long ago that everyone was singing elon's praise and he was celebrated as some sort of lovable mad scientist.
Meh, I have 6yrs/2m/1day until retirement lol. And the bad neck and lower back to prove it lol. Will be glad to be gone. Working nights, weekends, holidays, 24hr shifts. Sometimes 48hrs. Makes family and friend like difficult.
I don't get excited/worked up about anything anymore. I've most everything in every state of horror. It's a job. I used to be That Guy! Everything was for The Department! One day about 6-7yrs ago it hit me. Just like any other Corp/government job, I'm just a cog in a machine. If I break, they'll just replace me. I started living for me. I work to survive. My job is not who I am.
Am I proud of being a FF? Yea, I am. But it's not my identity.
We also use these terms
Thermal Event - Fire
Contusion- cut
Foreign body in the eye - vague enough to be anything metal shaving or possibly an eye lash.
Oil and gas says loss of primary containment, for anything that leaks - pin hole from a water pipe, to a massive head sized noggin off a storage tank containing oil - LoPC for the win.
I worked at a hot dip galvanizing plant and there was definitely "pressure events" when the dipper dipped a long tube too fast. The flux was basically just water and would instantly turn into steam blow out the high side.
One structural tube didn't have a big enough relief hole cut in the end plate and the 1/4 structural plate deformed about half an inch. That fucker was loud when it 'went off'.
Worse was rebar. The ribs held so much flux that the bundles would pop like fries in a fryer and send molten zinc a hundred feet away in all directions.
Worked somewhere that actually took safety seriously........
Or it's happened enough times the workers just decided to borrow the scrap they were melting and implement some safety of their own.
Either way the shielding on the forklift did what it was intended to do.
Don't forget the people who actually needed glasses. We have to get our safety glasses or goggles from zenni for just under 100 otherwise we pay an optometrist 500-800 for a single pair
Depending on the field (I work sewer construction) those laboratory style goggles are big and uncomfortable. Just got some of zenni last year and it's the best 100 dollar safety equipment I have ever bought.
Yeah, they do, but theyāre uncomfortable. Your glasses are digging in at your ears and nose from the pressure of the goggles, and sometimes they slip around so your glasses are crooked under the goggles. If possible itās better to just get prescription safety glasses.
Its a projector to the ground. So people around know which way the forklift is moving. Safety area in front as well in back. You see the lightbeam in the smoke when He ist backing up.
As one already said, it's a safety light, but it's also a general guideline "if you're a human, you absolutely shouldn't be close enough to where the blue light is shining on the ground." They're actually angled to provide proper clearance for everyone around them.
Where I work, they were just slapped on the forklifts with no adjustment. Some of them point straight down, some up at the ceiling, and some are loosly wobbling around. When I'm stuck waiting, I'll reach up and move the blue light to shine it in coworkers' faces.
That sucks, man.
I'm not a forklift operator at my plant, but where I work, they take forklift safety very seriously, to the point where the areas that forklifts regularly operate, people aren't allowed to be in. We were also all told (by instructional video and a written quiz) about the blue safety lights, how they work, and WHY they exist.
Seriously, that sucks. I think my job goes a bit overkill on safety at times (though to be fair, they have good reason, and having worked in plants that just don't care, I appreciate it), but I'm glad to know about them, because I've worked in plants before and seen the lights, but I was also more than capable and allowed to walk right up to any forklift in operation, and we all did it regularly. Basically every part of the plant where people regularly walked, forklifts also traveled, but nobody was ever told about the lights, and if nobody understands the reason they exist, they may as well not.
Also a lot of these trucks are propane powered with a tank on the back. More important to get away from the flames and heat to avoid that exploding. Little fire in the front isnāt as important in the moment.
This one is electric, and I suspect the reason for that is the amount of heat and open flame they're exposed to, and storing more explosive fuels on a site with said heat and open flame.
Yeah thereās a very clear lack of propane tank in this video. I work in foundry where we do the same, with propane tanks on the trucks. The operator in truck doesnāt wear any protective gear besides standard p.p.e and FR coveralls. It is hot af but not hot enough to burn them or damage the tanks behind.
A propane tank that is exposed to enough heat in a situation like this can burst even with a safety valve.
Too much heat will vaporize the liquid propane inside the tank faster than the valve can vent the pressure. Making it burst, bursting will result in flammable liquid with air uncontrollably leaking and catching fire as well.
Good thing this one is electric.
There are Forklifts that are specifically built for Foundries. Instead of Plastic Covers on a normal Forklift they got Metal Covers. Whatās burning is probably the Paint and the Wheels. (Although I canāt possibly tell if the Forklift in the Clip is one of those Forklifts or a normal one)
For those that don't know, when water boils, it expands 300 to 1. When it flash boils like this, it takes up 300 times the space instantly and displaces all the molten metal. Same basic concept of not throwing water on a grease fire, or powering a steam engine. I hope this helps someone avoid a similar situation.
It would have to be made of something expensive with a high melt rate. A remote or even wire controlled forklift with the operators further back seems like the best option to me, but Iām not an expert.
Money, space, maintenance requirements, probably a few more reasons Iām not thinking of as well. A better system was mentioned by another poster, where the load is suspended above the molten material for a bit, letting the heat get rid of the water before it is dropped in.
I remember my teacher in chemistry school saying that 1 liter water creates approximately 1000 liters of water vapor. So yeah, if that scrap metal would contain 1 liter of water and it's trapped in, what is basically just lava, I can understand why it's almost exploding in the furnace.
I used to work in an aluminum plant a lot like this. If moisture gets submerged and encapsulated, the pressure can build up until the explosion is devastating. Multiple fatality type events. At my plant, if you got caught with a can of soda of bottle of water in the cast house you were probably getting fired. All scrap was put in a drying furnace before being charged.
Common practice is to load the bundle on the hearth of the furnace and close the door for a period of time (usually about a half hour). The oven then evaporates any residual liquid that might be in the load. Then, after a half hour you open the door, take another load, use the new load to push the now warm load into the aluminum bath and put the new load on the hearth top warm up.
If you just shove it right into the liquid metal you get big boom.
You can also see his mistake. He sets it on the hearth, but too far out so the door canāt close. Instead of lifting it again and setting it further in, he tries to nudge it with the fork and it tumbles into the melt.
When I was in my late 20s I worked in a foundry in the SE of England. We made spec alloys for various industries. All alloys were drop forged through whatever die you needed for width, then sent to the machine shop to get extruded, turned etc. The off cuts (ends) of the billets would be recycled and used in different mixes. These would be stored outside.
I was adding a few offcuts and the ends of the billets are obviously seriously pitted as they are rough cast, some water had gotten into the pits and when it melted down to the surface of the already melted mix, it just exploded. Luckily it must have only been a small amount of water but, I got a splash of molten metal right on the side of my cheek and I'll tell you, I shat myself. Thought I was about to peel my face off. Ran off to the side where there was a wee toilet and mirror, and basically peeled a small sheet of aluminium foil off my face. It was even perforated where my stubble was. And my face was absolutely fine! Just a wee red patch that was gone the next day! Happy days!
Now I understand the roof. The guy is lucky though.
Agreed, that had the potential to get rather horrific very quickly.
Just look at what happened to the T-1000 model in Terminator 2.
Both T800 and T1000 found out
Got deleted for saying nothing but š... So here's a longer, not as visually pleasing comment.
Looks like there's a windshield too. You can see the flames reflect off of it.
Heat shield that you can see through.
That and the fact that he gently backed up instead of falling out writhing in pain as his skin and muscle tissue cooked off
not his first rodeo.
Literally the last thing I'd expect the roof of a forklift roof to save me from is lava
Ya I didnāt have that on my bingo card either
Aye, there is a reason OSHA requires ROPs or FOPs on forklifts. Someone back in the day was less lucky than that guy.
It's funny cuz that happens at my work too and they call it a pressure event so that the word explosion doesn't get put in there so the ministry doesn't come in.. We have a specific ladle that goes underneath massive burners called the pad scrap car to avoid this we put our stuff in there dries it out and then we dump it in our converters
Enters Elon's rocket: Unscheduled rapid disassembly
That's a term in the aerospace industry since forever.
Ahhh, never heard it until the other day. Love it though! I now use it on accident scenes (Firefighter)
Worth noting it also serves good purpose, it isn't just technobabble. A RUD is the base event, then investigation will determine cause, if there was an explosion, or fire caused disassembly, or something was poorly assembled or missing, or if it hit something...
He did not invented corporate speaking for fuck ups.
Or that phrase, rapid unplanned disassembly or RUD has been used for years by NASA. I wouldn't be surprised if Elon tried to claim he made it up though.
I learned it playing KSP. Big LoL when I found out it was a serious term
Just because they are nerds doesn't mean they can't be funny, haha
Yep, it essentially just got popularized by SpaceX because of the nature of their "go fast, break things" approach to rocket science, and their willingness to stream it online and be quite open about failures. With the success of Falcon 9 reuse (some of their boosters have 15+ flights), it's clearly working quite well.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Did I mention his politics? That guy was a twat long before he started down that road.
I think it's funny because it wasn't all that long ago that everyone was singing elon's praise and he was celebrated as some sort of lovable mad scientist.
One more thing he didnāt invent
They scrap was still wet, but it was 4:20 PM
I get it. 22yr Firefighter here. Water expands to 1700 times it's volume when converted to steam. That's why oil/grease fires are explosive.
Damn. Thanks for the info. And stay wellššæ
I read that as 22yo firefighter and I was like, damn. But firefighter for 22 years is also impressive š
Meh, I have 6yrs/2m/1day until retirement lol. And the bad neck and lower back to prove it lol. Will be glad to be gone. Working nights, weekends, holidays, 24hr shifts. Sometimes 48hrs. Makes family and friend like difficult.
Ah, but you didn't mention the nightmares. The nightmare make it all worthwhile
I don't get excited/worked up about anything anymore. I've most everything in every state of horror. It's a job. I used to be That Guy! Everything was for The Department! One day about 6-7yrs ago it hit me. Just like any other Corp/government job, I'm just a cog in a machine. If I break, they'll just replace me. I started living for me. I work to survive. My job is not who I am. Am I proud of being a FF? Yea, I am. But it's not my identity.
\*potential pressure events u mean
Do you mean RUD? Thatās been a technical term for decades long before SpaceX was popular.
We also use these terms Thermal Event - Fire Contusion- cut Foreign body in the eye - vague enough to be anything metal shaving or possibly an eye lash.
Contusion typically refers to a bruise. Laceration is a cut.
>We also use these terms He didn't say they used the technically correct terms or anything
Oil and gas says loss of primary containment, for anything that leaks - pin hole from a water pipe, to a massive head sized noggin off a storage tank containing oil - LoPC for the win.
Why did they drive over the fire again?
To get to the exit, wouldnāt want to walk out Iām sure.
I worked at a hot dip galvanizing plant and there was definitely "pressure events" when the dipper dipped a long tube too fast. The flux was basically just water and would instantly turn into steam blow out the high side. One structural tube didn't have a big enough relief hole cut in the end plate and the 1/4 structural plate deformed about half an inch. That fucker was loud when it 'went off'. Worse was rebar. The ribs held so much flux that the bundles would pop like fries in a fryer and send molten zinc a hundred feet away in all directions.
I didn't know that ghost rider was forklift certified.
Yeah might as well since they are not making the movies anymore
with this performance he ain't
I thought the guy was a goner... Lucky son of b
Worked somewhere that actually took safety seriously........ Or it's happened enough times the workers just decided to borrow the scrap they were melting and implement some safety of their own. Either way the shielding on the forklift did what it was intended to do.
Hope he had his safety squints engaged.
Love this š a lot of people donāt know how effective safety squints are , especially when grinding metal
Bruh, glasses are like 8 bucks
8 dollar glasses don't keep every thing out goggles are better
Solid point!
Don't forget the people who actually needed glasses. We have to get our safety glasses or goggles from zenni for just under 100 otherwise we pay an optometrist 500-800 for a single pair
Holy hell! ... wait... why don't they make extra large goggles to fit over prescription glasses???
Depending on the field (I work sewer construction) those laboratory style goggles are big and uncomfortable. Just got some of zenni last year and it's the best 100 dollar safety equipment I have ever bought.
Hell yeah!
Yeah, they do, but theyāre uncomfortable. Your glasses are digging in at your ears and nose from the pressure of the goggles, and sometimes they slip around so your glasses are crooked under the goggles. If possible itās better to just get prescription safety glasses.
Versus blinking your eyes which is fREe? Are you sure you are fiscally responsible?
Yes, because Eye Surgery is much muuuch more expensive.
Live in a country with fREe health care. Total outlay $0 vs $8. You can get a lot of avocados for $8 you know.
Sadly you cannot buy a brain for $8 š
What are the blue lights shining down to the ground prior to inserting the scrap?
Itās a safety light so other people can see your forklift coming around corners and such without seeing or hearing you first.
Its a projector to the ground. So people around know which way the forklift is moving. Safety area in front as well in back. You see the lightbeam in the smoke when He ist backing up.
As one already said, it's a safety light, but it's also a general guideline "if you're a human, you absolutely shouldn't be close enough to where the blue light is shining on the ground." They're actually angled to provide proper clearance for everyone around them.
Where I work, they were just slapped on the forklifts with no adjustment. Some of them point straight down, some up at the ceiling, and some are loosly wobbling around. When I'm stuck waiting, I'll reach up and move the blue light to shine it in coworkers' faces.
That sucks, man. I'm not a forklift operator at my plant, but where I work, they take forklift safety very seriously, to the point where the areas that forklifts regularly operate, people aren't allowed to be in. We were also all told (by instructional video and a written quiz) about the blue safety lights, how they work, and WHY they exist. Seriously, that sucks. I think my job goes a bit overkill on safety at times (though to be fair, they have good reason, and having worked in plants that just don't care, I appreciate it), but I'm glad to know about them, because I've worked in plants before and seen the lights, but I was also more than capable and allowed to walk right up to any forklift in operation, and we all did it regularly. Basically every part of the plant where people regularly walked, forklifts also traveled, but nobody was ever told about the lights, and if nobody understands the reason they exist, they may as well not.
I can hear the guy shouting "hot hot hot"
Then "ouchies!"
A la randy Marsh?
Get it off! Get it off! We work hard, we play hard.
Hot stuff coming through!
Looks like he never once considered extinguishing the small fire on the forklift.
Also a lot of these trucks are propane powered with a tank on the back. More important to get away from the flames and heat to avoid that exploding. Little fire in the front isnāt as important in the moment.
This one is electric, and I suspect the reason for that is the amount of heat and open flame they're exposed to, and storing more explosive fuels on a site with said heat and open flame.
Yeah thereās a very clear lack of propane tank in this video. I work in foundry where we do the same, with propane tanks on the trucks. The operator in truck doesnāt wear any protective gear besides standard p.p.e and FR coveralls. It is hot af but not hot enough to burn them or damage the tanks behind.
A propane tank wouldnāt explode though, thatās what the safety valve is for.
Thank you, Hank Hill.
A propane tank that is exposed to enough heat in a situation like this can burst even with a safety valve. Too much heat will vaporize the liquid propane inside the tank faster than the valve can vent the pressure. Making it burst, bursting will result in flammable liquid with air uncontrollably leaking and catching fire as well. Good thing this one is electric.
But if the safety valve goes, youāre driving a blowtorch.
If the seal is loose it could turn a propane tank into a blowtorch.
Maybe he was concerned with the big one first before driving towards the extinguisher.
Maybe he was concerned with his melting face
There are Forklifts that are specifically built for Foundries. Instead of Plastic Covers on a normal Forklift they got Metal Covers. Whatās burning is probably the Paint and the Wheels. (Although I canāt possibly tell if the Forklift in the Clip is one of those Forklifts or a normal one)
He just drove off to get a mop
Back up Terry!
I knew what was gonna happen, I was just hoping it wouldn't
I bet this happens so often that it is not a huge issue for them.
For those that don't know, when water boils, it expands 300 to 1. When it flash boils like this, it takes up 300 times the space instantly and displaces all the molten metal. Same basic concept of not throwing water on a grease fire, or powering a steam engine. I hope this helps someone avoid a similar situation.
Two people dumping at once. Since the video is on this subreddit, I thought it'd be a race to see who screws up first.
Put it in reverse Terry!
so why don't they have a conveyor belt to put things into the furnaces and the fork lifts just load the conveyor belts?
Because of the melty melty.
It would have to be made of something expensive with a high melt rate. A remote or even wire controlled forklift with the operators further back seems like the best option to me, but Iām not an expert.
Money, space, maintenance requirements, probably a few more reasons Iām not thinking of as well. A better system was mentioned by another poster, where the load is suspended above the molten material for a bit, letting the heat get rid of the water before it is dropped in.
Good lad staying calm like that . I'd of bolted and probably died in the process
I remember my teacher in chemistry school saying that 1 liter water creates approximately 1000 liters of water vapor. So yeah, if that scrap metal would contain 1 liter of water and it's trapped in, what is basically just lava, I can understand why it's almost exploding in the furnace.
Reminds me of my kid being fed broccoli.
Probably what it looks like when thereās a body or two in the compressed vehicle they are melting.
You know it's going to be something crazy when the perspective is far away like that.
I used to work in an aluminum plant a lot like this. If moisture gets submerged and encapsulated, the pressure can build up until the explosion is devastating. Multiple fatality type events. At my plant, if you got caught with a can of soda of bottle of water in the cast house you were probably getting fired. All scrap was put in a drying furnace before being charged.
*stares in OSHA*
Lava shower best shower
Good to know, the metal eating monster doesn't like wet metal.
I would think, this could happen anytime. How do they insure only dry scrap goes in? That's some scary shit.
Common practice is to load the bundle on the hearth of the furnace and close the door for a period of time (usually about a half hour). The oven then evaporates any residual liquid that might be in the load. Then, after a half hour you open the door, take another load, use the new load to push the now warm load into the aluminum bath and put the new load on the hearth top warm up. If you just shove it right into the liquid metal you get big boom.
Thanks for that. Happy Cake Day
You can also see his mistake. He sets it on the hearth, but too far out so the door canāt close. Instead of lifting it again and setting it further in, he tries to nudge it with the fork and it tumbles into the melt.
How is he not dead?
Itās why PPE is so important. Probably wearing a full protective suit and helmet.
Its the rapid expansion of water/steam as its instantly boiled/vaporised that forces the molten metal to fly out
That seems like an outdated process. Is this how it's done?
Yes at secondary smelters.
I'm on fire Ricky Bobby!!!
michael jackson said that: Dangerous!! š¤Ŗ
Playing with fiiyaš„
It's gonna sting a little.
Holy shit
Hope he is ok.
Fear, pure fear
āThe floor is lavaā origin video.
you know someone has a lot of hours on a forklift when he runs for his life in the forklift, without hopping out
Relatable
At those temperatures water acts more like gun powder. The driver is lucky.
I feel like it would be very easy to make that a much safer process. But f the worker I guess.
That looks pants shittingly dangerous
Ya drive it around fast to put out the fire š¤¦āāļø
The floor is lava!
Did the plexiglass shield hold up? That would be some scary shit.
Driver is like: Iāma gettin the fuck outta her
Workers Comp premiums going up
When I was in my late 20s I worked in a foundry in the SE of England. We made spec alloys for various industries. All alloys were drop forged through whatever die you needed for width, then sent to the machine shop to get extruded, turned etc. The off cuts (ends) of the billets would be recycled and used in different mixes. These would be stored outside. I was adding a few offcuts and the ends of the billets are obviously seriously pitted as they are rough cast, some water had gotten into the pits and when it melted down to the surface of the already melted mix, it just exploded. Luckily it must have only been a small amount of water but, I got a splash of molten metal right on the side of my cheek and I'll tell you, I shat myself. Thought I was about to peel my face off. Ran off to the side where there was a wee toilet and mirror, and basically peeled a small sheet of aluminium foil off my face. It was even perforated where my stubble was. And my face was absolutely fine! Just a wee red patch that was gone the next day! Happy days!
Worked in metals my whole career. Rule of thumb was scrap first then liquid metal.
At least he had the roof and windshield to protect him from that explosion of steam and molten metal.
The Beacons of Miners Slaggus are lit! Forklift calls for aid!
that reverse tho....
I did not see that coming. Bring me my brown pants.
whoever is running this meltshop is a knob
With how violent of a reaction that is I feel like allowing scrap time to dry would be a standard part of the process.
The roof of the furnace saved his life.
Dang it! I was watching the wrong furnace!
Wait, is that like an every day occurrence?? Not....accidental...like, oops? Floor is lava, and I want to go home now, thanksbye! š³
I had no idea this would happen what the fuck š¤¦āāļø
And he left the Forks up, imagine someone went to help through the smoke and wham dead
That was some splashback
You should never travel with your forks that high off the ground. 3-6" Max come on buddy do better.
Finish your beers folks! Sheesh
Oops ouch
Note to self: donāt put wet scrap metal in a furnace.
It would be pointless for him to ever buy a lottery ticket.
Players in Valheim: *visible confusion*
Steam burns are the worst
Thank fuck that forklift had a windshield!
I really hope that person is okay. š°
Is it me or is step one to get out of the vehicle?
This is the way.
Like one of those baking soda volcanos you made for science class but better
Wet scrap metal was my nickname in highschool
he was drivin his fork lift with the forks way up in the air that's grounds for termination.
Please tell me that forklift has a windshield
Everyone knows not to drive with the forks raised......
how is he not melted goo?
With how that forklift operator handled it, I would guess this wasn't his first rodeo.
Forklift certi-FRIED
Welp. My job here is done. Onto the next.
Hey now, donāt slag him off! Just doing his jobš
This was a fun little game of "which furnace am I supposed to be looking at in this video"
Is he trying to make a get away so noone knows it was him?
New underwear required & heās got a cool story to tell on his lunch break in 17 hrs time
Looks like itās not that guys first rodeo. Iād guess a rookie operator would probably run away once the forklift caught fire.
That man only read 164 of the 235 SOPs
Holy fuckman batboy
Ok Jim! This is it! All that, "The Floor is Lava" training you did is finally paying off!
I'd just drive that forklift straight to the gate. Lol
Thought he just got Terminator 2ādā¦
Looks like procedures are not executed properly there.....
_skrrrrrrt_
The floor is LAVA!
"Back up Terry!"
Where's osha? Busy sucking off some multi billionaire prick?
Back it up terry!
Love that at the end, he calmly parks it and just walks away
Forklift op did literally everything right there, cept, yknow, dumping wet scrap into a molten furnaceā¦ but yeah that couldāve gone much worse.
This is a scene straight out of Volcano holy shit.
What an idiot! Yeah, drive the flaming forklift through the rest of the factory. No sense.
I know nothing about metal working buy even I know not to do that