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July 7, 1999 Cause of blast at Kaiser unknown Company doesn't know what it will do with Gramercy plant Bert Caldwell - The Spokesman-Review Kaiser Aluminum officials said Tuesday a decision on whether, and how, to rebuild the heavily damaged Gramercy, La., refinery will likely take weeks. An explosion at the plant early Monday injured 24, said President Ray Milchovich. Six people were still hospitalized late Tuesday, two in critical but stable condition from burns. He told a telephone conference of company analysts and reporters that Kaiser officials have still not determined the cause of the blast, or the possible cost of repairs. Meanwhile, several lawsuits have been filed in Louisiana state courts on behalf of area residents whose homes were damaged by a concussion that blew out windows hundreds of yards away and caked homes as far as a mile away with bauxite. Milchovich said he had no information on the litigation. The explosion occurred in a series of tanks called digesters, where bauxite is combined with sodium hydroxite under high temperatures to create alumina. Gramercy produces one million metric tons of alumina annually, most of which is sold to smelters in Kentucky owned by other companies. None is shipped to any of Kaiser's smelters. The Mead and Tacoma smelters are supplied from Australia. Milchovich said one retired member of the United Steel-keeps soda and beer from eating through the aluminum. The single giant machine takes 60-inch-wide coils of aluminum and runs them through a nearly 3,000-foot process, which cleans the metal, coats it with vinyl, cures, trims and waxes it. The metal is then inspected and re-coiled. The coater line is designed to run continuously and has two of the most technical jobs in the entire plant: the coater operator and rosemount operator. According to state reports, inspectors say Kaiser: * Did not ensure training on how to properly clean and inspect the rolls on the coating machine that would preclude any employee from placing any body part in a hazardous area. The report says a foreman showed Autio how to separate the rolls approximately 1 inch while inspecting and cleaning them. Inspectors found this leaves a "nip point" that could injure an employee who came into contact with it. There is no guarding present nor were any procedural or mechanical changes made since the accident. Penalty: $1,870. * Did not ensure that the inclined shafting driving the pickup, metering and application rolls for the bottom roll assembly of the coating machine was enclosed with stationary casing. The shafts are adjacent and within three feet of the work platform and employees can be exposed to the rotating shafts during the half minute the cleaning takes place, the report says. Penalty: $1,870. * Did not ensure that couplings at the drive shaft ends were constructed so as to not have revolving surfaces that could cause serious injuries. Penalty: $1,870. Autio had been a Kaiser employee six years in Pleasanton, Calif., when he was assigned to Spokane after the United Steelworkers struck Sept. 30. According to inspection reports, he had been working as a coater operator for about two months when the accident occurred. He was treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he remained under medical care until March 2. Autio had returned to Pleasanton and was recuperating when he hanged himself in a public park near Oakland, Calif., June 18. Detectives who investigated concluded that injuries from his industrial accident played a major role in his suicide. Autio was interviewed by Washington state officials before his death, as were other employees at the Trentwood plant. An investigation worksheet on the accident concludes there were environmental and human factors involved, including Autio misjudging a hazardous situation. The accident could have been prevented by the employee fully opening or spreading the metering and application rolls to eliminate the nip/catch point, inspectors wrote. * Julie Sullivan can be reached at (509) 459-5497 or by e-mail at julies@spokesman.com.
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