Hai Duong tightens safety of furnaces and boilers

Danger

Many households making rice paper in Lo Cuong village, Tu Minh ward (Hai Duong city) have invested hundreds of millions of dong in installing boilers and ovens to coat and dry the rice paper, but many people are not sure about the safe operating procedures.

Mr. PVQ, a worker specializing in operating boilers in Lo Cuong craft village, only knows how to put firewood into the boiler every day to keep it running, but has not learned how to handle problems when they occur.

Compared to "bombs", boilers in production facilities can have accidents at any time if operated incorrectly. Recently, a boiler explosion in a rice paper production village in Do Luong district (Nghe An) killed one person and injured many others. The explosion also broke the glass doors of surrounding houses. This risk is always present if boilers in craft villages and businesses in Hai Duong are not safe and operators lack knowledge.

Kilns, furnaces, rotary kilns, and mixers are also very dangerous if the correct operating and repair procedures are not followed. Two years ago, because the correct repair procedures for the rotary kiln for mixing raw materials were not followed, a worker at Tuan Tu Production and Trading Company Limited (Kim Thanh) was seriously injured. According to Mr. NVP, the victim, while he was in the kiln welding the raw material mixing blades, the machine suddenly started working. While the machine was running, Mr. P. was thrown inside. Later, Mr. P. learned that a warehouse assistant came down to check the goods and pressed the start button, causing Mr. P.'s accident.

The Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs has verified the cause of the accident at Tuan Tu Production and Trading Company Limited because the two people repairing the machine did not turn off the power to the main cabinet but only turned off the machine's start button on the warehouse wall. During the repair process, there was no one to supervise or warn of the situation. The repair and maintenance process of the machine was not followed properly.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung, an expert in monitoring and assessing occupational safety and hygiene, Director of Green Safety and Environment Company Limited (Hai Duong City), the process of operating production equipment is very important. Even when repairing equipment and machinery, if regulations are not followed, it is easy to cause occupational accidents, as seen in the rotary kiln accident in Yen Bai that caused 7 casualties and the boiler explosion in Dong Nai that killed 6 people during the Month of Action on Occupational Safety and Hygiene in 2024.

Tight control

Recently, there have been a series of particularly serious work accidents as mentioned above. Despite the valuable lessons, many places, both business owners and workers, are still subjective and lax in management.

The Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Hai Duong has requested the People's Committees at the district level, enterprises, production and business establishments to strengthen occupational safety and hygiene, especially in enterprises, business households, and families using boilers, rotary kilns, furnaces, pressure gas cylinders, etc. The Department also coordinates to organize inspection teams and assign safety officers to directly guide the operation, repair and maintenance procedures of equipment.

At Hoa Phat Steel Joint Stock Company (Kinh Mon), occupational safety and hygiene, especially in furnaces and kilns, are now more strictly controlled. Mr. Vu Dinh Tuan, Deputy Head of the company's Environmental Safety Department, said that to prevent occupational accidents, the company's safety department has a specific plan in advance and notifies relevant departments. When repairing, signs and barriers must be hung. In areas with machinery and equipment that are prone to accidents during repair, in addition to the automatic power cut-off device operated by a worker and closely monitored throughout the maintenance period, the company also has an electrical cabinet near the machinery area to turn on and off manually to avoid the case of someone else turning on the power from the central control room.

According to preliminary statistics, in Hai Duong province, there are currently about 1,000 enterprises using boilers, steam boilers, pressure vessels and about 30 enterprises using rotary kilns, furnaces, smelters... In addition, many production facilities in carpentry, rice paper, vermicelli, and wine-making villages also use boilers and heat-generating equipment...

With a large number of businesses and facilities using furnaces, rotary kilns, and boilers as above, the control of labor safety, inspection of operating procedures, and repairs need special attention, not allowing subjectivity and indifference to cause labor accidents.