Typical accident warnings for industrial and trade enterprises around the Spring Festival: “2·18” large explosion accident at Huaye Foundry in Huidong County, Huizhou, Guangdong (Metallurgical Industry)
[# typical accident warning for industrial and trade enterprises before and after the Spring Festival# The “2·18” large explosion accident at Huaye Foundry in Huizhou, Huizhou, Guangdong (metallurgical industry)]#The Ministry of Emergency Management notified typical accidents at industrial and trade enterprises# On February 18, 2022 (the eighteenth day of the first lunar month), an electric arc furnace exploded during steelmaking operations in the steelmaking workshop of Huaye Foundry in Huizhou, Guangdong, causing 3 deaths, 2 serious injuries, and 13 minor injuries. Cause of the accident: The pure oxygen lance on the wall of the electric arc furnace was baked by the high-temperature molten steel in the electric arc furnace for about 19 minutes, and the strength performance of the connection between the copper nozzle of the oxygen lance and the steel pipe decreased. After the operator opens the cooling water valve of the oxygen gun and passes the water, the cooling water quickly vaporizes under the high temperature of the gun body. Under the superposition of steam pressure and cooling water pressure, the copper nozzle of the oxygen lance separated from the gun body. After the cooling water was injected into the furnace at high speed and contacted with high-temperature molten steel, it rapidly vaporized and expanded, causing an initial explosion. The water-cooling parts of the furnace body were damaged by the explosion, causing a large amount of cooling water to enter the furnace and trigger a secondary explosion. Lessons learned from the accident: The company stopped production during the Spring Festival. After resumption of work, the risk of replacing the furnace wall pure oxygen lance was unclear. The newly added furnace wall pure oxygen lance was not separately equipped with cooling water inlet and return water flow difference detection, alarm and safety interlocking devices. The operation of replacing the furnace wall pure oxygen lance was carried out in violation of operating procedures, which posed major accident risks. The workers turned a blind eye to the alarm prompts during daily safety inspections, and the safety inspections were just a formality.