Examples of How Fire-Resistant Grease Improved Work Safety and Reduced Fire Hazard in Steel Plants

摘要

Fire hazard in the steel industry is not a new topic and the steel industry is taking any possible efforts to lower the fire hazard in its production plants. This is quite common for hydraulic fluids but not for lubricating greases. This paper covers technical results of fire resistant grease obtained in Continuous Casters, Rolling Mills and feeder of a hot press during trials and full implementation. Despite all of the knowledge and awareness of fire hazards in steel mills, it is still relatively acceptable to have unintended, open flames/fires near employees. These fires are generally the result of uncontrolled processes where there is an ignition source combined with the other elements that make up a fire. This paper reviews the fire risks associated with lubricating grease in hot strip mills and discusses the opportunity for reducing risks with the use of fire resistant greases. In its most basic form, fire occurs when four elements of the fire tetrahedron are present (National Fire Protection Agency, 2008). These elements are heat, fuel, oxygen and a chain reaction. Without these, fire is not present. However, controlling these risk factors is not easy in the steel industry since these elements are inherent in steel production.This paper looks at the four elements of the fire tetrahedron and discusses how the use of fire resistant grease breaks the chain to reduce the risk of fires within hot strip mills.