Fighting Fire

In January 2000, two fires erupted at a Hawaiian metal recycling facility within 11 days of each other. One of the fires occurred when residual fuel leaked from a car as it dangled from a crane. That fire ignited a 22,500-square-foot, 40-foot-tall pile of scrap metal.
   In February, a 50-foot-high, 100-foot-wide pile of scrap cars in a plant near Denver burned for more than 18 hours, costing the company an estimated $180,000 in losses.
   In March, a spark from a welding torch ignited plastic coat hangers at a recycling operation in Cleveland, starting a blaze that destroyed $250,000 of material and equipment. Lost were a grinder, two balers, a conveyor system, and 400,000 pounds of processed postindustrial plastics.
   April saw a smoldering piece of plastic ignite a fire that destroyed nearly half of the recyclable material stored at a Michigan plastic recycling operation.
   And in September, more than 100 firefighters took eight hours to battle a blaze at a Phoenix paper recycling plant. Before the fire could be contained, it had engulfed an 800,000-square-foot area and destroyed four tractor trailers and a nearby vacant mobile home. The suspected cause? A shortage in the plant’s electrical system. The damage? An estimated $300,000.
   Scary stories. But surely these disasters couldn’t happen at your facility. You’re too careful, right? Well, think again. Most scrap fires aren’t a result of flagrant recklessness, says Bob Kahn, deputy chief of the Phoenix Fire Department. Scrap recycling plants are just inherently vulnerable. 
  “Large recycling plants store large piles of flammable materials—there’s no way you’re not going to have large fires from time to time,” warns Kahn. “It’s like they say, as long as you have forests and you have fires, you’re going to have forest fires.”
   Just look at the wide range of combustible materials stored in or used at scrap processing operations: stacks of paper, piles of shredder fluff, flammable plastics, gasoline and oil, welders and torches, titanium and magnesium, and the list goes on. Each of these presents a unique hazard and an equally unique challenge when it comes to preventing or extinguishing a fire.
   So whether you process plastics, metals, or paper, whether you operate a business on the East Coast, West Coast, or somewhere in between, you are at risk. 
   Over the past three years, CNA Commercial Insurance (Chicago) has processed claims for 138 fires at recycling plants—that’s 46 fires per year reported by just one insurance carrier. The average claim was $86,000. 
   The most common causes were sparks from spot-welding and cutting torches, overloaded electrical circuits, electrical fires within recycling equipment, arson, and careless smoking, explains CNA’s Sunday Wagner, vice president of loss control.
   And don’t think that a fire’s damage is done just while the flames are burning. Fire exacts its toll in other ways, too. Damaged or destroyed buildings, equipment, and scrap material can translate into big-dollar losses. Also, if a fire closes your operation for days, weeks, or months, customers could take their business elsewhere and your revenues could dry up. Moreover, if an injured employee seeks recourse under workers’ compensation laws, you could wind up paying for years to come.
   Then there are liability issues. A Wisconsin paper recycler found itself mired in a heated legal battle when the parent of an 11-year-old child sued the company after the boy died from a fire ignited on the premises by children playing with matches. Lawsuits brought against recyclers for loss of life or damage to adjacent property can result in sizable monetary damages, to say nothing of the damage they can inflict on your company’s reputation.

Pursuing Prevention
Fortunately, there are ways to minimize the risk of fire—but there are no quick solutions or one-time fixes, experts say. Instead, you need careful planning, ongoing education, and vigilance. Processors who are serious about avoiding fires must be willing to implement and closely monitor safety programs that address equipment and vehicle maintenance, housekeeping, and employee training.
   Importantly, the commitment to fire safety must come from the top down. Take Sierra Iron & Metal Co. (Bakersfield, Calif.), which has gone 2,700 days—more than seven years—without a lost-time injury from a fire or any other cause. “Our employees are very well trained in safety,” says Eric Porter, general manager. “But we couldn’t have this kind of success without the commitment of our owners.”
   Help from professionals can’t hurt, either. In Phoenix, the fire department recently inspected 144 industrial recycling facilities and suggested various fire-safety changes, such as increasing aisle widths in paper recycling plants from 15 to 20 feet and decreasing the maximum allowable size of stored piles of various flammable and combustible materials. For instance, materials stored 3 to 10 feet from a building can only be piled 6 feet high, while those stored 10 feet or more from the building are allowed a maximum height of 20 feet.
   While the Phoenix Fire Department took the initiative in this case, you can also be proactive about such assistance. 
   “Fire department personnel can be very helpful,” says Jay Klempner, former owner of a ferrous and nonferrous scrap facility and now co-owner of Moros/North America (Louisville, Ky.), which represents a major recycling equipment manufacturer. In his scrap processing days, Klempner used to invite the local fire department to visit his facility for a fire-safety survey every two years.
   These visits included a fire-fighting training course for all employees and an evaluation of fire extinguishers and their use on various materials. Also, the fire department drew a layout of the grounds based on a complete inventory of all the buildings, the electrical supply, equipment, above- and underground storage tanks, and flammable materials. “That way, if they were called in, they knew in advance exactly where everything was,” Klempner explains. And just in case that call came at 3 a.m. or on a Sunday, Klempner made sure the department had a key to the locks on the plant’s gates.
   Electrical inspectors can also provide objective and constructive safety advice, says Bob Griffin, vice president of loss control and safety for RecycleGuard, the official ISRI-sponsored property and casualty insurance program administered by Willis of New Hampshire Inc. (Rochester, N.H.). As he notes, “Electrical fires are a big problem, especially at plants that use unlicensed, in-house electricians.”
   Griffin warns against introducing any new electrical device into the workplace without first determining whether the existing electrical system can handle the extra load. Experts also recommend periodic inspections of the wiring in all buildings. New technology, called infrared thermography, is available to detect electrical problems inside walls. The technology works by detecting heat and determining its source.
   While electrical fires are a common hazard, the leading fire-starters in processing plants are welding appliances and cutting torches, say Griffin and Wagner. To help prevent such incidents, many in the manufacturing and construction industries have turned to so-called hot-work permits (for more on these permits, see “Working ‘Hot’” at left). While the idea hasn’t yet caught on in the recycling industry—and might even be impractical in certain situations—hot-work permits aren’t entirely unknown among processors. Sierra Iron & Metal, for instance, uses such permits for off-site demolition work.
   Though much of the blame for fires is directed toward wiring and machines and flammable materials, the truth is that human error often lies at the heart of accidental fires. That’s why training and safety programs are critical.
   Jim Lawrence, plant manager of ELG Metals Inc. (McKeesport, Pa.), believes this wholeheartedly. A fire that started in a pile of titanium turnings completely destroyed a warehouse at the company several years ago. “It was a very difficult fire to put out,” he recalls. 
   Since then, the company has implemented a safety program that includes training employees in how to use fire extinguishers. The firm also provides the local fire department with material safety data sheets to ensure that firefighters arrive prepared to battle blazes involving titanium and other unusual materials.

Planning Your Emergency Response
At this point, let’s assume you’ve pursued every fire-prevention measure in your facility. The question then becomes: If a fire developed (and there’s always the chance it could), would your employees know how to respond appropriately? Maybe not, unless they’ve received emergency-response training. Do your employees know, for instance, who should call the fire department, who should try to extinguish the fire, how to evacuate the premises and where to go, and how to account for each other following an evacuation? Do they know what to do if your phone lines go down before they can contact the fire department?
   “The time to decide what you’re going to do in case of fire isn’t when there’s a fire,” says Griffin. “Those decisions need to be made in advance.”
   Most everyone can operate a common multipurpose fire extinguisher, assuming he or she knows where to find it. However, some fires involving specialized metals, such as magnesium and titanium, require specialized fire extinguishers. “You need to have a properly trained crew to handle these types of fires,” Griffin states. Also, those people must know when to give up and evacuate. As a rule of thumb, if two people working together with two extinguishers can’t put out the fire, it’s time to leave, he notes.
   One area often overlooked by processors is the environmental impact of a fire. The owner of a western scrap facility recommends hiring an environmental consultant if you don’t have one in-house. “Firefighting can generate a lot of water,” the recycler explains. “You need to know where that water will go and, if possible, have a plan for containing it so it doesn’t run off into lakes and rivers and trigger environmental problems.”
   Advance planning should also include a periodic review of your insurance to determine whether you have adequate coverage.
   Lonnie Breslow, vice president of Pitts’ Inc., a scrap processor in Sioux Falls, S.D., learned this the hard way. 
When a fire destroyed 40,000 square feet of warehouse and office space, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars of nonferrous processing equipment, Breslow found himself underinsured. “You look at things a little differently after something like this happens,” he says. “When you go to replace things, you realize that when you were buying insurance, you overlooked a lot of little things that add up. Even if you have old equipment, you have to look at what it would cost to replace that equipment.”
   Breslow suggests reviewing inventory with maintenance workers to get a better sense of how much equipment—such as torches, air tools, and accessories—they use on the job every day and what it would cost to replace that equipment.
In the aftermath of a fire, the atmosphere can turn tense and hectic. Experts suggest contacting your insurance carrier immediately to assess damages and help implement a plan to get back in business as soon as possible. 
It’s also important to continue working closely with the fire department for several days to ensure that smoldering debris doesn’t reignite. Plus, processors should have a plan in place for disposing of potentially environmentally hazardous materials that are generated by a fire.
   Another point to anticipate and address is that fires at recycling facilities often trigger community concern. “Fires at industrial sites often attract media coverage and scrutiny from the local health department and local environmental regulators,” says one processor. It’s best to designate one employee to serve as the official spokesperson on all matters related to a fire at your company.
  Finally, while destructive and costly, fires can have a positive side, provided that owners and employees use the event as a learning exercise and a reminder of the importance of safety.
   “Accidents are a horrible thing, but they do heighten awareness and change our priorities,” notes ELG’s Jim Lawrence. “In today’s business climate, everyone is working harder, harder, harder. Time is more precious. Sometimes when we start to hurry, we stop taking safety seriously.” 
   Smart recyclers, he says, will take the renewed concern for employees’ safety that often results from a negative incident and turn it into a positive reminder that safety—including fire safety—should be a high priority. 

Working Hot
CNA Commercial Insurance offers the following advice on establishing a hot-work permit system:
   1. Management should appoint a responsible person to closely supervise the use of all portable hot-work equipment. This could be a yard supervisor, foreman, shift supervisor, or even an owner/manager of a small operation.
   2. Training should be provided and documented for those who will be using welding or torch-cutting equipment.
   3. A supply of hot-work permit tags (such as the one above) should be obtained and used as a checklist for proper procedures and controls.
   4. Employees and outside contractors should be required to secure a written hot-work permit tag before beginning any hot-work activity, whether outside or inside.
   5. The completed permit tag should be attached at the site where the torch-cutting or welding task will be completed. Typically, these tags are attached to the cutting or welding fuel cylinders.
   6. A “fire watch”—monitoring the site where the hot work took place—should be conducted for at least a half hour after hot-work activity. This includes when employees leave the hot-work site for even a short break, as sparks may be smoldering. Checks should be made to ensure that equipment is completely turned off.
   7. Other key elements of a hot-work permit system include:
     • Work areas should be at least 35 feet from ignitable materials;
     • Personal protective equipment must be worn by all torch-cutters and welders;
     • A fire extinguisher should be readily available;
     • Cutting and welding equipment must be in good operating condition;
     • No smoking, eating, or applying of cosmetics is allowed in the work area;
     • Workers should be positioned upwind from any fumes;
     • There should be restrictions on cutting or welding potentially dangerous items such as closed containers;
     • Floor or plant surfaces should be clean and free of any combustibles; and
     • When working inside, openings in floors, walls, or ductwork within 35 feet of the hot-work area should be covered.

Fire Resources
The following organizations can provide helpful fire-related information:
Academy of Infrared Thermography: www.infraredtraining.net; 360/676-1915 (U.S.); 250/579-7677 (Canada)
Federal Emergency Management Agency: www.fema.gov; 202/646-4600
Institute for Business & Home Safety: www.ibhs.org; 813/286-3400
J.J. Keller & Assocs. Inc.: www.jjkeller.com; 877/564-2333
National Fire Protection Association: www.nfpa.org; 617/770-3000

Fire Safety Checklist
Here are a few steps you can take to minimize the risk of fire at your company:
  • Prohibit smoking on the premises.
  • Use caution when operating welders or cutting torches. Consider using the hot-work permit system (see page 112) to reduce risks associated with operating these tools. 
  • Request regular inspections from your local fire department to review placement of flammable materials, fire hydrants, alarm systems, fire extinguishers, and emergency exits as well as to establish a plan for the fire department to gain access to the grounds and buildings.
  • Keep equipment clean and in good operating condition. 
  • Periodically review the electrical systems in your buildings and determine capacity before adding new electrical equipment that could overload circuits. Consider using thermographers to examine buildings for potential electrical problems behind walls.
  • Determine whether you have the appropriate fire extinguishers for the materials you store. Train personnel to use them and inspect the extinguishers regularly to ensure they’re in working order.
  • Store flammable/combustible materials in appropriate containers away from heat sources.
  • Clean and report all spills.
  • Conduct regular safety meetings with all personnel.
  • Develop an emergency-response program and train key personnel as members of an emergency-response team.
  • Back up all computer records monthly. Designate an employee to take computer backup tapes home nightly.
  • Periodically review your insurance to determine if you have adequate coverage.
  • Fence outside areas to discourage accidental fires and arson caused by trespassers.
  • Store propane tanks in an outside shed rather than in your warehouse. Firefighters may refuse to enter a warehouse in which propane tanks could explode.
  • Conduct regular inspections of fire alarms and check smoke-alarm batteries.•