Cameras reveal valuable information: People & Companies

Insurance reps, safety consultants and other interested parties routinely tell machine shops and part manufacturers a workplace accident is inevitable. Unfortunately, they’re usually correct.

After being in business for nearly 50 years, our company’s safety record is very good despite the statistical reality. But we’ve still had incidents and close calls. Most recently, we experienced our shop’s first fire. Thankfully, it wasn’t a major disaster and didn’t cause any injuries. Nonetheless, it was an eye-opener that made me realize how a great safety record is no reason to assume it’s going to stay that way.

When an incident like a fire happens, expect the unexpected. A dangerous incident comes as a surprise and can quickly get out of hand.

In our situation, a piece of hot metal landed in a parts cleaning sink containing a flammable cleaning solution. After a few seconds, a flash fire erupted and quickly went up a wall and outside a large bay door. It was a hot, dangerous and scary situation. Luckily, it occurred on a weekend with minimal activity.

After a few minutes, the fire was extinguished by the maintenance employee who caused it. Fortunately, the damage was repairable without the need for an insurance claim, and we were lucky it wasn’t worse.