Business Risk
Real Steel Pvt. Ltd. is a privately owned ISPwith an establishment area of approximately 1900 acres with a production capacity of 3 MT The unskilled labour pool is huge,and ranges between 3000 to 4000 considering three 8 hour working shifts. The officers are in the numbers of 250 to 260 depending on vacancies and requirements. The predominantly male workers in the company come from all strata of the society with education ranging from High School to Post Graduation. The mean average age in the organization is 32 years and an average employment tenure is 18 years. Irrespective of the job commitment displayed by employees, the occupational health hazards which are often fatal in nature here. Employees are exposed tohigh risk environments in the Raw Materials Handling Plant, the Sinter Plant, Coke Oven Batteries, Blast Furnace, SMS and even the Merchant Mills which often lead to various breathing anomalies, permanent/partial hearing losses, and often deaths(Blaikie et.al., 2014).
Among the various units, the Steel Melting Shop (SMS) is practically one of the most hazardous environments. In this unit, the molten iron is oxidised to plain carbon or alloy steel. However, poor working conditions and environment invite the probability of risk hazards for the employees. The rail tracks are not maintained properly which have seldom led freight wagons to get derailed. In 2014, a ladle fell off the wagon and was responsible for 17 deaths including the engine driver and the foreman. When the hot metal is poured from the ladle with the help of trunnion rings into the BOF for oxidation purposes, there is very little that can be done to avoid splashing and spitting of hot metal (Brunke et al., 2014). Often the spitted or splashed molten metal finds an unfortunate employee on the shopfloor who falls prey to the fatal nature of the accident. This purging oxygen often causes droplets of molten metal to get splashed on the shop floor causing acute burns and often deaths without the use of proper PPE. Due to faulty exhaust systems, often it is found that there is a slight leak of carbon monoxide is produced during the steel making process which result in various asthma related diseases in employees who are in constant exposure of these hazardous environments. Till 2016, the death toll due to steam explosion stands resolute at 56. Often due to faulty turrets, the BOF may entirely slip and spill into the shop floor causing fatality to the entire workforce present during operations. The crane hookwhich carries the ladle from the BOF to the next units often has plastic deformation more than 14% due to ill maintenance issues. The huge machineries and equipment are responsible for generating noise above 200dB at times which lead to permanent or partial hearing impairments (Cadet & Czerny, 2016). These health hazards in the SMS don’t only cause fatal injuries to the employees, but also make the plant lose millions of dollars due to legal and political turmoils, environmental concerns, loss of productivity and revenue, labour unrest and lockouts,replacement and repair of damaged machineries and equipment, loss of goodwill and even due to the heavy compensations that need to be paid to the deceased’s families.
Environmental and Legal Risk
|
Business risk |
Impact |
Likelihood |
Mitigation strategy |
Contingency plan |
|
Financial Risk – The loss of productivity and revenue during the breakdown period due to steam explosion is going to have an adverse effect on the business scenario of Real Steel (Collar wedzler & DeLoecker, 2014). The financial losses can be as huge as USD 5.2 Million daily, considering about 20 heats per day from 2 BOF converters on a conservative basis. |
High |
Unlikely |
Avoiding any kind of moisture ingress in the BOF refractory, ladle refractory and proper maintenance of water tubes which cool the BOF refractory. Maintenance of refractory of BOF, Ladle Furnace and Vacuum degassing Furnace and pipelines of water cooling systems used for refractory cooling on a daily basis. (Hewit, 2014) Proper maintenance of SMS cranes at the charging and the tapping bay |
In case of such fatal disasters, evacuation of all workers and employees working within a 50 metre radius of such accidents to minimise the number of deaths (Hudson & Sadler, 2017). Immediate shutdown of all furnace operations including the ladle preheating stations and diverting hot metal of Blast Furnace to the Pig casting machines to produce ingots. |
|
Environmental Risk and Legal Risk – The failure of the fume extraction system (FES) of the BOF and LF which consists of CO, P2O5, and SiO2 and FeO dust(Cadez, & Czerny, 2016) particles cause massive environmental pollution which certainly attracts penalty from Pollution Control Authorities(Hewitt, 2014) from the Government and ultimately may lead to forced closure of the plant. The failure of FES will cause massive pollution inside the SMS bay and the health of workers and employees will be adversely affected to the extent of developing lung cancer and all kinds of breathing problems. All the above will result in the legal problems for the company and the company will be liable to pay compensation to the affected workers and employees as adjudicated by the Court of Law. |
High |
Highly Likely |
The dust catcher consisting of cyclones, multiclone and bag filter system which entraps the solid dust particles must be regularly maintained to avoid choking. This category of maintenance falls under bi weekly maintenance and most ISPs are unable to do so due to regular production from BOF and LF. So it is necessary to reduce the number of heats for at least two days in a week so that the temperature in Fume extraction system comes down to atmospheric temperature and allow maintenance people to go in the bag filters and multiclones to efficiently clean the slumped dust particles (King, 2016). |
Mechanical cleaning of bag filters as a stop gap measure must be undertaken along with replacement of the completely choked bags (Liu & Wang,2015). The rotary air log valves of multiclone and cyclone to be cleaned mechanically with immediate effect along with water jet into the multiclone and cyclone so that the dust particles can precipitate below. |
|
Marketing Risk – Deviation of required chemical composition of steel. The saleability of the steel will be low and there may be huge losses in goodwill hampering further business ties and also adversely gaining new customers ultimately leading to loss of market share and profitability (Nuuhoff et al. 2014). |
High |
Likely |
To ensure that proper carbon boiling and dephosphorisation happens in BOF so that the desired carbon and phosphorous levels are achieved (Quing, Yutong & Shenngao, 2015). Proper alloying additions with optimum temperature in the LF so that the alloying elements do not mix with the slag and cause the formation of undesirable brittle quality steel. Proper degassing is to be ensured in the vacuum degassing system so that the desired levels of H2, N2, O2 in ppm are achieved. Only then, the desired physical properties of the steel can be achieved. |
During spectrometric analysis in LF, it is possible to lance the liquid steel and reduce the carbon and phosphorus levels. If sulphur content is still high, it is advisable to take the ladle to the desulphurisation station by the use of CaO and MgO (Nordolf et al., 2015). During this period the liquid steel in BOF has to be kept under hold by slight oxygen lancing until desulphurisation is completed and if the dissolved oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen are found to be in higher ppm than desirable, then further 15 to 20 minutes of vacuum degassing has to be carried out till such times till the levels are achieved. Further to reduce oxygen, aluminium shots may have to be used (Okoyo et al., 2017). |
The risks that have been recorded and recognised are arising out of engineering spares and work practices, task exposure and the work environment which results in fatality, accidents, health hazards and resulting in poor quality of finished material in Real Steel Pvt. Ltd.
While preparing this report, the risks arising from the hazards have been explained along with the assessment of the risks. The legal requirements and ethical considerations have also been addressed in the above table.The changes that are needed have also been explained. The immediate contingency plans for mitigating the risks upfront have been explained in the table.
The metallurgical coke used as a raw material for Blast Furnace must have low ash, low sulphur, and minimal amount of volatile matter. Low ash in coke will make it a better reductant in the blast furnace operations whereas the low sulphur will facilitate lesser time and cost in the desulphurisation unit and also facilitate lesser use of flux like CaO and MgO with lesser resultant slag of CaS and MgS.
Quality of refractory in Blast Furnace and SMS should be procured with proper quality control so that there are no refractory failures (Ren et al., 2015).
The cooling towers should be properly designed so that the differential temperature of water under circulation, in both blast furnace and SMS for shell cooling, are properly controlled and refractory failure doesn’t occur even if there is a sudden rise in temperature.
The water softening plants should eliminate all oxides of calcium and magnesium in order to avoid any scale formation in the furnace shell cooling pipelines/copper tubes and thereby prevent refractory failure and avoid fatal accidents due to leakage of water from shell cooling pipes.
The management should also plan standby Fume Extraction System (FES) for BOF and LF in SMS so that pollution control problems, health hazards of workers and employees and subsequent resultant legal hassles can be completely eliminated (Sinha et al., 2014).
The management should also consider using covered Torpedo cars instead of open ladle transfers of hot metal from Blast Furnace to SMS to avoid any kind of splashing and spillage of hot metal during transportation so that accidents can be avoided.
The lifting equipment like cranes, liquid steel and hot metal conveying ladles must be under constant maintenance to avoid breakdowns, otherwise the breakdown of cranes & ladles will bring about stoppage of plant production.
Marketing Risk
The officers and staff must be trained regularly regarding safety of all equipment and maintenance of critical equipment to avoid any kind of accidents.
Each department should form separate teams for monitoring the weekly maintenance schedules and safety guidelines. There must be written down standard operating procedures for maintenance of all equipment. The officers must be kept abreast with the operation and maintenance manuals of all critical equipment (Smith, 2013).
Weekly meetings should take place and reports must be prepared with respect to the improvements achieved through the continuous process of monitoring as stated in the previous paragraph (Sonter et al., 2015).
|
Organisation Name |
Contact |
Title |
Phone number |
|
Real Steel Pvt. Ltd |
Mr. Adam Sandler |
Chief Safety Officer |
01123456 |
|
State Emergency Services (SES) |
Mr. Joshua Helen |
State Medical Officer |
01145678 |
|
Police |
Mr. Praktu Hussain |
Police Commissioner |
01176543 |
|
Fire |
Col. Jack Welch |
Chief Fire Officer |
01187654 |
|
Ambulance |
Dr. Kerry Packer |
Chief Medical Officer |
01176644 |
|
Procedures |
Brief outline of procedures |
Evacuation point/ address |
Reference to full procedure document |
Supporting documentation |
|
Shop floor Evacuation Procedure in case of hot metal breakout |
1. Alarm raised and relevant emergency services authorities contacted. 2. Wait for evacuation signal. 3. Follow disaster warden instructions. 4. Calmly evacuate the premises from nearest emergency exit. |
Corner of Kin Zou Street, Cosipare, Kishikua |
The emergency evacuation procedures.doc can be found on the shared drive under the ‘Emergency’ folder. |
Office floor plan, Map of evacuation locations. |
Conclusion
Real Steel Pvt. Ltd. is a 3 MT ISP located on an establishment area of 1900 acres. The plant is automated in most of its operations but still there are a lot of hazardous environments which claim the lives of many employees. These hazardous environments and work practices render many business risks for the organization which has been classified under Financial, Legal and Environmental and Marketing risks. In spite of the presence of various contingency plans and mitigation strategies available, fatal accidents still continue to occur in Real Steel plant especially in the Steel Melting Shop.
The management plan has been developed thinking of the future technologies that the plant can undertake to minimise human and machine interaction, mitigate maintenance issues and enhance safer working practices. The management plan focuses on the usage of proper raw materials, proper plant design and various practices that are to be implemented to ensure higher safety for the workers as well as lower business risks for Real Steel. Various assessment teams and bodies need to be formed within all departments which will ensure compliance of all safety procedures mentioned.
The management plan is invincible considering the plant’s future sustainability. It will ensure higher safety measures, better work environment and better work practices. There will be less fatal accidents and incidents leading to lower business risks for the organization. The management plan is an inevitable Bible for Real Steel to increase productivity, revenue, market share, goodwill and profitability.
References:
Blaikie, P., Cannon, T., Davis, I., & Wisner, B. (2014). At risk: natural hazards, people’s vulnerability and disasters. Routledge.
Brunke, J. C., Johansson, M., & Thollander, P. (2014). Empirical investigation of barriers and drivers to the adoption of energy conservation measures, energy management practices and energy services in the Swedish iron and steel industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 84, 509-525.
Cadez, S., & Czerny, A. (2016). Climate change mitigation strategies in carbon-intensive firms. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 4132-4143.
Collard-Wexler, A., & De Loecker, J. (2014). Reallocation and technology: evidence from the US steel industry. The American Economic Review, 105(1), 131-171.
Hewitt, K. (2014). Regions of risk: A geographical introduction to disasters. Routledge.
Hudson, R., & Sadler, D. (2017). The international steel industry: restructuring, state policies and localities. Routledge.
King, R. (2016). Safety in the process industries. Elsevier.
Liu, Y. Y., & Wang, G. S. (2015). The Mix Integer Programming Model for Torpedo Car Scheduling in Iron and Steel Industry.
Neuhoff, K., Acworth, W., Ancygier, A., Branger, F., Christmas, I., Haussner, M., … & Schopp, A. (2014). Carbon control and competitiveness post 2020: The steel report. London: Climate Strategies.
Nordlöf, H., Wiitavaara, B., Winblad, U., Wijk, K., & Westerling, R. (2015). Safety culture and reasons for risk-taking at a large steel-manufacturing company: investigating the worker perspective. Safety science, 73, 126-135.
Okoye, P. U., Abdullah, A. Z., & Hameed, B. H. (2017). Stabilized ladle furnace steel slag for glycerol carbonate synthesis via glycerol transesterification reaction with dimethyl carbonate. Energy Conversion and Management, 133, 477-485.
Qing, X., Yutong, Z., & Shenggao, L. (2015). Assessment of heavy metal pollution and human health risk in urban soils of steel industrial city (Anshan), Liaoning, Northeast China. Ecotoxicology and environmental safety, 120, 377-385.
Ren, W., Geng, Y., Ma, Z., Sun, L., Xue, B., & Fujita, T. (2015). Reconsidering brownfield redevelopment strategy in China’s old industrial zone: a health risk assessment of heavy metal contamination. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 22(4), 2765-2775.
Sinha, S. K., Sinha, V. K., Pandey, S. K., & Tiwari, A. (2014). A study on the waste water treatment technology for steel industry: recycle and reuse. Am J Eng Res, 3(4), 309-315.
Smith, K. (2013). Environmental hazards: assessing risk and reducing disaster. Routledge.
Sonter, L. J., Barrett, D. J., Moran, C. J., & Soares-Filho, B. S. (2015). Carbon emissions due to deforestation for the production of charcoal used in Brazil [rsquor] s steel industry. Nature Climate Change, 5(4), 359-363.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
