This is what we know so far, as the Company has been extremely quiet about the whole thing.
On January 6th, at approx. 12:30-1Pm, #2 reclaim water barge located at the LL dam listed, flipped and sunk after several hours of it taking on water. No one was injured at the time of the incident, but concerns of the listing barge had been ongoing for several hours prior to the incident. At approx. 5 am, the barge was taken down for maintenance, and at approx. 7:30 am the power was taken off the pumps. At some point, the direction was given to silence the barge is sinking alarms, which were already going off immediately after shutdown. Over the next several hours, the barge started to list to one side, and at some point the decision to evacuate was given, or the contractor employees refused to re-enter the barge as the concern over it flipping/sinking started to become a reality. Around noon, there was a flurry of radio communication as the barge continued to list, eventually capsizing and sinking. At the moment, only one corner of the barge remains exposed at the surface. We are extremely concerned as an executive of what this means in multiple levels. First and foremost, is the limited information and communication on this incident, with only few sentenced emails and limited details being passed onto the health and safety chair. The Company has indicated that they will deem this a DO, will start an ICAM and we would expect that a health and safety rep would have been called to the scene to contain and start investigation, but this is uncertain as well. Secondly, is the very real concern about water management, as this is one of two barges that continue to provide process water to the mills. Indications are that without careful management, there is a possibility of having to shut down some of the mills to conserve water. Third, is how this could have happened in the first place. In the past, we have used HVC employees to assist with the barge move, and this is the first time we have used contractors. Not knowing the whole story, but putting pieces together, we believe that our employees would have recognized the problem sooner, and had the knowledge and expertise to correct the issue prior to it becoming this serious. The lack of contact during this whole event surprises all involved, as we are unsure how a barge which was floating at 5 am could have taken on that much water by noon to capsize. This is deeply concerning, as the major cuts in employee levels and maintenance have now caused three major failures over only two months, causing millions of dollars in lost production, repairs and lost revenues, along with creating major safety concerns to all involved. The dome collapse, the major failure to the conveyor system, and now the barge sinking, it's all adding up to the quote "we have to be careful how deep we cut". This seems to all be countered with the comment “we saved 7 million by not offering overtime to the mill maintenance group in 2016,” and “we had 100% availability in the mill last year.” We are still waiting for a statement from the Company, as we do not know what the plan is to extract the barge, repair the damaged equipment, to replace the unit or what the effect on operations will be. For the time being, we have sent requests for information, and will update as we know more. Remember, you have the right to refuse unsafe work. It’s the law. Kyle Wolff United Steelworkers Local 7619 OSHEC Comments are closed.
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October 2018
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