DEARBORN, Mich. – The explosion at a Dearborn steel plant Monday that injured several workers is the latest in a long line of incidents and workplace safety problems at the troubled facility, according to state and federal records.
At least nine employees and firefighters were rushed to area hospitals with minor injuries after molten steel sloshed out of a transport container, exploding its tires inside a production plant at OAO Severstal.
The Russian company acquired the former Rouge Steel plant in 2003. The victims suffered no burns, only some sprains, contusions and minor cuts, said Tom Worobec, a spokesman for Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn. Most were released Monday afternoon.
But the blast highlighted the dangerous nature of work inside auto and steel plants across metro Detroit. It was at least the 10th recorded workplace safety incident since 1999 at the former Rouge Steel facility, according to records at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The records show that there were also at least seven formal safety complaints filed by workers at the Dearborn plant during the same time period.
“The track record speaks for itself,” said Dale Strong, a Southfield man whose son, Bryan Strong, works at the plant. When Strong heard about the explosion, he rushed to the scene, worried that his son may have been the latest victim. He wasn’t. Strong said that because some of the plants in the Ford Rouge complex are so old, “you’re going to have these problems.” The complex is more than 75 years old.
Severstal Executive Vice President William Hornberger talked about the Monday incident at a news conference, but he did not talk about the company’s safety problems.
The Severstal facility churns out steel for Ford, which once owned the plant, and for other automakers. At about 9 a.m. local time Monday, a container was hauling molten steel and got stuck while coming out of a storage bay, said Ford spokeswoman Francine Romine. The hot steel spilled out onto 8-foot-high tires, which then exploded.
A safety official at Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth arrived later to investigate the cause of the accident, said John Brennan, an official with the department who helps oversee workplace safety.
Two Severstal employees who were injured Monday were taken to Oakwood Heritage Hospital in Taylor. A Dearborn firefighter, two Ford firefighters, and another Severstal employee were taken to Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn. Three firefighters, one from Dearborn and two from the Severstal plant, were taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital. Two were later released and one remained in stable condition. It is unclear which firefighter remained hospitalized. The names of those injured were not released Monday.
The Ford Rouge facility has been the focus of attention since Feb. 1, 1999, when an explosion at the complex’s power plant – jointly owned by Rouge Steel and Ford Motor Co. – exploded, leading to the deaths of six workers. And on Oct. 15, 2002, a Monroe man died after suffering steam burns inside a Rouge Steel plant. The last incident recorded by state officials was on June 21, 2003, when an explosion tore through a furnace.
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It’s a history that made Strong worry about his son. After learning his son was OK, Strong gazed at the skyline of the Rouge complex and said:
“I feel like a 100-pound weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”
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