Information with videos available to Awake News can confirm that there was a heavy explosion at the United Steel Company Ltd located at the Tema Free Zones enclave.
The incident which occurred around 9:45am on Monday, was alleged to be as a result of explosion of one of the furnaces. In the video, one can see the explosion with fire and heavy smoke emanating from the company breaking parts fence wall and is said to have also affected part of a neighbouring company, MND Metals Company Ltd.
It is yet not clear if there have been any casualties as a result of the explosion but Awake News will follow up to the company on Tuesday morning and report.
The question, therefore, is could the Environmental Protection Agency have prevented this situation as there have been several reports and petitions to them and the Ministry of Environment of the activities of the United Steel Company.
If reader can recall, on July 14, 2020, Awake News released an investigative report on the air pollution situation in the Free Zone Enclave being caused by the United Steel Company Ltd and Rider Steel Company which is alleged to have caused the death of one person and leaving several other workers with serious health issues.
In that reports, Awake News quoted an industry expert who said the nature of the smoke emanating from the company is pointing to the fact that the filters of the furnaces (the machine that melts the metals) may not have been regularly cleansed and or a secondary filtering system might have not been installed.
Enginer Rode in that interview warned if the situation persists without being corrected could lead to the explosion of the furnaces.
He empathized that the operation of only the primary filter and lack of proper cleansing of the filter can also cause an explosion of the machines during operations.
Read except of the interview with the expert:
Experts opinion on the cause of the emission of the heavy and harmful smoke
An Industry expert which preferred to be known as Rode (not real name), an expatriate worker in the area in the yet to be aired documentary told Awake News’ Efo Korsi Senyo that “no smoke that emanates from a steel production factory-like United Steel Company and Rider Steel Company human-friendly or good for human inhalation.”
“No there is no such a thing” – He emphasized but was quick to add however that if necessary steps and compliance to regulatory, environmental protection laws and global standards are adhered to can help drastically minimize the “heavy, toxic and harmful nature of that smoke”.
According to him, nature (“heavy, thick, unpleasant smell”) smoke can point to one thing as a fact that the United Steel Company and Rider Steel Company are not complying with the standards.
“As an engineer in this industry with many years of experience, once you see such smoke, you should know that the company does not have (1) proper smoke filtering system – primary and secondary (2) the filters are not regularly cleaned so they are either dirty or chocked (3) the rusting metal scraps purchased from the filed are not washed with water to remove the rusting chemicals before sent to the melting chamber (4) the Hight of the chimney is far less than the 40m standard” – He explains
The role of the filters:
Engineer Rode further explained:
“the standardized operation is that there should be an installation of two filtering systems (primary and secondary) for each unit. The primary helps to pull the smoke from the melting point to the chamber and filters all toxic particles. The Secondary helps help pull the smoke from the chamber to the chimney and also filter the smoke from more harmful particles”
“In the absence of the secondary, you will see such heavy smoke with unpleasant smell” – he added
He also noted that the operation of the filter consumes a lot of electric power and most companies who have the interest of “profit” more than “human lives and environmental safety” do not operate the filters.
He empathized that the operation of only the primary filter and lack of proper cleansing of the filter can also cause an explosion of the machines during operations.
When ask why the smoke is not coming from the chimney but rather the back, Engineer Rode said because the secondary filter system is not working. He said they might have just put another machine (that consumes less power) that blows off the smoke from the chamber and “that is why you will see the smoke coming from the top opens of the factory building to the back. This, technically, you may not see that same amount of smoke spreading inside the factory”
Washing of scraps:
Engineer Rode said the rusting particles on scraped metals are highly toxic and harmful therefore the standard practice in many parts of Europe is for those scraps to be washed to reduce the rusting particles.
By: Efo Korsi Senyo / Awake News
