Heinz-Glas has provided details about the furnace fire at its Dzialdowo, Poland plant.
A fire broke out at the plant on March 11 after a furnace leak. Tragically an external employee died in the incident.
The exact location of the leak was near the furnace’s orifice. This caused a large leakage and the complete emptying of the whole furnace in a short time.
The leaked melted glass had an temperature of around 1000°C and, because of its rapid outflow, destroyed some of the surrounding equipment and installations.
The furnace was being maintained by specialists from an external company at the time of the breakdown.
Sadly one employee of the external firm died at the scene of the accident.
A further four employees from the external company were injured and taken to hospital. They are all on the road to recovery.
Heinz-Glas said: "The whole Heinz-Glas Group sympathises with the families, relatives and friends of the victims.
"We do our utmost to clarify the circumstances of this tragic accident and to limit its consequences to the minimum – for the victims, for the employees at the Polish site and also for our customers.
"We want to highlight that the life of every human being at our company’s site always ranks first. Internal Employees, external visitors and the people who live nearby equally.
"Though the hours after the accident were difficult and oppressive, the glassworks in Dzialdowo had to manage the work environment, especially as the glass melting process in the second furnace had to be maintained without any interruption.
"We would like to thank rescuers, the fire brigade, the police and our employees, who put their best efforts to control this tragic situation.
"Thanks to them the direct threat to the people and the properties was minimalised."
