Carmeuse investigates conveyor gallery collapse
by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor
Sixty-five workers from Carmeuse Lime & Stone remained laid off earlier this week due to the partial collapse of one of two conveyer galleries, which transport stone to the top of the 13-story screen house. The conveyor gallery collapsed last Saturday around 1 a.m. The ?U? shaped P-7 conveyor, which is 285 feet long, feeds stone that has been through the primary crusher before being moved to the processing plant. The broken section is 134 feet long. Nobody was injured in the incident, nor was the belt running at the time. In a press release dated April 30, company officials state the equipment failure is being investigated.
?At this time, the cause is not known,? the release states. ?We are also assessing the impact that the equipment failure will have on our operations, which is also unknown at this time. ?OUR PRIMARY concern is the safety of our employees and contractors working at the site. We will ensure that the repair is done is a safe manner.? According to Phil Johnson, senior vice president of sales and marketing in Pittsburgh, work on the dock continued as there was enough material to load ships. ?If we run out, obviously, we won’t be able to load ships,? said Johnson. ?When we get to the point where we can operate the other conveyor safely, then we will be back to processing.” The P-6 conveyor gallery burned in a fire July 1998.
Johnson said the P-6 conveyor, ?isn’t working at the moment, because of the debris from the (P-7) conveyor belt. Once the fallen conveyor is cleared, we anticipate the (P-6) conveyor will be able to run.? A
The conveyor galleries are believed to have been constructed when the plant was built in the late 1920s, said Johnson. He added that a structural inspection was conducted in late 2010, and the P-7 belt was replaced during maintenance earlier this year. ?WE’VE MOBILIZED teams to clear debris,” said Johnson. ?There is a full investigation ongoing. It could be as quick as a week, that it will be up and running, but that is yet to be confirmed.
?We’re hopeful that (workers) won’t be laid off longer than a week,? said Johnson. ?Depending on how the work goes, to repair this, we may be bringing people back progressively throughout the week to help with maintenance, and so on.? MIOSHA (Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration) already has been on the site and conducted its inspection. Johnson said, ?We’ll issue more details when we have them. Our investigations should tell us more about the collapse in due course.? Carmeuse owns and operates lime plants, limestone quarries and mines, limestone filler plants, industrial sand quarries, and industrial sand processing plants throughout the United States and Ontario. Approximately 120 people are employed at the Calcite operation.