Much of this issue of Modern Casting focuses on the topic of foundry safety. It is a subject we cover often in the magazine and will continue to do so.

In discussions with foundry leaders, they consistently express their concern for the health and safety of their employees. They often speak passionately about the safety programs at their foundries and the frequency with which they reinforce sound safety policies and messages with new and longtime employees. 

They also express gratitude for the work that the American Foundry Society, its Environment, Health & Safety Division chaired by Brent Charlton (Metal Technologies), and AFS’s Washington office are doing to help policymakers better comprehend the unique aspects of the foundry industry. Such an understanding is critical if regulators are to develop smart, effective rules. 

For example, on January 14 AFS asked OSHA to withdraw its new heat stress rule. As we wrote, 
“While AFS and its members support the mission of heat illness and injury prevention … OSHA needs to provide a more flexible performance-based approach that will allow our employers and employees to create heat illness protocols that take the needs of individuals, their plants and processes, type of personal protection equipment used at foundries, and geographical considerations into account. Heat stress depends on environmental conditions, as well as heat load from people wearing work-specific, non-breathable protective clothing … Foundries have taken steps to manage recognized hazards related to heat illness and hazardous heat. Metalcasters have heat illness prevention plans in place, which include annual training programs and updates as needed, that protect employees from excessive heat while allowing operations to continue. AFS believes OSHA should not make the heat stress standard too restrictive without consideration of an employer’s already-effective implementation of site and work-specific procedures where methods for heat stress avoidance are necessary.”

Four times per year, AFS offers its members a webinar with updates on EPA, OSHA, and other public policy issues. They are available on demand for those who miss the original presentation. Some members say that AFS’s informative webinars alone are worth the investment cost of membership. 

Last month, AFS presented another webinar on foundry safety, and you’ll find a summary article inside this issue on page 30. Given the importance of safety, the Society invited not only members of AFS but also members of six other casting-related associations (ICI, SFSA, NFFS, ICRI, DIS and NADCA). During the webinar, Ted Schorn (Enkei America) presented an analysis of the most recent OSHA metalcasting injury and illness statistics. As Ted noted, metalcasters continue to achieve improvement in most measurements, but have not yet reached the goal of illness and injury rates no higher than the average for all manufacturers. This webinar is well worth viewing and can be accessed from the Archived Webinar section of the AFS website under the “Events” tab drop-down menu.

Another article in this issue is authored by Mickey Hannum (McWane) who chairs the AFS Safety Committee. We encourage every foundry to participate in the AFS Safety Committee as well as the AFS Air Quality Committee and the Water, Waste & By-Products Management Committee. AFS members can join these committees at no charge by emailing Kim at kperna@afsinc.org. If you have questions about foundry safety, we encourage you to post your question to Casting Connection for peer feedback or contact AFS Technical Director Greg Kramer at gkramer@afsinc.org