Health & Safety

The Mission of the Health and Safety Advisory Committee is to monitor all health and safety issues for the Association and to determine when further issue specific action is needed.

Aluminum Safety Hazards
Injury and illness statistics gathered by the Aluminum Association indicate that aluminum plants are relatively safe, workplaces. However, virtually every industry has its potential hazards depending upon the processes and/or products involved. The aluminum industry is no exception.
 
Millions of pounds of aluminum are melted and cast safely everyday in cast shops, foundries, recycling and reclamation plants all over the world. However there are inherent hazards in handling molten aluminum, just as there are inherent hazards in virtually every activity. These hazards can be minimized or eliminated by careful attention to safe handling practices.

Molten Aluminum
Failure to use proper procedures in melting and casting aluminum can be dangerous. Contact with molten aluminum can burn personnel or set materials on fire. Mixing water and many chemical substances or contaminants with molten aluminum can cause explosions. These explosions range widely in violence and can result in injury or death as well as destruction of equipment and plant facilities.

Molten Aluminum is typically handled at 1300-1450 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid premature solidification. Molten aluminum contacting any part of the human body can cause serious burns. If extensive, these burns can be fatal. Where there is possibility of splash or other direct exposure, personnel working with molten aluminum wear eye and face protection and protective clothing.

Aluminum Sow Casting and Charging
Bulk aluminum intended for re-melting is often cast in the form of large shapes, weighing 700 to 2000 pounds, commonly known as sows. The sow-casting process generally results in unavoidable internal shrinkage cavities, which can become reservoirs for collecting large amounts of water. Sows are also subject to surface moisture and other contaminants. The introduction of water into molten aluminum can result in an explosion ranging from a small to very violent event causing extensive equipment damage and endangering human life.  Therefore, operations must make every effort to avoid charging sows that contain moisture, either entrapped or surface, into molten aluminum.
 
Surface contaminants such as oxidizing agents, hygroscopic salts, rust, and metallic oxides can create explosions. The Aluminum Association discourages the practice of drying sows by placement on furnace sills that contain molten aluminum. Explosions may occur from sows slipping into molten baths before fully dry or from water condensing between stacks of sows.

Aluminum Scrap Re-melting
Explosions may result from the aluminum scrap re-melting process due to moisture and contamination in scrap. Contaminants such as water, nitrates, oxidizers, radioactive materials, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hypodermic needles, fertilizers, unknown residues and toxic substances can cause explosions, endangering the health of scrap-yard and re-melting plant workers. Aluminum fines may explode if mixed with air in the presence of an igniting source.

Aluminum Fines
Activities such as aluminum grinding, sawing, cutting, sanding and scratch brushing generate fine aluminum particles, some of which are fine enough to be potentially explosive. These particles are known as “dust” or “powder. Particles larger than 500 microns will not in all likelihood sustain an explosion. Material 420 microns or finer has the potential for explosion.

In the case of aluminum, explosions can result if ignition occurs while particles are suspended in the air as a dust cloud, as the burning extends from one particle to another with extreme speed. Potential sources of ignition include open flames, welding equipment, cutting torches, matches, cigarettes, faulty electrical equipment and static electrical charges.

Qualified personnel can determine the degree of hazard in any operation through laboratory explosibility testing. Dust collections systems, of the dry or the wet type, safely capture potentially explosive aluminum fines. Enclosures or exhaust hoods provide efficient pick-up of the fines from the machine or equipment. 

Aluminum Health Issues
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers metallic aluminum and a number of aluminum compounds as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).

Through the Aluminum Association’s research efforts, through continuing surveillance of the world’s scientific literature, and through personal contacts and discussions with leading researchers in the field, the Association concludes that:

• Aluminum is not linked to Alzheimer’s disease, the cause (or causes) of which is unknown
• The biological significance of aluminum in the brain is unknown. Everyone contains aluminum in his or her brain from birth, yet only a small percentage of the population contracts
• Alzheimer’s disease prior to retirement age.
• Aluminum is poorly absorbed by the body. Most if not all of aluminum ingested from food and water merely passes through the digestive tract and out of the body.
• Ordinary environmental exposure to aluminum is safe. According to the Food and Drug Administration, typical ingestion of aluminum in the diet is not of public health significance. The contribution of drinking water to the dietary intake of aluminum is far too small to be toxic.

Aluminum Packaging
Products in aluminum packaging are safe. Aluminum is used in many medicines and food additives with the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Aluminum beverage cans and food cans have a polymer coating. The product and the package do not come into contact with each other.

Aluminum Cookware
Aluminum cookware items include pots, pans, containers, heat-and-serve trays, pie plates, cookie sheets and foil wrapping for broiling or baking. According to research, cooking and handling foods with aluminum cookware adds very little aluminum to foods. The Food and Drug Administration has “no information at this time that the normal dietary intake of aluminum is harmful.” The Harvard Health Letter and The Mayo Clinic Health Letter have published similar statements.

Aluminum and Alzheimer’s Disease
A connection between aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease has been hypothesized since the 1970’s when a Canadian researcher published results of an analysis which indicated that Alzheimer’s victims had elevated amounts of aluminum in their brains. Subsequent research by others has not substantiated the initial findings; yet the perception remains that there may be some connection.

Consumers easily identify with aluminum products, such as cookware, beverage cans, antiperspirants and antacids. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust; it is in the air that we breathe and the water we drink.

Alzheimer’s Association, the National Institutes of Health and numerous reputable medical sources have issued statements that there is insufficient evidence to establish any connection between aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease.

The aluminum industry is concerned about the tragedy of Alzheimer’s disease and allegations that aluminum products may somehow be connected to the disease. The industry, through the Aluminum Association, has sponsored research for more than 10 years, both into the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and possible connections between it and aluminum.

While many doctors, leading scientists, and Alzheimer’s researchers tell us that aluminum products are safe, the industry certainly believes that research into the possible causes of Alzheimer’s should continue until the cause and cure are found. 

Aluminum Hazards and Safety Publications Available from the BookStore
Aluminum and Health. Epstein, S. G. (2003). The Aluminum Association.
Guidelines for Aluminum Scrap Receiving and Inspection Based on Safety and Health Considerations. The Aluminum Association. (2009).
Guidelines for Aluminum Sow Casting and Charging. The Aluminum Association. (2010).
Guidelines for Handling Aluminum Fines Generated During Various Aluminum Fabricating Operations. The Aluminum Association. (2008).
Guidelines for Handling Molten Aluminum. The Aluminum Association. (2002).

Other Aluminum Hazards and Safety Publications
2011 Molten Metal Incident Report