Coke plant explosion

[jeffrefrig]

Down at the Clairton coke works. At least 2 reported dead, several injured. I put my 1st 9 1/2 years out of high school working in the J&L/LTV Steel coke plant in Aliquippa, PA. It was Hell on earth. I still have burn scars on my neck and arms. It was a horrible place to work. But I bought a lot of toys while I was still single working there. A Buick Electra, a Harley Superglide, and a '70 LTD Ford. All mine
I feel bad for the guys and their families who lost their lives and/or got hurt. I'll wait for that facts to come out. May the Lord have mercy on their souls.

 

[rwsmith]

I'm sorry to hear about the people injured and dead. I hope that work conditions have improved there, or will improve.

 

[Retired W4]

Back in the mid 1960's in Dayton, OH I had friends that worked at GH&R Foundry. When they got off work they were black from head to toe. The hot belt was a dangerous place. Prayers for the folks in PA.

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

Sad...

 

[steelslaver]

Many the dead RIP and the injured recover. My heart goes out to my brothers and sisters of heavy industry working there. I know the pain and anguish of losing coworkers at the job. Cokers are some of the dirtiest places there are. Most people have no clue as to what we do and the dangers involved

 

[DWalt]

My first job out of college was in a large chemical plant just east of Cleveland, part of which involved coke production. I had nothing to do with the coking operation, but it was next to where I worked. They made a special grade of coke which was used by foundries, not steel mills. Not sure how it differs from metallurgical coke used by steel mills. The coke plant was a nasty workplace, happy that I did not have to work in it. But the area I did work in was not much better, just a different type of nasty. I worked there about two years, glad it is just a long ago bad memory.

 

[Martyk]

As a Millwright/Machinery mover, I worked in a lot of foundries & drop forge plants as an outside contractor. Those places were the closest thing to hell on earth and was glad to leave them when the job was done. I have tons of respect for the folks that toil away day after day in those types of factories. May God have mercy on the souls of the departed.

 

[WR Moore]

Wasn't sure it was still in business what with so many plants in the area closing. I was detoured through Clairton once. They opened one of the ovens to unload and I could feel the heat out on the road. Recall being in traffic at night on the Homestead Bridge while Homestead was pouring a heat. Flatcars with glowing full ingot molds in the yard. Quite a sight.

 

[SMSgt]

Thank goodness it wasn't a Pepsi plant.

 

[oldbrownhat]

...Those places were the closest thing to hell on earth and was glad to leave them when the job was done....

Reminiscent of "the dark, Satanic mills" of which the English post and mystic William Blake wrote back in 1804

 

[DWalt]

Wasn't sure it was still in business what with so many plants in the area closing. I was detoured through Clairton once. They opened one of the ovens to unload and I could feel the heat out on the road. Recall being in traffic at night on the Homestead Bridge while Homestead was pouring a heat. Flatcars with glowing full ingot molds in the yard. Quite a sight.

Not many steel mills still operating in the USA, at least those integrated mills that make steel starting with iron ore. I think maybe six or seven. Most domestic steel mills today mainly just melt down scrap metal, alloy it, and roll it into sheet metal and structural steel. I grew up in an Ohio steel mill town, never had the slightest interest in working in the steel mill. It shut down back in the mid 1970s, not a trace of it remains. Its coke plant was the last to close, it stayed open for about ten years longer by making and selling coke to other steel mills.

 

[wood714]

Those places were the closest thing to hell on earth and was glad to leave them when the job was done.

While in high school we took a field trip to AK Steel in Middletown Ohio.

At the time I had no clue what I wanted to do after high school, but I knew for a fact what I didn't want to do!

 

[Rustyt1953]

While in high school we took a field trip to AK Steel in Middletown Ohio.

At the time I had no clue what I wanted to do after high school, but I knew for a fact what I didn't want to do!

My brother's best friend from HS retired from AK Steel.

He's a better man than I am, Gunga Din.