A safe approach for best results
Occupational health and safety is of primordial importance wherever heavyweight machinery runs tirelessly at high temperatures, causing those that operate it to sweat accordingly. Continue reading
This is just the impression captured by the company’s Head of Design, Siegfried Augustin, who is also a passionate photographer, as he wandered around the Kuhn Special Steel production site in search of the “September” picture, entitled Safe Foundry Ladles. It shows a colleague examining empty foundry ladles in order to ensure their readiness for the next operation. The strong geometric structure of many of the items of equipment involved lends a sense of tension to the image. But the picture does not just work at a visual level; it also expresses an important aspect of occupational health and safety.
Foundry ladles are an integral part of the centrifugal casting process, and it is for this reason that their fast and permanent availability is vital for timely production. They are used to transport molten steel, heated to temperatures of up to 1,600°C, from the furnace to the centrifugal casting machine. The right ladle has to be selected for each job, depending on weight and the material being handled, and then lined with heat-resistant concrete. The storage facility at Kuhn Special Steel therefore houses more than 25 such foundry ladles of various sizes, in weights ranging from 50 kilos to four metric tons. The Purchasing Department makes constant efforts to ensure the stock of these items matches actual needs.
Before any foundry ladle can be used, steel residue from previous operations must be removed with a pneumatic hammer. The recipient is then carefully examined and re-coated with concrete. If there are signs of excessive wear or damage, it is taken out of service pending thorough repair. The safety of employees is at the focal point of all these processes, so job instructions and safety criteria are always kept up-to-date and reformulated in accordance with the order concerned.
The Kuhn calendar initiative, a creative project carried out jointly with the painter Cindy Kuhn-Chuang and employees of Kuhn Special Steel, aims to capture photographic impressions of our working environment.
A snapshot of the photographer
Name:
Siegfried Augustin
Since when have you been working for the company?
since 1998
What do you do there?
design manager
How and when did you take up photography as a hobby?
What kind of camera do you use?
What are your favourite subjects?
technology, architecture, travels
Photos: lessingtiede