A newly developed retaining cage is helping to reduce the turn around time on basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS) maintenance campaigns and improve worker safety.
Refractory panels at the top of the spark box represents a safety risk and is a key consideration before scaffolding can be erected. Inspection of the panels is a meticulous process and often delays demolition and maintenance schedules.
Thinking outside of the box, the Steelmaking Maintenance and Engineering team designed a circular retaining cage that captures and traps debris, preventing it from falling to lower floors.
The cage is lowered into position from upper levels and allows scaffolding to be erected without refractory demolition.
This simple yet smart innovation has been a real time saver – reducing BOS maintenance campaigns by about 21 hours.