A Recovery Case Study

The Fire

In the case of a recent factory fire, a flammable vapour was accidentally ignited at a disk manufacturing facility in Malaysia. The ensuing fire spread to the goods store and destroyed it, and heat and smoke spread into the manufacturing facility. Ultimately the factory was forced to close for months, and insurers paid out over RM10m.

The incident provided an opportunity for the usefulness of recovery to be demonstrated. One adjuster immediately appointed DAMAGE CONTROL SDN BHD ( DC ) to advise on the situation, and we restored equipment worth US$0.8m, with a saving to insurers of about 90% of this amount. Later we were able to assist the insured in restoring additional equipment with a value approaching US$3m.

Extent of Damage

Many companies make the mistake of merging their storage and production facilities, and keep a high level of work-in-progress amongst production line equipment. This was not the case at the factory in question, and the fire brigade were able to essentially keep the fire confined to the storage area. However the smoke and to a lesser extent the heat, were able to spread throughout the production facility, and this was a good example of the ability of a fire to cause damage well beyond the directly burnt area.

A survey by DC immediately after the fire depicted how the fire site could be divided into three areas, shown above. The area shaded red was severely burnt with the collapse of the building structure and the destruction of the contents. In the pink area there was slight burning, but more significantly the air temperature around the machines resulted in distortion of plastic components.

In the last area, shaded blue, there was no significant effect of heat, but sooting was extremely heavy. It is often noticed at fires sites that sooting is more pronounced some distance from the fire, and this is because the vapour and chemical laden hot gases cool as they escape from the immediate vicinity of the fire, and condense with soot onto cold surfaces.

Automated injection

moulding machine

before recovery

After Recovery

Preservation

The insured was initially wary of recovery, and there were days of discussion before recovery began. Chloride analysis indicated a high level of surface contamination, hence a potential for rapid deterioration in the humid South East Asian environment. To prevent corrosion while negotiations were being conducted, DC constructed plastic tents around the equipment and reduced the humidity to below 40%. This reduced corrosion to the extent that it was never a significant factor in the restoration of the machines.