Fulton Hogan Asphalt plant in Koroit street Warrnambool had a fire in Mixing chamber, one person was hurt and taken to Hospital.
TWO horrific workplace accidents in the south-west have left two men with serious injuries.
A man in his 40s suffered burns to his face and arms after an explosion at an asphalt mixing plant on Koroit Street yesterday.
CFA, paramedics and police were called to the Fulton Hogan asphalt plant, west of the showgrounds, at 9am.
Hot batches of sand and cement are mixed at the plant to make asphalt and CFA officer-in-charge Henry Barton said a mixing chamber of tar and diesel had overheated and ignited.
Mr Barton said there was an explosion before the fire and the man suffered burns to 20 per cent of his body.
He said firefighters used breathing apparatus to get into the mixing chamber.
“We needed to isolate the power to stop the liquid tar flow,” he said.
“We had to work out how to get at it and extinguish it.”
Two CFA trucks attended the incident and within 15 minutes the fire was brought under control.
“The crew were on the scene quite quickly and were able to contain the fire to the mixing chamber,” he said.
A spokesman for Am-bulance Victoria, John Mullen, said a man in his 40s suffered superficial burns to his face and arms.
The man was taken to Warrnambool Base Hospital.
The owners of the plant were on their way to the incident yesterday afternoon and WorkSafe inspectors attended the scene.
n A Macarthur man is recovering in Royal Melbourne Hospital after injuring his hand in a silage machine.
The man, aged about 35, was working on a local property when the accident happened about 1pm Wednesday.
He was taken by private vehicle to Macarthur medical clinic and then transferred to Melbourne by an ambulance helicopter which landed on the local football oval.
An Ambulance Victoria spokesman said the man sustained severe injuries to his right hand.
Yesterday afternoon the hospital said he was in a stable condition after undergoing surgery.