No one was injured Tuesday in a “small explosion” at the west coating facility at ArcelorMittal’s Indiana Harbor plant, the company said.

The incident occurred in the morning, during the lighting of a pilot at the reheat furnace, an ArcelorMittal spokesperson told the Chesterton Tribune today.

“The reheat furnace, which was undergoing a planned maintenance outage, sustained damage,” the spokesperson said. “There was no fire but internal emergency services responded in accordance with protocol. The area has been cleared and energy sources have been shut down.”

“There is no immediate impact on customers,” the spokesperson added. “All other plant operations are running as normal.”

ArcelorMittal and the United Steelworkers are conducting a joint investigation of the incident.

Posted 6/6/2012