I've been around that kind of equipment and I can tell you that it's a brutal environment. The heat is indescribable.
When they go to empty molten steel into a transfer pot, the workers open a door on the side of the furnace. There's a layer of solid slag (limestone) inside the door. They get a piece of 2" steel pipe about 15 or 20 feet long off of a rack and attach an oxygen line to it. The worker sticks the pipe end into the slag and briefly opens the oxygen valve. BANG! Makes a helluva noise! The slag is broken and the steel comes pouring out into the bucket (which is below the ground level). The end of the pipe is red hot and drooping from the heat of it's brief exposure to the furnace heat. The operator gives it a quick shot of oxygen and the end burns off. Fascinating to watch, but tortuously hot.