Hot Work Safety
Hot work fires result in avoidable death, injury, and hundreds of millions of dollars in property loss each year. When everyone follows safe hot-work practice, these fires are preventable. The risk with hot work is high because it introduces a hazard—an ignition source. That’s why the number one safety recommendation is to determine whether there is an alternative to hot work and by avoiding hot work, you minimize the risk.
What is hot work?
- Work involving burning, welding, or a similar operation that is capable of initiating fires or explosions.
- Activity involving flame, spark production, or heat.
- Welding and allied processes include arc welding, oxy–fuel gas welding, open-flame soldering, brazing, thermal spraying, oxygen cutting, and arc cutting.
Hot Work Hazards
Hot work has the potential to unite all three parts of the fire triangle: oxygen, fuel, and an ignition source. Oxygen is present in the ambient air. Unsafe practices involving pure oxygen can cause oxygen enrichment (over 22 percent by volume) in the workplace. Fuel includes anything that can be ignited.
Examples of common fuels include the following:
- Construction materials such as wood, plastic, insulation, roofing materials, including those in concealed spaces
- Flammable and combustible liquids or gases such as fuel, paint, cleaning solvents
- Simple combustibles such as rags, paper, cardboard, lumber, furnishings Ignition sources can be as simple as the hot work itself.
Ignition results when any heat source sufficient to ignite a fuel does so. It can occur through the direct or indirect application of heat. Direct application of heat includes: welding, cutting and burning. Indirect application includes heat conducted through metal surfaces to fuel sources on the other side (e.g., through to the other side of a bulkhead) and sparks travelling to a distant fuel source (e.g., to a pool of liquid or other combustible material).
Ways to eliminate hot work hazards;
One process to reduce hot work hazards is called “Recognize, Evaluate, and Control.”
- Recognize – Determine if fire risks exist before hot work is started.
- Evaluate – Determine if hazards are present, especially hazards that could fuel a fire (flammable and combustible liquids or gases and simple combustibles).
- Control – Take appropriate steps to eliminate or minimize the hazards
The fire watcher recognizes potential hazards. Areas can be protected with the use of welding pads, blankets, or curtains, clearing combustibles from a 35-ft (11-m) radius space around the hot work, or moving the hot work to an area free of combustibles.