Hot Work

Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walks– Hot Work

Today I’m talking about Hot Work, as in spark-producing activities such as welding, cutting, and brazing. This is basic fire prevention and protection. (I didn’t intentionally hit all those words from OSHA 1910.252 – sometimes you just get lucky.)

In a manufacturing plant, you always have repairs, installations, or demo work going on somewhere. Any of those can involve cutting (torch or grinder) or welding. Those activities produce sparks, hot slag, or open flames which can start a fire.

First option, when an object has to be cut or welded, is to move it to a safe place. Some plants designate the Maintenance shop or have a safe area where there are no combustibles (cardboard, wood, rags, raw materials) or equipment that can be damaged. Some plants do the work outside, on concrete.

Second, if the work must be done in place, say on a production line, then you should use guards “to confine the heat, sparks, and slag, and to protect the immovable fire hazards.” (OSHA terminology on purpose this time.)

If you can’t do either of the above, you shouldn’t do the work.

Things that should be addressed before beginning any hot work:

• Remove or protect any combustible material that could be exposed to sparks, slag, or flames – cardboard, paper bags, trash, raw materials, fibers, dust, or shavings on the floor. Be sure to inspect lower levels where sparks can fall through cracks or holes. Welding on the 3^rd level? Clean up combustibles on that level and lower levels as well.
• Fire extinguishers – workers should have fire extinguishers handy while the work is going on and 30 minutes after.
• Fire watch – this is a person standing by, with a fire extinguisher, whose sole purpose is to watch for fires during and 30 minutes after the hot work is complete. (Plan for breaks.) That hot work on the 3^rd level? You’re likely to need fire watches on multiple levels.
• The fire watch needs to pay attention to the big picture. I saw a worker using a torch once to cut a piece of metal directly over his gas/oxygen lines – neither he nor his fire watch noticed until the lines were damaged.
• Not an OSHA thing but be sure you cover up your control panels and enclosures below and around the work.

Hot work should NOT be permitted in some areas:

• Sprinklered buildings when the sprinklers are impaired. If your sprinklers are offline, no hot work should be done.
• Explosive atmospheres present (flammable gases, vapors, liquids, or combustible dusts)? Hot work should not be allowed.
• If there are exposed, readily ignitable materials, hot work should not be allowed. Would you weld in the loft of a hay barn?

There’s a bunch more useful information in OSHA 1910.252. I’ll put a link at the end of this article..

However, you should at least have a Hot Work Permit procedure in place, and clearly define who is allowed to authorize any hot work in your plant. OSHA has a fact sheet that has more info and an example. (Link below.)

If you’re not familiar with hot work, I’d recommend you look at these links.

OSHA 1910.252 – Welding, Cutting and Brazing – 1910.252 – General requirements. | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov)

OSHA – Fire Watch Duties during Hot Work – Fire Watch Duties during Hot Work (osha.gov)