Hot Work

Hot Work

Hot work is any job that makes a spark or a flame where it can find fuel: welding, cutting, grinding, brazing, torch-down roofing.

The rule. NFPA 51B and OSHA 1910.252: a hot-work permit, a fire watch during the work and for at least 30 minutes after, combustibles moved 35 feet or shielded, extinguisher within reach, and the person doing the work is not the person watching for fire.

The failures. Sparks through a floor gap; a torch near a fuel line; insulation smouldering behind a wall for hours; the tank that was "empty".

The trades. Welder, shipfitter, pipefitter, roofer, HVAC (brazing), auto-body, jeweler, the museum's own demonstration booth.

The permit. Who, where, what, when, what was checked, who is the fire watch, when the watch ended. Signed twice.

Look for. The burned floor sample beside this panel came from a real job. The permit that would have prevented it hangs above it.