How long should fire watches keep watch after Hot Work ends?

This question is one that gets a lot of attention and the debate can become heated.  OSHA’s minimum standard, written in 1974, requires the fire watch to be maintained for 30-minutes after completion of welding or cutting operations.  But in the past decade, many insurers and standards that are more up-to-date are now requiring that fire watches be maintained for 1-hour.

1910.252(a)(2)(iii)(B) Fire watchers shall have fire extinguishing equipment readily available and be trained in its use. They shall be familiar with facilities for sounding an alarm in the event of a fire. They shall watch for fires in all exposed areas, try to extinguish them only when obviously within the capacity of the equipment available, or otherwise sound the alarm. A fire watch shall be maintained for at least a half hour after completion of welding or cutting operations to detect and extinguish possible smoldering fires.

A fair number of people still feel that 30-minutes is adequate, but the data tells us others wise.  Case in point, this most recent HW Fire with losses of $16,460,850. 

  • The HW was reported to have ended at 3:20 pm.
  • Fire Watch reported staying on duty till 4:20.
  • A security guard walked by the ship @ 9:21 and 9:26 and noticed nothing. 
  • At 10:32 pm a passing motorist noticed smoke and an orange glow and called 911.

The root cause of the fire…

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