Whether we’re in process safety or just good ole fashioned occupational safety and health, the act of performing hot work (welding to the layperson – my feeble attempt at some Dumb and Dumber humor) can be one of the most dangerous task workers can perform. Add in the fact the hot work is done within a PSM/RMP “covered process” and the risk rise substantially. But yet, since hot work is done on a regular basis, the dangerous task is often done in a haphazard manner. In fact, even with a hot work permit the work is oftentimes not done “by the book” or by the permit as it may be. But a hot work permit is actually NOT our first line of protection when it comes to hot work. We have to ask three (3) questions to get to the point where we issue a permit for the hot work:
Question #1: Can the work be done without doing hot work? If the answer is no, then
Question #2: If we have to do the job with hot work, can we move the work into a designated area that is designed/maintained safe for hot work? If the answer is no, then
Question #3: If we can’t move the object to the safe location to do the hot work and we have to do the hot work in an area NOT designed for hot work, then we use a hot work permit to aid in doing the hot work safely.
In process plants, we almost always had a “Designated HW Area” and we always seemed to use it for everything but hot work! Anyday, anyone could walk by and find compressed gas cylinders, pallets, cardboard boxes of XXXX, and even a flammable storage cabinet. What would this look like?
This video was shot in January 2020, just to give some context when the video gets to the only fire extinguisher in the building. The building was built for one reason – to do hot work without a permit.