Hot Works

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• According to British Standard BS 9999: Code of Practice for Fire Safety in the Design, Management and Use of Buildings, contractors and subcontractors can present an additional fire risk due to their unfamiliarity with the premises, its fire risks and associated fire precautions. This risk is increased even further when contractors and subcontractors carry out hazardous activities such as hot work.
  Where processes involving hot work are unavoidable, a strict, safe system of work to control the risk of fire arising from the activity is required. A particularly effective method of ensuring a safe system of work is the use of a “hot work permit”.

Risk Control

• Clearly the need to undertake hot work will be very much dependent on the work activities to be completed and it may not be possible to detail in the premises fire risk assessment specific issues. However, in general terms, hot work can be addressed and management control measures adopted. This will be linked in with the wider contractor management arrangements that the organisation should be employing, including:
  
  Identifying all aspects of the work that the contractor will be required to do
  Identifying any risks associated with the work (including hot work)
  Ensuring that sufficient rules and control measures are in place when the work is undertaken.
  BS 9999 recommends that hot work should only be undertaken if no satisfactory alternative method is feasible. The person responsible for fire safety should therefore evaluate the need to perform hot work. He/she should determine whether the hazard can be avoided or minimised, taking into account the following hierarchy.
  
  Avoid the undertaking of hot work by adopting alternative work methods
  Relocate the hot work outdoors or to specially designated areas that have been designed and constructed to minimise fire risk
  Schedule hot work during shutdowns/out-of-hours if it cannot be avoided or relocated
  Undertake the hot work in the area necessary using safe systems.
  BS 9999 recommends that a “hot work permit procedure” should be followed before any hot work is allowed in or near a building so as to “ensure that correct actions are taken before hot work commences, during the operation and afterwards”.

Hot Works Permit

• The use of a hot work permit is appropriate in circumstances where work will involve flames or sparks, where flammable materials are close by and when work is to be completed in environments where such activities are not normally carried out. Such a permit can:
  
  - Ensure that there is a formal check confirming that safe systems of work are being followed
  - Co-ordinate the work activities with other persons or other work processes
  - Provide time limits when it is safe to work
  - Provide specialised PPE or methods of communication
  - Ensure that the works are properly supervised through to ultimate safety. * * * * * *
  When contractors are employed to perform hot work on the premises two options for hot work permits are available:
  
  - The host organisation employs its own hot work procedure that includes a hot work permit. All people, including contractors and internal employees, are required to use this procedure for all hot work carried out on the premises.
  - Contractors use a suitable hot work procedure of their own. In this case, the employer must be certain that the contractor is using a suitable hot work procedure and that the procedure is used in appropriate cases. * * * * * * *
  To be effective, the permit scheme should be implemented and supervised by competent staff. Everyone on the premises must be aware of the situations for which a permit is required and there must be regular checks to see that procedures are being followed.
  
  In terms of control procedures, a hot work permit should only be issued:
  
  - If the person responsible for fire safety is satisfied that an adequate fire risk assessment and method statement have been prepared
  - By those competent and authorised to do so
  - When preparation work is complete and necessary precautions are in place
  - If the hot work is to be carried out by those competent in the particular activity. * * * * * Please ensure you have completed a hot works permit before doing at hot works

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