A hot work permit simply keeps track of any “hot work” done in the area. It’s an OSHA requirement for safety. It’s not because there is flammable stuff everywhere. Most food grade facilities are extremely clean and open, and any hot work that you may be doing may be producing metal shavings, grinding, slag, or small pieces of metal. Would you want that in your food, and if it was found in your food, wouldn’t it be nice to trace it back to the time when work was done in the area?
I do agree it is a massive CYA for liability but when your plants force a full time dedicate fire watch to your activities its not due to shavings and slurry run off.
You have a plant that produced let’s just say $200,000 a day on the low end. That’s $139 a minute profit loss in downtime plus your loss in wage and your chances of making an osha recordable fire are exponentially higher following the first 5 hours after a hot work job. Again, it’s a precaution that can save a lot of down time.
The main reason is due to electrical hazard. If a fire got into a panel box, or if a panel box created a fire, you can quickly create a chain reaction of electrical failure plant wide resulting in a very expensive and time consuming problem, not to mention the fees and citations from osha as well as the lawsuits from employees. It could literally drive you out of business.
A hot work permit simply keeps track of any “hot work” done in the area. It’s an OSHA requirement for safety. It’s not because there is flammable stuff everywhere. Most food grade facilities are extremely clean and open, and any hot work that you may be doing may be producing metal shavings, grinding, slag, or small pieces of metal. Would you want that in your food, and if it was found in your food, wouldn’t it be nice to trace it back to the time when work was done in the area?
I do agree it is a massive CYA for liability but when your plants force a full time dedicate fire watch to your activities its not due to shavings and slurry run off.
You have a plant that produced let’s just say $200,000 a day on the low end. That’s $139 a minute profit loss in downtime plus your loss in wage and your chances of making an osha recordable fire are exponentially higher following the first 5 hours after a hot work job. Again, it’s a precaution that can save a lot of down time.
The main reason is due to electrical hazard. If a fire got into a panel box, or if a panel box created a fire, you can quickly create a chain reaction of electrical failure plant wide resulting in a very expensive and time consuming problem, not to mention the fees and citations from osha as well as the lawsuits from employees. It could literally drive you out of business.
Well put.