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It is not their building and it is not their business – they are just temporary visitors. The task is being subcontracted, so the risk lies with the building owner/occupier. At a minimum, they should follow the same level of controls and safety culture that exists for the businesses’ own employees. They need to go through formal site induction training, and be fully aware of any hazards on site, in particular any that are relevant to the work they are undertaking or the work area where this is taking place. Importantly, this includes the construction of the building and its finishes. In addition, every site should have the
appropriate formal management procedures and hot work permit systems in place.
Permit system
The hot work permit is the front end of the formal management system. Many of the common failings seen with the permit system are centred around inadequate procedures for issuing the permits themselves or the actual hot work permit design. As a result of this, Aviva has a standard recommendation on all its loss prevention reports to draw attention to the expected standard. After all, the risk assessment and management
has taken place, so a separate comprehensive permit should be used on every occasion that hot work of any type is undertaken. It must only be issued when considering the significance of any other permits to work in the vicinity, and should only be issued for the specific task that is to be undertaken in a clearly identified and specific work area.
40 JUNE 2018
www.frmjournal.com
Hot work permits should not be issued for
protracted periods. Separate permits should be issued for work which extends across shifts. Where a hot work job does go across a shift change, formal communication of the hot work task between the different teams must occur and be formally recorded. Responsibility does not stop at the end of a hot
work job. The work permit must be formally signed off correctly, and any fire protection or detection systems that were shut down to facilitate the work will need to be restored, etc. The entire hot work management and permit system needs to be open to auditing as and when required. Another common issue is that of permits that do not identify all the potential hazards associated with the task. These include not being aware of combustible construction; not inspecting for combustible insulation in cavities, voids or nearby composite panels, or combustible materials on lower floors where stray sparks could travel; and a failure to consider conduction as a means of heat transfer, especially on ducting or extraction systems and steel construction. Fires have occurred where conducted heat has ignited combustible materials located more than 10m away from the hot work location. Whilst many hot work permit templates exist, these should be used as a guide, and many sites will need to customise their permits to take into account their particular site hazards. Aviva has produced a Loss Prevention Standard which provides more information on hazards, procedures and best practice, along with a sample hot work permit checklist1
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