The Safety Cost Of Hot Work

[Music] Let’s talk about the fourth cost of hot work, the safety cost of hot work, specifically the safety cost when hot work goes wrong. The Chemical Safety Board is an organization that investigates hot work incidents across Canada and the United States. Between 1990 and 2010, they conducted dozens of hot work incidents. In that bundle, there were more than 60 deaths and many, many more life-changing injuries as a result of hot work gone wrong. There were also tens of billions of dollars in capital facility losses, including some complete facility losses. Let’s have a listen to what the Chemical Safety Board has to say about hot work and their recommendations.

[Music] Foreign 1979, 20-year-old John Capana was a contract worker performing maintenance at a New Jersey refinery. We actually had pulled out of the refinery and were called back in the Divine last job which was demolished an old pumping station. We were told that it was a water pumping station, it was not a water line, it was a crude oil line. In fact, we tried to just now at the pump starting with removing the bolts from the flanges and they were so corroded that we couldn’t get them loose by conventional means so we elected to use an acetylene torch. At that point, as soon as the flange separated it exploded. I was burned over 90% of my body. 30 years and over 75 surgeries later, Mr. Capana now assists other burned survivors as they recover from their wounds, often suffered on the job. Don’t think that something this tragedy couldn’t happen to you or somebody you love. This could happen to anybody.

John Capana’s life was changed forever by a hot work accident. Welding, cutting, grinding, seemingly a routine operation until suddenly flammable vapors are ignited by sparks or heat. Foreign [Music] We typically hear about hot work accidents weekly. It’s become one of the most significant types of incidents the CSB investigates in terms of deaths, in terms of frequency. The Chemical Safety Board found that since 1990, welding, cutting, and other hot work on or near flammable storage tanks caused fires and explosions that led to over 60 deaths. In February 2010, the CSB issued a safety bulletin outlining seven key lessons to prevent hot work accidents. The bulletin followed a tragic explosion that killed three paper mill workers in Wisconsin in July 2008, together with 10 other serious hot work accidents investigated or reviewed by the CSB.

Whenever possible, avoid hot work or consider alternative methods such as cold or hydraulic cutting. Although the hazards of hot work are well known, frequent deaths and serious injuries continue to occur. The CSB believes that following the key lessons outlined here can help prevent future hot work-related accidents.

Chemical Safety Board’s number one recommendation is to avoid or eliminate hot work whenever possible. In the next series of videos, we’re going to share with you four ways that you can do just that, eliminating and avoiding hot work and still get the work done. These four ways of eliminating hot work will allow you to climb the hierarchy of controls from administrative controls all the way up to eliminating, physically removing the risk by eliminating the source of ignition. Until next time, folks, thank you for watching Innovation Nation and have a great and safe day. Bye for now.