FIRE WATCHER TRAINING

Hot work — welding, cutting, grinding, brazing, soldering and any other activity producing flame, sparks or heat — is one of the most common causes of industrial fire. Sparks travel further than most people expect, smoulder unnoticed in dust, insulation and floor openings, and can ignite long after the work has finished. For that reason a trained fire watcher is posted whenever hot work is carried out outside a designated hot work area.

This course prepares personnel to perform the fire watch role competently: preparing the area before work starts, maintaining a watch while it proceeds, continuing the watch after the work stops, and raising the alarm and using first-aid firefighting equipment if ignition occurs.

Objectives

• Understand the role, authority and legal responsibilities of the fire watcher
• Understand the fire triangle and how hot work provides the ignition source
• Prepare and check the hot work area before work is permitted to start
• Work within the hot work permit system and know when to stop the work
• Maintain an effective watch during the work and for the required period afterwards
• Raise the alarm, evacuate and use portable firefighting equipment safely

Course outline

• The nature of fire: the fire triangle, classes of fire and how fires spread
• Hot work processes and the hazards each one creates
• The hot work permit: contents, validity, and the fire watcher's part in it
• Preparing the area: removing or protecting combustibles, covering openings, screening sparks
• Confined space, elevated and adjacent-area considerations, including the far side of walls and decks
• Duties during the watch: position, sightlines, communication and means of raising the alarm
• The post-work fire watch and final inspection of the area
• Selection and safe use of portable fire extinguishers and hose reels
• Emergency response, alarm raising and evacuation

Who should attend

• Personnel assigned as fire watchers during hot work
• Welders, fitters and other hot work operatives
• Permit issuers, area authorities and supervisors
• HSE officers, emergency response team members and security personnel

Learning outcomes

On completion, participants will be able to verify that a hot work area has been correctly prepared, maintain an effective fire watch during and after the work, recognise conditions that require the work to be stopped, raise the alarm without delay, and use portable firefighting equipment safely on an incipient fire.