Presenter: Guy Colonna, NFPA

Hot work — defined generally as any work involving fire-producing or spark-producing activities, such as cutting and burning or grinding, drilling, or chipping — remains a common source of ignition and fire within industrial workplaces. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board highlighted the dangers of hot work in a safety bulletin they released in 2010. To complicate the safety issues, the incidents cited occurred on or near tanks that also posed a significant safety hazard due to the confined space dangers. This presentation focuses on safe practices for both hot work, utilizing NFPA 51B as a model, and confined space entry and work, where NFPA 326 and the Marine Chemist certification program offer valuable tools for addressing these two common work practices consistently and safely. In addition, work of a new NFPA committee on confined space safety will be highlighted.