In the words of Captain Ray Orellano, Deputy Commander NWRM: Hot Work Safety is of urgent importance, especially in light of the fire on USS BONHOMME RICHARD in San Diego. Although the ship is not a complete loss, it will be out of service for an extended period of time and there will be significant costs associated with repair. The cause of that fire is unknown at this time, but will be investigated in detail and information shared when available. Certainly, hot work will be considered a prime suspect in the course of the investigation.
PSNS&IMF is committed to providing a monthly compilation of data from Code 304, and an ESH brief to be provided to projects via our ESH Managers. The first of these was rolled out earlier this week, and they are attached to this email for your information. Note that the brief was developed prior to the USS BONHOMME RICHARD fire, but a note was added prior to dissemination to acknowledge the fire and that additional information will be provided when available.
I’ve re-copied the most common deficiencies from a previous email below along with what you can do to help.
-Hot work related fires continue to be the largest cause of fires (51%)Primary causes include:
1. Failure to adequately prepare and maintain the hot work site, i.e.combustibles not removed or protected.
2. Inadequate hot work containment.
3. Fire watches either inattentive or inappropriately located. Fire watch isa boring job until something is on fire. What can you do to help?
-Make sure personnel doing hot work take it seriously and prepare the area ad the fire watch for the job.
-Always take notice of hot work and watch where the sparks go; havecombustibles been removed, is the fire watch paying attention and positionedappropriately?
If you see, something say something.
Please see the below 4 Attachments for important information about Hot Work and Yellow Alert Fires & Fire Watches.
