What Counts as Hot Work
The activities that produce ignition sources, including the ones people overlook.
11 min
Hot work is any activity capable of producing a source of ignition: flame, spark, hot surface or incendive arc.
Obvious hot work
- Welding of all types, brazing and soldering.
- Oxy-fuel and plasma cutting.
- Grinding, cutting with abrasive discs, needle-gunning.
Hot work people forget
- Non-intrinsically-safe electrical equipment — drills, torches, cameras, phones, radios in a hazardous area.
- Internal combustion engines — generators, compressors, vehicles, including their hot exhausts.
- Hot surfaces — heaters, lamps, exhaust manifolds.
- Impact — steel tools striking steel or concrete, dropped scaffold tube.
- Static discharge — from tank filling, steam cleaning, or plastic sheeting in dry conditions.
- Battery-powered tools that are not certified for the area.
A generator parked outside the barrier is still an ignition source if vapour can drift to it.