Safety alert on “hot work”
Following two recent cases in which workers were killed while cutting up drums, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a reminder about the dangers involved in “hot work” carried out on containers of flammable liquid.
“Hot work” refers to work that generates a source of ignition — such as welding, flame cutting, grinding and using disk cutters. The HSE warning is about where work is carried out on drums or containers that contain (or used to contain) flammable or combustible liquid. It says that, although a container may appear empty, seams, creases or folds may still contain enough residue to generate explosive vapour, resulting in a serious risk of ignition and injury.