Hot work is any job that produces heat, sparks or flame: welding, cutting, grinding, soldering, and using blow lamps or bitumen boilers. It is a common cause of fires during maintenance and building work, often in buildings that were otherwise well managed. A hot work permit is the control.
Why hot work is so risky
- Sparks travel further than people expect and fall through gaps into voids and floors below.
- Heat conducts along pipes and steel into the next room.
- Fires smoulder in insulation, dust or timber and break out after everyone has left.
- The contractor does not know what is stored behind the wall.
- Detectors are often covered or switched off for the job and not reinstated.
Your responsibility
Section 18(2) of the Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003 requires the person in control of a premises to take all reasonable measures to guard against the outbreak of fire. That duty does not pass to the contractor when they arrive. You control the building, so you control the permit.
First question: can it be avoided?
Can the part be taken outside or to a workshop? Can a cold method be used, such as mechanical fixing or cold cutting? Hot work should be the last choice, not the default.
What a hot work permit covers
- The job: what, where, who and for how long. A permit covers one job in one place for a limited time.
- The area: combustible materials removed or covered, floors swept, gaps and openings sealed.
- The other side: what is behind, above and below the work.
- Fire protection: a suitable extinguisher at hand, and someone trained to use it.
- Detection: detectors isolated only in the work area, only for the duration, and reinstated afterwards.
- Fire watch: someone watching during the work and for a set period after it ends, followed by a later check.
- Sign-off: the area inspected and the permit closed by the person who issued it.
Who issues the permit
A named, trained person from your side, not the contractor carrying out the work. They visit the area before signing.
Common failures
- Permits signed at a desk without anyone looking at the area.
- A permit issued for a week instead of a shift.
- The fire watch ends when the contractor packs up.
- Detectors left isolated overnight.
- Hot work carried out last thing on a Friday.
Build it into your fire risk assessment
Your assessment should cover how contractors are controlled. This matters most in warehouses and food processing sites.
Safer Solutions reviews contractor and hot work controls as part of every fire risk assessment. Call 086 275 9728, email info@safersolutions.ie or request a quote.