Fire Protection in Shipyard Employment

1
Fire Protection in Shipyard Employment
2
General provisions

• Purpose and Scope 501
• Fire safety plan 502
• Precautions before hot work 503
• Fire watches 504
• Fire response 505
• Hazards of fixed extinguishers on board vessel
  506
• Landside fire protection system 507
• Training 508

3
Purpose

• Requires employers to protect all employees from
  fire hazards in shipyard employment, including
  employees engaged in fire response activities
• Provides increased protection for shipyard
  employment workers from the hazards of fire on
  vessels and vessel sections and at land-side
  facilities
• Reflects new technologies and national NFPA
  consensus standards

4
Scope

• Covers employers with employees engaged in
• Shipyard employment aboard vessels and vessel
  sections
• Land - side operations
• Regardless of geographic locations

5
Employee participation

• Employers must provide for employees or employee
  representatives to participate in developing and
  reviewing programs and policies to comply with
  this subpart

6
Multi-employer worksites

• Host employer responsibilities
• Inform employers about the content of the fire
  safety plan including hazards, controls, fire
  safety and health rules, and emergency procedures
• Ensure safety and health responsibilities for
  fire protection are assigned as appropriate to
  other employers at the worksite

7
Multi-employer worksites (contd)

• Contract employer responsibilities
• Ensure host employer knows about the fire-related
  hazards associated with the contract employer's
  work and what the contract employer is doing to
  address them
• Advise the host employer of any previously
  unidentified fire- related hazards that the
  contract employer identifies at the worksite

8
Fire safety plan29 CFR 1950-502

• Employer responsibilities
• Plan elements
• Reviewing the plan with employees
• Additional employer requirements
• Contract employers

9
Plan elements

• Plan must include
• Identification of significant fire hazards
• Procedures for recognizing and reporting unsafe
  conditions
• Alarm procedures
• Procedures for notifying employees of a fire
  emergency
• Procedures for notifying fire response
  organizations of a fire emergency
• Procedures for evacuation
• Procedures to account for all employees after an
  evacuation and
• Names, job titles, or departments or individuals
  who can be contacted for information about the
  plan

10
Reviewing the plan with employees

• The employer must review the plan with each
  employee at the following times
• By March 14, 2004, for current employees
• Upon initial assignment for new employees and
• When the actions the employee must take under the
  plan change because of a change in duties or a
  change in the plan.

11
Additional plan requirements

• Must be accessible to employees, employee
  representatives and OSHA
• Review and update at least annually
• Document affected employees have been informed
  about the plan
• Give a copy to outside fire response
  organizations that will respond to fires

12
Contract employers

• Contract employers in shipyard employment must
  have a fire safety plan for their employees, and
  the plan must comply with the host employer's
  fire safety plan
• The contract employer can adopt the host
  employers fire safety plan to meet this
  requirement

13
Precautions for hot work29 CFR 1915 503

• General requirements
• Designated areas
• Non-designated areas
• Specific requirements
• Maintaining fire hazard free conditions
• Fuel gas and oxygen supply line and torches

14
General requirements - designated areas

• The employer may designate areas that are free of
  fire hazardsfor hot work in sites such as
• Vessels
• Vessel sections
• Fabricating shops
• Subassembly areas

15
Non-designated areas

• Visually inspect area where hot work will be
  performed, including adjacent areas unless Marine
  Chemists certificate or Shipyard Competent
  persons logs is used for authorization
• Perform hot work only in areas that are free of
  fire hazards, or controlled by physical
  isolation, fire watches, etc.
• Maintain fire hazard-free conditions

16
Precautions for hot work specific requirements

• Fuel gas and oxygen supply lines and torches
• No unattended lines in confined spaces
• No unattended charged lines in enclosed spaces
  for more than 15 minutes
• Fuel gas and oxygen hose lines disconnected at
  end of each shift

17
Precautions for hot work specific requirements
(contd)

• Roll lines back to supply manifold or open air
  and then disconnect torch, or
• Disconnect extended fuel gas and oxygen hose
  lines at the the supply manifold
• Only if the lines are given a positive means of
  identification
• Use a drop test or other positive means to ensure
  the integrity of fuel gas and oxygen burning
  system before resuming hot work

18
Fire watches29 CFR 1915 - 504

• Written policy
• Posting fire watches
• Assigning employees to fire watch duty

19
Written policy

• Detailed fire watch training
• Identifies duties employees will perform and
  equipment they will be given
• Includes personal protective equipment (PPE) that
  must be made available and worn

20
Posting fire watches

• Must post a fire watch during hot work if any of
  the following are present
• Slag, weld splatter, or sparks might pass through
  an opening and cause a fire
• Fire-resistant guards or curtains are not used to
  prevent ignition of combustible materials on or
  near decks, bulkheads, etc
• Combustible material is closer than 35 ft. and
  cannot be removed, shielded or protected

21
Posting fire watches (contd)

• Hot work is carried out on or near insulation,
  combustible coatings that cannot be shielded, cut
  back, removed, or inerted
• Combustible materials adjacent to the opposite
  sides of bulkheads, decks, etc. may be ignited by
  conduction or radiation
• The hot work is close enough to cause ignition
  through heat radiation or conduction on
• Insulated pipes, bulkheads, decks, partitions, or
  overheads or
• Combustible materials and/or coatings

22
Posting fire watches (contd)

• The work is close enough to unprotected
  combustible pipe or cable runs to cause ignition
• A Marine Chemist, a Coast Guard-authorized
  person, or a shipyard Competent Person requires
  that a fire watch be posted

23
Assigning employees to fire watch duty

• Employees must not be assigned additional duties
  while the hot work is in progress
• Employees must be physically capable of
  performing fire watch duties
• Employees assigned to fire watch duty must
• Have a clear view and immediate access to all
  areas included in the fire watch
• Be able to communicate with workers exposed to
  hot work
• Be authorized to stop work and restore safe
  conditions within hot work area

24
Assigning employees to fire watch duty (contd)

• Remain in the hot work area for 30 minutes after
  completion of the hot work - Unless the employer
  or its representative surveys the exposed area
  and makes a determination that there is no
  further fire hazard
• Be trained to detect fires in areas exposed to
  the hot work
• Extinguish incipient stage fires in the hot work
  area
• Alert employees of any fire beyond the incipient
  stage and
• If unable to extinguish fire, activate the alarm

25
Fire response29 CFR 1915 505

• Employer responsibilities
• Written policy information
• Internal response
• External response
• Medical requirements for shipyard response
  employees
• Organization of internal fire response functions
• Personal protective clothing and equipment for
  fire response employees
• Equipment maintenance (PPE)

26
Employer responsibilities

• Decide what type of response will be provided and
  who will provide it
• Internal fire response
• Outside fire response
• Create, maintain, and update a written policy
  that
• Describes the internal and outside fire response
  organizations that the employer will use and
• Defines evacuation procedures, if the employer
  chooses to require a total or partial evacuation
  of the worksite at the time of a fire

27
Written policy internal response

• The basic structure of the fire response
  organization
• Number of trained fire response employees
• The fire response functions that will be carried
  out
• Minimum number of fire response employees
  necessary
• Type, amount, and frequency of training that must
  be given to fire response employees
• Procedures for using protective clothing and
  equipment

28
Written policy outside response

• Types of fire suppression incidents to which the
  fire response organization is expected to respond
  at the employer's facility
• Liaisons between the employer and the outside
  fire response organizations

29
Written policy outside response (contd)

• A plan for fire response functions that
• Addresses procedures for obtaining assistance
  from the outside fire response organization
• Familiarizes the outside fire response
  organization with the layout of the employer's
  facility or worksite
• Sets forth how hose and coupling connections will
  be made compatible and location of adapter
  couplings
• States employer will not allow use of
  incompatible hose connections

30
Written policy combination of internal and
outside response

• The basic organizational structure of the
  combined fire response
• Number of combined trained fire responders
• Fire response functions that may need to be
  carried out
• Minimum number of fire response employees
  necessary
• Number and types of apparatuses, and
• Description of the fire suppression operations
  established by written standard operating
  procedures for each particular type of response
  at the worksite
• Type, amount, and frequency of joint training
  with outside fire response organizations

31
Employee evacuation

• Emergency escape procedures
• Procedures to be followed by employees who remain
  at worksite to perform critical operations during
  the evacuation
• Procedures to account for all employees after
  emergency evacuation is completed
• Means of reporting fires and other emergencies
• Names or job titles of employees or departments
  to be contacted for further information or
  explanation of duties

32
Written emergency response

• The employer must include the following
  information in the employer's written policy
• A description of the emergency rescue procedures
  and
• Names or job titles of the employees who are
  assigned to perform them

33
Medical requirements for shipyard fire response
employees

• The employer must ensure that
• Fire response employees receive medical exams to
  assure they are physically and medically fit for
  duties expected to perform
• Fire response employees, required to wear
  respirators meet the medical requirements
• Each fire response employee has an annual medical
  examination and
• Medical records are kept on fire response
  employees

34
Organization of internal fire response functions

• Organize fire response functions to ensure
  adequate resources for emergency operations
• Establish lines of authority and assign
  responsibilities to ensure components of the
  internal fire response are accomplished
• Set up incident management system to coordinate
  and direct fire response functions, including
• Specific fire emergency responsibilities
• Accountability for all fire response employees
  participating in an emergency operation and
• Resources offered by outside organizations
• Provide information as required to the outside
  fire response organization to be used

35
PPE for fire response employees

• General requirements
• Thermal stability and flame resistance
• Respiratory protection
• Interior structural firefighting operations
• Proximity firefighting operations
• Personal alert safety system (PASS) devices
• Life safety ropes, body harnesses and hardware

36
General requirements

• Employer must
• At no cost, supply all fire response employees
  appropriate personal protective clothing and
  equipment they need to perform expected duties
• Ensure employees wear the appropriate PPE and
  use the equipment, when necessary, to protect
  them from hazardous exposures

37
Thermal stability and flame resistance

• Ensure each fire response employee exposed to
  flame hazards do not wear clothing that could
  increase the extent of injury
• Prohibit wearing clothing made from acetate,
  nylon, or polyester, either alone or in blends,
  unless it can be shown that
• The fabric will withstand the flammability hazard
  that may be encountered or
• The clothing will be worn in such a way to
  eliminate the flammability hazard that may be
  encountered

38
Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) devices

• Provide each fire response employee involved in
  firefighting operations with a PASS device and
• Ensure that each PASS device meets the
  recommendations in NFPA 1982-1998 Standard on
  Personal Alert Safety Systems (PASS)

39
Life safety ropes, body harnesses and hardware

• The employer must ensure that
• All life safety ropes, body harnesses, and
  hardware used by fire response employees for
  emergency operations meet the applicable
  recommendations in NFPA 1983-2001
• Fire response employees use only Class I body
  harnesses to attach to ladders and aerial
  devices and
• Fire response employees use only Class II and
  Class III body harnesses for fall arrest and
  rappelling operations

40
Equipment maintenance

• Personal protective equipment
• Employer must inspect and maintain PPE used to
  protect fire response employees to ensure that it
  provides the intended protection
• Fire response equipment.
• Keep fire response equipment in a state of
  readiness
• Standardize all fire hose coupling and connection
  threads throughout the facility
• Ensure all fire hoses and coupling connection
  threads are the same throughout the facility as
  those used by the outside fire response
  organization, or
• Supply suitable adapter couplings if such an
  organization is expected to use the fire response
  equipment within a facility or vessel or vessel
  section

41
Hazards of fixed extinguishing systems on board
vessels and vessel sections 29 CFR 1915 - 506

• Employer responsibilities
• Requirements for automatic and manual systems
• Sea and dock trials
• Doors and hatches
• Testing the system
• Conducting system maintenance
• Using fixed manual extinguishing systems for
  protection

42
Employers responsibilities

• The employer must comply with the provisions of
  this section whenever employees are exposed to
  fixed extinguishing systems that could create a
  dangerous atmosphere when activated in vessels
  and vessel sections, regardless of geographic
  location

43
Requirements for automatic and manual systems

• Before working in a a space with a fixed system,
  either
• Physically isolate the systems or use other
  positive means to prevent the systems' discharge
  
• or
• Ensure employees are trained to recognize
• Systems' discharge and evacuation alarms and the
  appropriate escape routes and
• Hazards associated with the extinguishing systems
  and agents including the dangers of disturbing
  system components and equipment

44
Sea and dock trials and door hatches

• During trials, the employer must ensure that all
  systems remain operational
• Take protective measures to ensure all doors,
  hatches, scuttles, and other exit openings remain
  working and accessible for escape in the event
  the systems are activated and

45
Sea and dock trials and door hatches (contd)

• Ensure that all inward opening doors, hatches,
  scuttles, and other potential barriers to safe
  exit are removed or blocked open, if systems'
  activation could result in a positive pressure in
  the protected spaces sufficient to impede escape

46
Testing the system

• When testing a fixed extinguishing system
  involves a total discharge of extinguishing
  medium into a space, employer must
• Evacuate all employees from space and assure no
  employees remain in the space during the
  discharge
• Retest the atmosphere to ensure that the oxygen
  levels are safe for employees to enter
• When testing a fixed extinguishing system does
  not involve a total discharge of the systems
  extinguishing medium, employer must
• Ensure system's extinguishing medium is isolated
• All employees not directly involved in the
  testing are evacuated from the protected space

47
Conducting system maintenance

• Before conducting maintenance on a fixed
  extinguishing system, the employer must ensure
  that the system is physically isolated

48
Using fixed manual extinguishing systems for fire
protection

• If fixed manual extinguishing systems are used to
  provide fire protection for spaces in which the
  employees are working, the employer must ensure
  that
• Only authorized employees are allowed to activate
  the system
• Authorized employees are trained to operate and
  activate the systems and
• All employees are evacuated from the protected
  spaces, and accounted for, before the fixed
  manual extinguishing system is activated

49
Land-side fire protection systems 29 CFR 1915 -
507

• Employer responsibilities
• Portable fire extinguishers and hose systems
• Fixed extinguishing systems

50
Employer responsibilities

• Ensure all fixed and portable fire protection
  systems needed to meet OSHA standard for employee
  safety or employee protection from fire hazards
  in land- side facilities meet the requirements,
  including, but not limited to
• Buildings
• Structures
• Equipment

51
Portable fire extinguishers and hose systems

• Employer must select, install, inspect, maintain,
  and test all portable fire extinguishers
  according to NFPA 10-1998 Standard for Portable
  Fire Extinguishers
• Class II or Class III hose systems permitted as
  fire extinguishers if the employer selects,
  installs, inspects, maintains, and tests those
  systems according to the specific recommendations
  in NFPA 14-2000 Standard for the Installation of
  Standpipe, Private Hydrant, and Hose Systems

52
General requirements for fixed extinguishing
systems

• Ensure any fixed extinguishing system component
  or extinguishing agent is approved by an OSHA
  Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory
• Notify employees and take necessary precautions
  to ensure employees are safe from fire if for any
  reason a fire extinguishing system stops working,
  until the system is working again
• Ensure repairs to fire extinguishing systems and
  equipment are done by a qualified technician
• Provide and ensure employees use PPE when
  entering discharge areas in which the atmosphere
  remains hazardous to employee safety or health

53
General requirements for fixed extinguishing
systems (contd)

• Post hazard warning or caution signs at entrance
  to and inside of areas protected by fixed
  extinguishing systems that use extinguishing
  agents in concentrations known to be hazardous to
  employee safety or health
• Select, install, inspect, maintain, and test all
  automatic fire detection systems and emergency
  alarms according to NFPA 72-1999

54
Fixed extinguishing systems

• Standpipe and hose systems IAW NFPA 14 -2000
• Automatic sprinkler systems IAW NFPA 25-2002, and
  either NFPA 13 1999, or NFPA 750 2000
• Fixed extinguishing systems that use water or
  foam agent IAW NFPA 15-2001
• Fixed extinguishing systems using dry chemical
  IAW NFPA 17-2002
• Fixed extinguishing systems using gas IAW NFPA
  12-2000

55
Training 29 CFR 1915 - 508

• Training
• All - employee training
• Additional training requirements for employees
  expected to fight incipient stage fires
• Additional training requirements for shipyard
  employees designated for fire response
• Additional training requirements for fire watch
  duty
• Records

56
Training

• Current employees by 03/15/2005
• New employees upon initial assignment
• When necessary to maintain proficiency for
  employee previously trained

57
Employee training (contd)

• Employer must train all employees on
• Emergency alarm signals, including system
  discharge alarms and employee evacuation alarms
• The primary and secondary evacuation routes that
  employees must use in the event of a fire in the
  workplace

58
Training for employees expected to fight
incipient stage fires

• Principles of using fire extinguishers or hose
  lines
• Hazards involved with incipient firefighting, and
  the procedures used to reduce these hazards
• Hazards associated with fixed and portable fire
  protection systems
• Activation and operation of fixed and portable
  fire protection systems that the employer expects
  employees to use in the workplace

59
Requirements for shipyard employees designated
for fire response

• Have a written plan stating fire response
  employees are trained and capable of carrying out
  their duties
• Update plan to address anticipated emergencies
• Review training programs and hands-on sessions
  before their use in training and ensure employees
  are protected from hazards associated with
  response training
• Provide training that ensures employees are
  capable of carrying out their duties
• Train new employees before they engage in
  emergency operations

60
Requirements for shipyard employees designated
for fire response (contd)

• At least quarterly, provide training on written
  operating procedures
• Use qualified instructors to conduct the training
• Conduct training that involves live fire response
  exercises IAW NFPA 1403-2002
• Conduct semi-annual drills according to
  employers written procedures
• Prohibit use of smoke generating devices in
  training exercises

61
Additional training for fire watch duty

• The employer must ensure that each fire watch is
  trained by an instructor with adequate fire watch
  knowledge and experience
• Before being assigned as a fire watch
• Whenever there is a change in operations that
  presents a new or different hazard
• Whenever employer believes fire watchs skills
  are inadequate
• Annually

62
Additional training for fire watch duty (contd)

• Basics of fire behavior
• Different classes of extinguishing agents
• Stages of a fire
• Methods for extinguishing fires
• Adverse health effects caused by fire
• Physical characteristics of hot work area
• Extinguishing live fire scenarios
• Unless prohibited by local and federal law
• Extension to July 1, 2005

63
Additional training for fire watch duty (contd)

• Hazards associated with fire watch duties
• PPE and its use
• Selection and use of extinguishers and hoses
• Location and use of barriers
• Means of communication
• When and how to start fire alarm procedures
• Employers evacuation plan
• Vessel sections
• Land-side

64
Additional training for fire watch duty (contd)

• Alert others to exit the space when
• The fire watch perceives an unsafe condition
• Fire watch perceives a worker is in danger
• Employer or employers representative orders an
  evacuation
• An evacuation signal is activated

65
Records

• Training records must include
• Employees name
• Trainers name
• Type of training
• Dates training took place
• Records must be maintained for one year, or until
  replaced by new record, whichever is shorter

66
For More Help

• Contact your local OSHA office
• OSHA Web site (www.osha.gov)
• Maritime Page http//www.osha.gov/dts/maritime/ind
  ex.html
• 1-800-321-OSHA