Fire Watch in Construction Industry
Omaha, NE, has some new fire codes that are being credited with reducing the number of fires at construction projects (from KETV.com via Firehouse.com)
At the time of the Old Market Fires, Omaha city fire codes required a person -- called a fire watch -- to stay behind for 30 minutes after all hot welding was done."When you're doing welding and cutting, if you've got any kind of combustible material in there at all -- floors, walls, shafts, or anything -- after you do the hot work, you should have a fire watch there to make sure something didn't get ignited," Porta said.
The code was changed so that fire watches had to stay behind for two hours.
I think this is a good move for the fire service, but I bet the contractors howled about the change. It will cost them money. They will have to pay someone to stay two hours after cutting or welding, or they will have to stop cutting and welding two hours before the end of their work day. In the long run, it will probably save money.
