OSHACADEMY COURSE

Fire Protection in Shipyard

Employment

Source:
 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
 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
 Scope

• Covers employers with employees

engaged in
– Shipyard employment aboard vessels and
vessel sections
– Land - side operations
– Regardless of geographic locations
 Employee participation

• Employer’s must provide for employees or

employee representatives to participate in
developing and reviewing programs and
policies to comply with this subpart
 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
 Multi-employer worksites (cont’d)

• 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
 Fire safety plan
29 CFR 1950-502

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

• The employer must review the plan with each

employee at the following times:

– 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.
 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
 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
 Precautions for hot work
29 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
General requirements - Designated areas

• The employer may designate areas that are free of fire

hazards for hot work in sites such as:
– Vessels
– Vessel sections
– Fabricating shops
– Subassembly areas
 Non-designated areas
• Visually inspect area where hot work will be performed, including
adjacent areas unless Marine Chemist’s certificate or Shipyard
Competent person’s 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

 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
 Precautions for hot work – specific
requirements (cont’d)

– 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
 Fire watches
29 CFR 1915 - 504

• Written policy

• Posting fire watches

• Assigning employees to fire watch

duty
 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
 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
 Posting fire watches (cont’d)
• 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
 Posting fire watches (cont’d)

• 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
 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
 Assigning employees to fire
watch duty (cont’d)
• 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
 Fire response
29 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)
 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
 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
 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
 Written policy – outside response (cont’d)

• 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
 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
 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
 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
 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
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
 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
 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
 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
 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)
 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
 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
 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
 Employer’s 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
 Requirements for automatic and manual
systems

• Before working in 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
 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
 Sea and dock trials and door hatches
(cont’d)

• 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
 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
 Conducting system maintenance

• Before conducting maintenance on a fixed extinguishing

system, the employer must ensure that the system is
physically isolated
 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
 Land-side fire protection systems
29 CFR 1915 - 507

• Employer responsibilities

• Portable fire extinguishers and hose systems

• Fixed extinguishing systems

 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
 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
 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
 General requirements for fixed
extinguishing systems (cont’d)

• 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
 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

 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
 Training

• Current employees

• New employees upon initial assignment

• When necessary to maintain proficiency for employee

previously trained
 Employee training (cont’d)

• 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
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
 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
 Requirements for shipyard employees
designated for fire response (cont’d)

• Provide training that ensures employees are capable of

carrying out their duties

• Train new employees before they engage in emergency

operations

• At least quarterly, provide training on written operating

procedures

• Use qualified instructors to conduct the training

 Requirements for shipyard employees
designated for fire response (cont’d)

• Conduct training that involves live fire response

exercises IAW NFPA 1403-2002

• Conduct semi-annual drills according to employer’s

written procedures

• Prohibit use of smoke generating devices in training

exercises
 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 watch’s skills are inadequate
– Annually
 Additional training for fire
watch duty (cont’d)

• 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
 Additional training for fire
watch duty (cont’d)

• 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
• Employer’s evacuation plan
– Vessel sections
– Land-side
 Additional training for fire
watch duty (cont’d)

• Alert others to exit the space when

– The fire watch perceives an unsafe condition

– Fire watch perceives a worker is in danger
– Employer or employer’s representative orders an evacuation
– An evacuation signal is activated
 Records

• Training records must include:

– Employee’s name
– Trainer’s name
– Type of training
– Dates training took place

• Records must be maintained for one year, or until

replaced by new record, whichever is shorter
 For More Help

• OSHA Web site (www.osha.gov)

– Maritime Page

http://www.osha.gov/dts/maritime/index.html