Chapter 1 FIRE PREVENTION

Fire prevention is a very important part of any safety program. The chance of a fire occuring can be greatly reduced by good housekeeping. You should know where your fire extinguishers are located and how to use them. Fire prevention requires segregating the three elements of the fire triangle. In practice, a method to achieve that goal is to post—and enforce—no-smoking signs around flammable liquids and gases and have fire watches on all work involving torch-applied materials of a minimum of two hours after the last torch is turned off. Flammable and Combustible Liquids Proper storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids will help prevent fires from occurring; only approved, closed containers for storage of flammable or combustible liquids may be used under OSHA rules. Such containers include safety cans or containers approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation. A safety can is a container that has a self-closing lid, internal-pressure relief and flame arrestor with a capacity of not more than 5 gallons. Inexpensive, plastic cans without those features previously mentioned, such as those typically bought at hardware stores or gas stations, are not approved for use in roofing operations. However, manufacturers do sell plastic containers that meet the OSHA requirements for safety cans. Flammable liquids that are extremely viscous, or difficult to pour, like single-ply adhesive, can be left in their original shipping containers. Similarly, OSHA allows the use of original containers of flammable liquids that are in quantities of one gallon or less.