Hot Work

This reading sits behind a Safety panel. Every gallery in the Museum of VoTech carries a cautions band, and every student holds an OSHA 10 card before working unsupervised; these readings are the reasons why.

The panel text

Hot work is any job that makes a spark or a flame where it can find fuel: welding, cutting, grinding, brazing, torch-down roofing.

The rule. NFPA 51B and OSHA 1910.252: a hot-work permit, a fire watch during the work and for at least 30 minutes after, combustibles moved 35 feet or shielded, extinguisher within reach, and the person doing the work is not the person watching for fire.

The failures. Sparks through a floor gap; a torch near a fuel line; insulation smouldering behind a wall for hours; the tank that was "empty".

The trades. Welder, shipfitter, pipefitter, roofer, HVAC (brazing), auto-body, jeweler, the museum's own demonstration booth.

The permit. Who, where, what, when, what was checked, who is the fire watch, when the watch ended. Signed twice.

Look for. The burned floor sample beside this panel came from a real job. The permit that would have prevented it hangs above it.

Reading further

The panel's series (Safety) hangs together in Gallery G2, Tools, beside the demo bays. Each panel in the series is printed at 48 inches on aluminum composite, lent to schools and libraries, and archived here with its reading.

The program behind the panel: Welding

9.0–12.0 months full-time. Curriculum: Safety; SMAW; GMAW; FCAW; GTAW; blueprint & symbols; metallurgy; oxy-fuel & plasma cutting; pipe welding; fabrication.

Courses

• 1. Universal Core: Safety, Math, Communication & Career — 148 hr (core), $1,185
• 2. Safety — 103 hr (trade), $1,850
• 3. SMAW — 103 hr (trade), $1,850
• 4. GMAW — 102 hr (trade), $1,830
• 5. FCAW — 102 hr (trade), $1,830
• 6. GTAW — 102 hr (trade), $1,830
• 7. Blueprint & symbols — 102 hr (trade), $1,830
• 8. Metallurgy — 102 hr (trade), $1,830
• 9. Oxy-fuel & plasma cutting — 102 hr (trade), $1,830
• 10. Pipe welding — 102 hr (trade), $1,830
• 11. Fabrication — 102 hr (trade), $1,830
• 12. Capstone Project — 216 hr (capstone), $2,160
• 13. Externship / Worksite Placement — 324 hr (externship), $1,295
• 14. Certification Exam Preparation — 90 hr (exam_prep), $900

Credentials: ASME Sec. IX pipe; AWS D1.1 Certified Welder; AWS SENSE L1-2; NCCER Welding L1-4.

Every course above carries a written exam, an observed skills demonstration, a signed log and a safety audit; the program ends with the capstone, the externship and the credential exam.