Handbook EL-803, Maintenance Employee’s Guide to Safety, Section XVII-E, Fire Watchers, is revised to clarify requirements related to fire-watch duration. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires that fire watches be held for 30 minutes after completion of welding or cutting.
Handbook EL-803, Maintenance Employee’s Guide to Safety
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Section XVII, Welding
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E. Fire Watchers
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[Revise the second paragraph of E as follows:]
n Fire watchers must:
— Be trained in the use of fire-extinguishing equipment.
— Be familiar with the facility and the procedures for sounding an alarm in case of fire.
— Maintain a fire watch for at least a half hour after completion of welding or cutting operations to detect and extinguish possible smoldering fires.
— Watch for fires in exposed areas.
— Try to extinguish incipient-stage fires.
— Sound the alarm immediately.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next printed version of Handbook EL-803 and into the next online update of Handbook EL-803, available on the Postal Service™ PolicyNet website:
n Go to http://blue.usps.gov.
n Under “Essential Links” in the left-hand column, click PolicyNet.
n Then click HBKs.
The direct URL for the Postal Service PolicyNet website is http://blue.usps.gov/cpim.
Safety and Environmental Performance Management, Employee Resource Management, 9-10-09
