You need to take special care if heat is used in conjunction with flammable materials, such as when cooking with fats. Ducts serving food grinders, cookers and ovens should be kept clean to avoid a build-up of grease.

Gas- and oil-burning plant, including fuel storage tanks where appropriate, should be installed in accordance with the appropriate standards. Such plant should be properly operated and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. In particular, emergency fuel cut-off devices should be periodically checked to ensure they work and flues inspected regularly and cleaned as necessary.

Activities such as welding, flame cutting, use of blow lamps or portable grinding equipment can pose a serious fire hazard and need to be strictly controlled when carried out in areas near flammable materials. This can be done by having a written permit to work for the people involved (whether they are your employees or those of a contractor).

A permit to work is appropriate in situations of high hazard/risk and, for example, where there is a need to:

ensure that there is a formal check confirming that a safe system of work is being followed;

co-ordinate with other people or activities;

provide time-limits when it is safe to carry out the work; and

provide specialised personal protective equipment (such as breathing apparatus) or methods of communication.

Any employees or contractors employed to carry out hot work should know that they cannot begin work until the person issuing the permit to work has explained the safety precautions fully. Hand-over of the permit should be recorded - usually by both the person issuing the permit and the person receiving it signing it.

Any location where 'hot work' is to take place should be examined to make sure that all material which could be easily ignited has either been removed or has been suitably protected against heat and sparks.

Suitable fire extinguishers should be readily available and a check made to ensure that people carrying out the work know how to use them and how to raise the alarm.

Where automatic fire detection equipment is installed and is likely to be actuated by heat, smoke or dust etc produced from the hot work, the detectors should be isolated for the duration of the work and reinstated immediately after work is finished.

The essential requirements of a permit to work form

The permit to work should therefore contain the following details:

measures to make sure all flammable material has been removed from the work area or, if it cannot be removed, adequately protected from heat or sparks;

the fire-fighting equipment to be available in the work area;

the permitted time span of the activity and the level of supervision required; and

the actions to be taken when the work is finished, including initial and subsequent checks that there are no smouldering or hot materials which could allow a fire to break out at a later time.

Cylinders of flammable gases and oxygen should not be taken into confined spaces because of the risk of serious fire or explosion from a build-up of fuel gases, eg from a leak. All hot work equipment should be removed from the confined space whenever work stops - even for a break.

The main causes of fires originating from the use of electrical equipment are:

overheating cables and electrical equipment due to overloading;

damaged or inadequate electrical insulation on cables or wiring;

flammable materials being placed too close to electrical equipment which may give off heat when operating normally or become hot due to a fault;

arcing or sparking by electrical equipment; and

the use of inappropriate or unsafe electrical equipment in areas where flammable atmospheres might be present, such as flammable liquid stores.

Explosions can occur if switchgear, power cables or motors are subject to a flow of electrical current which exceeds the maximum they were designed to work with.

All electrical systems must be designed, installed and maintained to prevent placing people in danger. There are a number of British Standards which offer guidance on how electrical systems and electrical equipment should be constructed and maintained. British Standard 7671 also offers practical advice on systems operating at up to 1000 V (see the References section for details).

Only suitably trained/qualified people should be allowed to install, maintain or otherwise work on electrical systems or equipment.

Further specific guidance on the use of electrical equipment and systems is given in HSE's Memorandum of guidance on the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (see the References section).

Make sure that individual heating appliances, particularly those which are portable, are used safely. Common causes of fire include:

failing to follow the manufacturer's instructions when using or changing cylinders of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG);

placing flammable materials on top of heating appliances;

placing portable heaters too close to flammable materials; and

careless refilling of heaters using paraffin.

Supplementary heating used during power failures or in exceptionally cold weather should be checked before being used and regularly serviced. If you use such appliances on a regular basis, it is better to use fixed convector heaters rather than portable heaters.

It is better to allow people to smoke in places specifically set aside for that purpose rather than attempting to ban smoking in the workplace entirely. This can help to avoid unauthorised smoking in hidden or unsupervised areas such as store cupboards; this has led to serious fires. However, you should identify those areas where it is unsafe to smoke because there are materials which can be easily ignited. These areas should be clearly marked as no smoking areas.

The careless disposal of smokers' materials is one of the main causes of fire. Make sure that metal waste bins, ashtrays etc are provided in areas where smoking is permitted, and that these are emptied regularly. Ashtrays should not be emptied into containers which can be easily ignited; nor should their contents be disposed of with general rubbish.

Many serious fires occur during building and maintenance work. This type of activity can increase the risk of fire and therefore needs to be carefully monitored and controlled (see also 'Hot work', on page 32). Extra fire precautions may be needed.

According to the size and use of the workplace and the nature of the work to be carried out, it may be necessary to carry out a new risk assessment so that all the hazards created by the work are identified and plans put in place to control the risks. Particular attention should be paid to:

accumulations of flammable waste and building materials;

the obstruction or loss of exits and exit routes;

fire doors propped or wedged-open;

openings created in fire-resisting partitions; and

the introduction of extra electrical equipment or other sources of ignition.

At the beginning of the working day, it is essential to ensure that sufficient escape routes remain available for people in the workplace, whether employees or contractors, and that other fire safety arrangements are still effective. At the end of the working day, a check should be made to ensure that all risks of fire have been removed or adequately controlled.

Flammable materials used during construction or maintenance work, such as adhesives, cleaning materials or paints, should be securely stored in a well ventilated area when not in use and kept separate from other materials. Rooms in which they are used should be well ventilated and free from sources of ignition. Gas cylinders not in use should be stored securely outside the workplace, preferably in the open air. Smoking and the use of naked flames should not be allowed when using flammable materials.

In workplaces fitted with automatic fire detection systems, you need to consider how false alarms can be prevented during building or maintenance work, or where hot work is being undertaken, while maintaining adequate fire warning arrangements. At the end of such work the systems should be reinstated and tested (if they have been de-activated). Take special care when restoring gas and electricity supplies to ensure that equipment has not been inadvertently left on. Further information on fire precautions on construction sites can be found in the publications referred to in the References section.

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