Hot work accidents occur throughout many industries in the United States, including food processing, pulp and paper manufacturing, oil production, fuel storage, and waste treatment. This session will define hot work activity, review case studies and recent incidents, identify best practices, review potential risks, and explain the importance of a fire watch and the importance of incident pre-planning. Participants will walk away with a clear understanding of what to look for and what steps to take when hot work activity is required in their facilities.

The first part of this session will highlight updates to NFPA 30 and explain the change in nomenclature. NFPA 30 is a central source for understanding and properly using regulatory documents that pertain to ignitible liquids. An overview of the big picture ideas that must be considered to develop and implement an effective risk management program for storage and use of ignitible liquids also will be presented.

Globally, the use of composite IBCs (CIBCs) for the storage and handling of ignitable liquids has introduced significant fire risks into storage and handling operations. Beginning with the sentinel research conducted by the UK Health and Safety Executive in the mid-2000s, continued research and educational efforts have resulted in improved understanding of the fire risk controls required to manage both the prevention and control of fires involving CIBCs. There are several standards that limit the use of CIBCs, but facilities continue to use CIBCs outside established limits and large-loss incidents continue to occur. This presentation will review large-loss incidents involving CIBCs from several countries, provide analysis of common root causes related to failures in the Basis of Safety related to these operations, and offer a pragmatic framework that can be used globally to establish and maintain a Basis of Safety that reduces the probability of future catastrophic fire events involving CIBCs.

Starting with a discussion of types of fuel gases and their properties, this presentation traces the impact from key incidents on code changes to NFPA 54, National Fuel Gas Code. Lessons learned relating to the various types of fuel gases are discussed with applications for industrial, commercial, and residential occupancies. Understanding and applying the requirements of NFPA 54 aids risk management and loss prevention wherever fuel gases are in use.

The first part of this session will highlight the changes to NFPA 58, Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code, that resulted in major improvements on safety for both industry personnel and their customers. This session will then describe the issues that confront the LP-Gas industry on a global basis. What is being done to keep the flame burning safely?

Many cities or communities may be located near industrial facilities, where the municipal fire departments may not have the necessary equipment or knowledge to fight the types of fires that could occur at these facilities. As catastrophic incidences may require the community to shelter-in-place or evacuate, an understanding of firefighter industrial fire training and equipment must be evaluated. This paper studies the recent industrial incidences from petrochemical facilities near city limits as well as incidences involving unstable chemicals. Pre-fire-planning, fire ground tactics, the use of new environmentally friendly fire-fighting foams, and the safety of emergency responders becomes critical. In addition, the effectiveness of environmentally friendly foams is brought to question when compared to types used previously. The need to capture and contain discharged foam becomes a key element in fire-fighting strategies.

Part 1 of a two-part series on energy storage systems will review a well-publicized incident involving a fire at an energy storage incident in Surprise, Arizona, in April 2019. This panel session will review the specifics of that incident including the perspective of the responders, the immediate aftermath of the event and how lessons from the event were implemented at a larger scale. Attendees will be able to: Understand the events that occurred in Surprise, Arizona; Identify key lessons learned from the incident; Describe the importance of proper incident preplanning

Fire and explosion risks are present in most industries that manufacture, handle, or generate combustible particulate solids, and there are many materials that can be explosive in dust form. In this session, combustible dust facts and case studies will provide examples of unique real-life scenarios you may encounter to help you understand risks and vulnerabilities in plants, why a protocol for prevention (Dust Hazard Analysis, DHA) is important, and to know why a qualified person is required to conduct a DHA. The purpose of this session is to educate engineers, owners, process managers, and more on how to comply with the NFPA 652 code requirement and to give them the confidence that they are keeping their hazards safe.

Part 2 of this two-part series on energy storage systems will review current best practices in fire protection around energy storage systems from, design, planning, maintenance, and responding to incidents at these installations. This panel session will provide insight from a number of perspectives, including a leader in energy storage system safety, first responders, researchers, and codes and standards experts. Attendees will be able to: Define energy storage systems; Identify best practices for fire protection of energy storage installations; Describe steps to take for developing good preplans

This session will present two independent research studies on combustible gas dispersion and detector location analysis in residential occupancies. The research deliverables from these studies have supported the development of new standard NFPA 715, Standard for the Installation of Fuel Gases Detection and Warning Equipment, set for release in August 2022. The first study, conducted by Gexcon US, includes a review of the existing guidance for combustible gas detector location, in which over 250 CFD simulations were performed with natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas at a wide range of plausible leak types and environments to produce robust technical bases upon which gas detector location recommendations can be made. The second study, conducted by Fire & Risk Alliance, performed a series of 150 large-scale tests to map the dispersion and detection of natural gas in a two-story residential test structure. The corresponding CFD modeling of the experiments will be presented along with the GUI developed to compare results based on the test conditions or sensor locations.

Join our panel of experts as they come together to broach hot issues and challenging conversation around the NFPA Fire & Life Safety Ecosystem™. Weaving together the day’s sessions, each panel member brings passion for safety and a different perspective to the table as they share their real-life experiences to illustrate how important every action within the Ecosystem effects building and life safety across occupancies, roles, and responsibilities from industrial to residential and corporate to individual.