Electrical welding is an important process
It is widely used in modern industrial production and life
But if the welding operator
Neglect of safety protection during operation
or violating safety operating procedures
It will bury a fire hazard
Welding operations belong to hot operations, and hot operations, no hot operations, unlicensed operations, contact with flammable and explosive materials during operation, and lack of corresponding fire-fighting facilities are all illegal operations, which can easily cause fire or explosion.
Fire hazards
Open flame operation High solder joint temperature
Electrical welding is an open flame operation, and the temperature of the solder joint can usually reach 3600-6000 °C, which is dangerous with high temperature, high pressure, flammability and explosion.
Sparks fly and ignite surrounding combustibles
There are a large number of high-temperature sparks and welding slag splashes during welding operations, which can smolder and spread when in contact with combustibles such as wood, cotton and linen, causing fire, and may cause explosion when in contact with explosive gas.
Wire dragging: The welder line is short-circuited
The connecting power cord of the welding machine is often dragged during operation, which is easy to cause aging and damage to the line insulation, resulting in a short circuit and ignition of surrounding combustibles.
Case 1
Jilin Changchun Hongyu small oil cake restaurant "9.28" major fire accident
On September 28, 2022, a major fire accident occurred at Hongyu Small Oil Cake People's Restaurant in Changchun City, Jilin Province, resulting in 17 deaths. After investigation, the cause of the fire was caused by illegal welding operations. The restaurant has a total of 2 floors, the building height is 6.5 meters, the actual construction area is about 261 square meters (property right certificate area is 135 square meters), the building was originally a one-storey building, and the property owner built a two-story floor by himself. The main problems and lessons: the restaurant carried out the "gas to oil" transformation in violation of regulations, did not carry out the construction in the state of suspension according to the regulations, and the construction operation was selected during the peak business and crowded periods, the welding personnel did not have the qualification certificate for welding and cutting operations, and the fire was caused by illegal and risky hot work, and some windows were blocked by advertising plaques and anti-theft windows, which eventually led to a tragedy.
Case 2
Henan Anyang Kaixinda Trading Co., Ltd. "11.21" particularly major fire accident
On November 21, 2022, a particularly serious fire accident occurred in Kaixinda Trading Co., Ltd. in Anyang City, Henan Province. After investigation, the cause of the fire was that the person in charge of Kaixinda Trading Co., Ltd. violated the law and regulations in the warehouse on the first floor, and the high-temperature welding slag ignited the packaging carton, resulting in the bottled polyurethane foam caulk in the carton being heated and exploded and caught fire. Lessons learned: The fire building was a two-story steel structure, and the factory building was originally designed as a civilian exhibition hall, which was illegally transformed into 5 production workshops and 3 warehouses. Illegal electrical welding operations in the warehouse on the first floor, and failure to implement on-site safety monitoring measures. There are many enterprises in the factory, upstairs production and processing, downstairs logistics and warehousing, mainly garment workshops, furniture factories, pharmaceutical warehouses, stacked a large number of knitted fabrics, raw cotton, plastic products, rapid spread after the fire. The plant has not been audited and accepted by fire protection, and no one in many enterprises is responsible for fire management, and fire protection facilities cannot be used normally.
Case 3
Hebei Cangxian abandoned cold storage demolition project "3.27" major fire accident
On March 27, 2023, a major fire accident occurred during the demolition of an abandoned cold storage in Cangxian County, Hebei Province, resulting in 11 deaths, 1 injury and a direct economic loss of about 13.23 million yuan. After investigation, in the process of dismantling the abandoned cold storage, when the on-site operators used gas welding to cut the metal shelves in the warehouse, the gas cutting flame ignited the wall insulation material in the warehouse and caused a fire. The building that caught fire was originally the fresh-keeping cold storage of Cuierzhuang Zao Industry Co., Ltd., which was built in 2007, put into use in 2008, and abandoned in 2021. At the beginning of this year, the land on which the abandoned cold storage is located was expropriated by the local government. The cold storage is a single-storey brick and concrete structure, with a north-south passage about 5.7 meters wide in the middle of the building, with 5 warehouses on the west side and 6 warehouses on the east side. The inner layer of the wall insulation material is polystyrene insulation board with a thickness of about 10 cm, and the outer layer is sprayed with polyurethane foam material with a thickness of about 5 cm. There are metal shelves about 2.65 meters high in the warehouse, and bamboo rows are placed on the shelves. The main problems and lessons: the demolition project was illegally contracted and subcontracted, the relevant information was not filed with the local housing and urban-rural development department, the construction unit and the person in charge of the demolition site did not have the corresponding qualifications, and the actual condition, surrounding environment, and protective measures of the demolition were not investigated, and the fire risk on the site was not discovered in time. It does not have the ability of safety management, has no experience in dismantling the cold storage, does not take any safety protection measures for the combustibles in the gas cutting area, does not arrange on-site supervision, and is not equipped with any fire-fighting equipment. Temporary employment of construction personnel, three groups of different types of workers at the same time. The 6 people who started the fire construction at the site did not obtain the corresponding qualification certificates, did not receive safety education and training, lacked safety awareness, started fires in violation of regulations, and risky operations, resulting in major casualties.
Case 4
Zhejiang Jinhua Wei Jiali Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. factory "4.17" major fire accident
On April 17, 2023, a major fire accident occurred at the factory of Weijiali Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. in Wuyi County, Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, resulting in a total of 11 deaths. After investigation, the cause of the fire was the fire caused by the high-temperature welding slag generated by the welder's illegal welding, which fell and ignited the wire drawing paint below. The building that caught fire was a three-story steel structure workshop, and the property right unit of the building was Zhejiang Weijiali Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. The plant is subleased to 6 enterprises, including Wuyi Jiafeng Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., Jinhua Yeli Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., Chen Long Hardware, Wuyi Hongsheng Wood Industry Co., Ltd., Yongkang Zhonghe Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., and Wuyi Yuxuan Door Industry. The main problems and lessons: the two factories are declared for fire protection approval in the nature of Class D, and the use function is changed without authorization, which is actually mainly used for the production and storage of wooden doors, copper doors and other products, and there are process sections such as painting, and some fire hazards are Class A, which is inconsistent with the fire safety design of the building, and the building fire prevention and fire protection facilities do not meet the actual requirements. The plant is rented out at will, one factory on one floor, or even multiple factories on one floor, the person responsible for fire safety management and the manager of the plant area are not clarified, the unified fire safety management organization is not established, the fire protection responsibilities of the tenants are not clear, the management is chaotic, and no one organizes the evacuation of the employees of the tenant enterprises after the fire. After the employees of the first floor discovered the fire, no one notified the employees of the third floor to escape. When the welding personnel carried out the welding operation, they did not implement the safety management measures for hot work, did not implement personnel care, did not clean up the surrounding combustibles, and did not take effective extinguishing measures after the fire was discovered. According to the accident investigation report's suggestions on the handling of the relevant responsible personnel and responsible units, 9 personnel, including Hu Moumou, the legal representative of Wei Jiali Company and the landlord of the factory where the incident occurred, have been taken criminal compulsory measures by the judicial organs, 20 relevant public employees have been dealt with, and the accident enterprise has been dealt with in accordance with the law.
Case five
Beijing Changfeng Hospital, Fengtai District, Beijing, "4.18" major fire accident
At 12:57 on April 18, 2023, a major fire accident occurred at Beijing Changfeng Hospital in Fengtai District, Beijing, resulting in 29 deaths. After investigation, the accident was caused by the sparks generated during the internal renovation and construction of the inpatient department of the hospital and ignited the volatiles of the combustible paint on the site. Fifteen people, including the hospital's president, vice president, project construction leader, and on-site operators, have been criminally detained by the public security organs in accordance with the law on suspicion of the crime of major liability accidents, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate has supervised the major fire accident case of Beijing Changfeng Hospital.
Facing these security risks
How can we prevent welding fires?
Precautionary measures
Implement a safety responsibility system
Strict safety management of the construction site, the implementation of the safety responsibility system step by step, the division of labor and responsibilities of personnel, strengthen the review of the electrical welding construction operators entering the site, and strictly control the safety measures.
Operators are certified to work
The construction unit must use hot operators who have passed the national formal training examination, and the welding and cutting operation items must be consistent with the qualification certificates in the special type of work operation certificate obtained by it.
Welding work is strictly prohibited during business hours
In crowded places that are in business and use, it is forbidden to carry out construction and maintenance operations with fire hazards, such as electric welding, gas welding, gas cutting, grinding wheel cutting, and painting.
Clean up the surrounding combustibles
Before operation, the surrounding combustible materials should be moved to a safe place, and if they cannot be moved, they should be covered with non-combustible materials.
Equipped with corresponding fire extinguishing equipment during operation
Fire extinguishing equipment should be equipped for on-site welding, cutting, baking or heating and other hot operations, and fire guardians should be set up.
Eliminate the fire in time at the end of the operation
After the construction operation, the fire should be eliminated immediately, the work site should be thoroughly cleaned up, and the monitoring should be carried out for a period of time to ensure that there are no potential safety hazards before leaving the site, so as to leave no dead ends.
Work in a ventilated and well-lit environment
Sufficient lighting during construction work can greatly avoid misoperation or other potential safety hazards. Toxic and harmful gases and fumes will be generated during the welding process, and gas poisoning can be avoided in a well-ventilated environment.
Check the equipment safety attachments before operation
Before the operation, the welding wire, grounding wire, welding tongs and tempering valves, fusible plugs and other accessories on the acetylene bottle of the welding machine should be checked in time to ensure that the safety facilities are intact and effective during the operation.
Electric welding and gas welding operation "ten prohibitions"
1. Welders must be certified to work, and those who do not have a special operation certificate are not allowed to weld.
2. All welding and cutting within the first, second and third level fire range are not allowed to be welded without going through the approval procedures for hot fire.
3. The welder does not understand the surrounding situation of the welding and cutting site, and is not allowed to weld.
4. When the welder does not know whether the inside of the weldment is safe, he is not allowed to weld.
5. All kinds of containers filled with combustible gas, flammable liquids and toxic substances are not allowed to be welded and cut until they are thoroughly cleaned and the danger is eliminated.
6. The use of combustible materials as insulation layer, cooling layer, thermal insulation equipment, or where sparks can splash, is not allowed to weld and cut without taking practical and reliable safety measures.
7. Pipes and containers with pressure or sealing are not allowed to be welded.
8. Flammable and explosive materials near the welding and cutting parts are not allowed to be welded and cut before they are cleaned up or effective safety measures are taken.
9. Welding and cutting are not allowed when there are types of work that conflict with open flame operations nearby.
10. The parts connected to the external unit are not allowed to be welded without finding out whether there is any danger or knowing that there is danger and failing to take effective measures.