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Find the extinguisher before you spark

Find the extinguisher before you spark

Fire and hot work 5 min 29 CFR 1926.150

Why it matters

A fire extinguisher rated not less than 2A is provided so the travel distance to it is not more than 100 feet. Find it before you start work that can spark. If the fire is bigger than a small trash-can fire, or smoke is building, get people out and call for help.

The talk

A fire extinguisher rated not less than 2A is provided so the travel distance to it is not more than 100 feet. That is the rule in 1926.150. Before you start work that can throw a spark, walk to the extinguisher you will use. Do not wait until you smell smoke to look for it. If material is stacked in front of it, move the material. An extinguisher you cannot reach is the same as no extinguisher. Know which one covers your area. Look again after the crew starts stacking, because a clear path this morning can be blocked by the first load.

If you use one, pull the pin. Aim at the base of the fire, not at the flames up high. Squeeze the handle. Sweep the discharge across the base until the small fire is out. Stay where you can see the base, and keep a way out behind you. Do not turn your back the second the flames drop. Watch that it does not light again while the extinguisher is still in your hands. If you were not told to use it, get people moving and call for help. Do not crowd the person who is on the extinguisher.

An extinguisher is for a small fire, the size of a small trash-can fire. If the fire is bigger than that, or if smoke is building, get people out and call for help. Do not stay and empty one can into a fire that is already getting past you. Do not block the extinguisher with material, with a cart, or with a door you propped shut. When the work moves, look again. The extinguisher that was open this morning can sit behind the pile you just landed. Keep the face of it visible and the path to it clear for the rest of the shift.

Key points

  1. An extinguisher rated not less than 2A is provided.
  2. Travel distance to it is not more than 100 feet.
  3. Know where it is before you start work that can spark.
  4. Pull the pin, aim at the base, squeeze, and sweep.
  5. If the fire is bigger than a small trash-can fire, get people out and call for help.
  6. Do the same if smoke is building.
  7. Do not block the extinguisher with material.

Do this

  • Walk to the extinguisher before you start spark work.
  • Keep the path to it open and the face visible.
  • Pull the pin and aim at the base of a small fire.
  • Squeeze and sweep until that small fire is out.
  • Get people out and call for help if the fire or the smoke grows.

Do not do this

  • Do not wait until you smell smoke to look for the extinguisher.
  • Do not block it with material, a cart, or a shut door.
  • Do not aim at the flames up high and ignore the base.
  • Do not stay and fight a fire bigger than a small trash-can fire.
  • Do not stack the day's first load in front of it.

Talk about it

  1. Where is the extinguisher for the area we are in right now?
  2. What is stacked in front of an extinguisher that we need to move?
  3. Who calls for help if a fire gets bigger than a small trash-can fire?

This is a short crew briefing. It does not replace a competent person, training, or the law.

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