Fire involving petrol saw
ACTIVITY:
MAINTENANCE & HOUSEKEEPING
TITLE
Fire involving petrol saw
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
WHAT HAPPENED
On Friday 15th of October, a person was using a petrol powered saw to cut reinforcing wires between concrete beams. As he was cutting, the saw caught fire. He discarded the saw and successfully extinguished the flames with a fire extinguisher. Luckily he was not injured.
The saw was inspected after the incident. The fuel cap was secure and the ring-seal on the inside of the cap was in place. It transpired that the operator had recently refuelled the saw.
It was established that the saw body had a mixture of fresh fuel and residual fuel coating it. The sparks from the cutting operation ignited this mixture causing the fire.
ACCIDENT / INCIDENT IMAGES
Click image to enlarge
LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS TAKEN
To help prevent any more occurrences like this:
1. All petrol-powered equipment should be regularly cleaned to remove residual fuel contamination after refuelling.
2. Refuelling must always utilise a suitable funnel to minimise spill potential.
3. Cutting operations using this method should always follow hot work principles and have a suitable fire extinguisher to hand.
4. All personnel using this type of equipment must be suitably trained.
LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS IMAGES
ACTIVITY:
MAINTENANCE & HOUSEKEEPING
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