What should be removed from your person before performing any hot work?

Before performing any hot work, it is essential to remove combustible items such as lighters or matches from your person. The reason for this is that hot work processes—such as welding, cutting, or grinding—generate sparks and heat that can ignite combustible materials, causing fires and explosions. Even small items like lighters or matches can create a significant safety hazard in an environment where flammable materials are present. Therefore, ensuring that these items are not on your person helps to reduce the risk of an ignition source contributing to an incident.

While personal items, loose-fitting clothing, and heavy tools also pose certain risks in specific contexts, they do not present the same immediate fire hazard as combustible items. Loose-fitting clothing can potentially get caught in machinery or tools, and heavy tools may pose ergonomic or physical risk, but they do not directly contribute to igniting a fire in the same way combustible items can. Thus, the focus on removing lighters and matches highlights a critical safety practice in hot work environments.