Certificates for different occupations
Hot work at a temporary workplace requires a certificate, whatever your occupation. This guidance shows, occupation by occupation, when it is required and when it is not.
How to use this guidance
It is the work and the environment it takes place in that decide, not the job title. The list is not complete, and many other occupations may also require a certificate. The safe way to find out is to read the insurance terms.
Asphalt paving
Asphalt paving and maintenance paving on roads often require heating the surface with an open flame. This is not considered hot work by definition, and does not require a certificate.
Vehicle recovery
Vehicle recovery using, for example, a cutting torch or angle grinder takes place in an environment with a risk of fire. Such work requires a certificate.
Car workshops
A workshop with combustible material around it, such as tyres, packaging and rubbish, is not specially arranged for hot work, and a certificate is required. The same applies when welding equipment is taken elsewhere in or outside the workshop. No certificate is required when the work takes place in a specially arranged workshop room that is a separate fire cell with non-combustible surfaces.
Fire services
No certificate is required when the fire service carries out hot work as part of an emergency response. When crews use angle grinders, welding equipment and the like to repair and maintain their own buildings, a certificate is required.
Farmers and farm relief workers
Most farmers have safety regulations for hot work in their fire insurance. A certificate is required when hot work takes place in an environment with a risk of fire, also for relief workers and others who do the work for the farmer. In a specially arranged workshop room that is a separate fire cell with non-combustible surfaces, no certificate is required.
Containers
Hot work in an open container requires a certificate.
Electricians and power line installers
The certificate requirement also applies to electricians and electrical and power line installers, for example when using a gas soldering iron in a switchboard cabinet. Hot work in environments with no fire risk does not require a certificate.
Tiles, roof tiles and paving slabs
Cutting ceramic tiles, concrete roof tiles, concrete slabs, stone slabs and the like with an angle grinder or other equipment that produces sparks is work that requires a certificate.
Gold and silversmiths, dental technicians
Melting metal over a gas flame takes place at a permanent, specially arranged workplace and on a very small scale. No certificate is required.
Floor layers
“Welding” floor coverings with hot air is work that requires a certificate.
Induction heating
Heating bolts and nuts with an induction coil produces local heating, and a certificate is not normally required, as long as the work follows the supplier's instructions.
Copper and tinsmiths
Soldering with hot air and an open flame on roofs requires a certificate, on both new and previously covered roofs. Soldering with a soldering iron without an open flame and without hot air does not require a certificate.
Shrink-wrapping pallet hoods and plastic film
Shrink-wrapping with hot air or an open flame requires a certificate in any environment with a fire risk, for example in a warehouse. In a separate fire cell with no fire risk, no certificate is required.
Laboratory work
Heating and sterilising over a gas flame takes place at a permanent, specially arranged workplace and on a very small scale. No certificate is required.
Painters
Removing old paint with hot air is work that requires a certificate.
Offshore
The certification scheme does not apply to offshore operations.
Plastic welding
“Welding” plastic with hot air, for example when making and repairing tarpaulins, is work that requires a certificate.
Plumbers
Soldering with an open flame at a workplace that is not specially arranged requires a certificate. Soldering with a soldering iron without an open flame and without hot air does not require a certificate, even at a workplace that is not specially arranged.
Shipyards
Hot work on buildings, cranes, quays and equipment at the shipyard requires a certificate. Ships under construction are insured under the Norwegian Marine Insurance Plan, so as a rule no certificate is required, but many shipyards have such requirements in their insurance agreements, and many require a certificate from all subcontractors. Ship repairs carried out by the shipyard's own or hired staff will normally require a certificate.
Forestry workers
Repair welding in the forest by a machine operator without liability insurance does not require a certificate, but a professional welder's liability insurance will require one. Work in the machine contractor's garage or building requires a certificate, whoever does it. We recommend a certificate for machine operators who carry out hot work.
Skate sharpening
Grinding with emery wheels that produce sparks is hot work. In a non-industrial business it does not, as a rule, require a certificate, but check whether the building owner's insurance agreement requires one.
Roofers
Roofing with an open flame, hot air or hot exhaust gas from combustion is work that requires a certificate.
Weed burning
Equipment that produces a flame from a nozzle or under a cover, and equipment where only the hot exhaust gas comes out, are both considered hot work that requires a certificate.
Water sampling
Brief use of a gas burner to disinfect a tap is hot work. In environments with no fire risk it does not require a certificate; in environments with a fire risk it does.
Road maintenance
When an open flame is used to remove road markings, a certificate is required in environments with a fire risk, but not otherwise.
Pupils and apprentices
Pupils in vocational upper secondary education do not need a certificate when the work is part of their teaching and led by a certified teacher. For apprentices in companies it varies between insurance companies: some require a certificate, others accept work supervised by someone who holds one.
Vocational teachers
A classroom used only for metalworking counts as a permanent, specially arranged workshop room, and the teacher does not need a certificate. If the room is also used for other things, such as woodwork, a certificate is required.
Source
This guidance is based on the Norwegian Fire Protection Association’s overview of occupations in the certification scheme «Brannvern ved utførelse av varme arbeider» (fire safety during hot work). If you are unsure, get in touch and we will help you.
Questions and answers
How can I be sure whether I need a certificate?
Read the insurance agreement, yours or your client's. If it requires a hot work certificate, that requirement applies.