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Staying Out of the Line of Fire

April 2019

The Guyana projects involve the engineering, fabrication and construction of large pieces of infrastructure, such as production trees or the 120,000 barrel per day Liza Destiny floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. It is never a bad time to remind ourselves of important safety concepts, such as “line of fire.”

Line of fire is defined as being in harm’s way. It is the path of a moving object or the release of hazardous energy that intersects with one’s body and could do harm. This means that when you place yourself or any part of your body in a position where you are directly exposing yourself to a hazard, you have the potential to be hurt by that object. The most commonly hurt parts of the body are the hands, feet and head.

Common line-of-fire hazards include:

Overhead suspended loads
Moving machine parts
The “business end” of hand and power tools
The swing path of a door or object
Items under pressure (e.g., pressurized hoses)
Objects with stored potential energy (e.g., under tension, unstable)

How can we prevent line-of-fire injuries?

Have pre-job safety meetings to talk about the line of fire. Know that equipment, cables and machinery can have stored energy that can be released at any time if not careful.
Be aware of your surroundings, and understand the task at hand.
Prior to starting a task, take a step back and survey the work area. Refocus on the task at hand and identify any last minute hazards that may exist.
Report any hazards or dangerous situations to your supervisor.
Follow the rules and use your site’s safe work practices.
Use the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) for the task.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions about anything you don’t understand.

An example of good management of hazards associated with the line of fire: the operator and inspector are the only personnel present, the walkway is closed and signage communicates the closure .