Background
The Swedish Fire Protection Association's involvement in Hot Work has been ongoing for more than half a century. 1990 became a milestone with the SFPA presenting a standard for Hot Work and developing the first competence training programme.
What gave rise to the training programme was a radical increase in accidents and fire damage during the late 1980s caused by Hot Work. The SFPA then made the decision to, in consultation with the insurance companies, reverse this trend. New safety rules from the SFPA and stricter safety regulations in the insurance companies' terms formed the basis for the regulatory framework which, since 1990, has represented the standard for Hot Work. At the same time, the SFPA took on the responsibility for developing the competence training which today goes by the name Hot Work.
Currently there are about 326,000 people certified to perform Hot Work. The number of lives that have been saved by this injury prevention is impossible to count, but the damage costs for Hot Work have decreased since 1990 by 75 per cent.