hot work
n.— «The January 2006 explosion at the Bethune Point Wastewater Treatment Plant might not have happened if the city had a safety program specifying when “hot work,” using flames such as welding or torch cutting, could be done, according to the board.…Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules don’t apply to government work sites. If they did, “they would have had a hot work program… which would have alerted the workers with the need to look at what all the hazards were,” said Robert Hall, the board’s lead investigator. “When we interviewed the workers at this plant, many were unaware that this tank contained methanol, and none of them were aware of the hazards of methanol.”» —“Feds: Stricter Safety Rules for Workers” by David Royse Forbes Mar. 13, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Mary Beth in Greenville, South Carolina, wonders: Why do we say four-oh-nine for the number 409 instead of four-zero-nine or four-aught-nine? What are the rules for saying either zero or oh or aught or ought to indicate that arithmetical symbol...
One secret to writing well is … there is no secret! There’s no substitute for simply sitting down day after day to practice the craft and learn from your mistakes. Plus, childhood mixups around word definitions can lead to some funny stories...