Confined Spaces: How to Keep Them from Turning into Tombs

The dairy farmer slipped his legs into the entry of the manure pit. He never much liked going down there but, after 18 years of doing so, it was as familiar as (even if a lot more unpleasant than) his own home.

Some time later, four family members realized they hadn’t seen the farmer in some time. They checked the pit, and were shocked to see his unmoving body at its base. Frantically, they climbed in after him. Within moments, his entire would-be rescue team lay dead besides him.

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OSHA’s confined spaces training regulation are among the most rigorous the agency has. Meet them more easily and effectively with BLR’s multi-format on CD Total Training Resource: Confined Space Entry. Try it at no cost or risk. Click for details.

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Investigators later pieced together what happened in the previously “safe” pit. “Weather conditions had been favorable for a buildup of methane and hydrogen sulfide,” reports BLR’s training program, Total Training Resource: Confined Space Entry. Both gases are generated by the decomposition of organics such as cow manure. Concentrated in a confined space, both can be as deadly as cyanide.

Confined spaces, says OSHA, are areas large enough for a human to enter, with limited entry or exit (often through a single hatchway), and not designed for continuous occupancy. Often, they are process or storage areas, normally sealed so the dangers within—high pressure, hot, or toxic materials or gases, or mechanical or electrical hazards—stay within. The danger happens when a human enters to inspect or service what’s inside.

A life-threatening danger it is. Some 20 or more workers die each year in confined space incidents, according to government statistics, with many more injured. Ironically, as in the farmer’s case, 60 percent of those fatalities are well-meaning, but untrained, fellow-workers losing their own lives while trying to save someone else.

For this reason, OSHA has instituted rigorous regulations for confined space activity, and recently proposed even stronger regs for confined space work in construction. The public comment period on the proposal expired in January, with the new regs due any time.

OSHA’s confined space regulations for general industry spell out the following employer responsibilities:

Identify the specific hazards of each confined space situation. These may differ considerably, based on the use of the space, and can include poisoning, drowning, flash fire, explosion, or engulfment. A common hazard relates to the oxygen content in the air. Any concentration of less than 19.5 percent or more than 23.5 percent (normal oxygen content is 21 percent) requires mechanical means to provide oxygen or dilute excess oxygen, which is a fire and explosion hazard. Measurements for oxygen level and toxic gases must be taken before and during every entry.

Know the signs and physical symptoms of dangerous exposure.

Provide whatever protective equipment is needed, at employer expense. This may include retrieval harnesses, respirators, two-way radios, protective clothing, and other gear.

Post required warning signs or fencing around the entryway.

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You can try BLR’s Total Training Resource: Confined Space Entry at no cost or risk. Click for more information.

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Provide an attendant who stands guard outside the confined space while workers are inside, monitoring potential hazards, keeping unauthorized personnel away, and remaining in constant communication with those within. The attendant is authorized to order an immediate evacuation, as is a confined space entry supervisor to whom the team reports.

Create a written confined space entry plan, including designation of a trained rescue team.

Obtain an entry permit for any confined space that is hazardous to safety and health, which details all the above issues, and post it outside the space. The permit must be cancelled when all workers are safely outside.

Extensively train anyone authorized for confined space work, either as entrant, attendant, supervisor, or rescuer, before they do the work and any time the job changes. Rescuers must receive annual training.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at what this training needs to cover, how often it needs to be done, and what resources are available to help you do it.

Additional Note: After publication, we received this reader email:

I am a long time subscriber to your Safety Enews, since it was the BLR Safety Ezine, and before. I share your stories from time to time in the OSHA National Office.

Today you had a good piece on Confined Spaces. It prompts a suggestion.  Next time you cover this, consider pointing to the OSHA Confined Spaces Advisor (expert system).  It determines whether a space is a confined space and, if so, whether it is a Permit Required Confined Space. Once users knows they have a Permit Required Confined Space, they need training and more.

The online version of the Confined Spaces Advisor is at http://www.dol.gov/elaws/confined.htm .

Edward Stern
The contents of this message are mine personally and
do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.