THE most critical element in ensuring that work inside confined spaces is completed safely is the ability to anticipate safety problems before they become life threatening. Hazard evaluation can be as simple as evaluating changes in work attitude or as complex as evaluating environmental conditions.
MANY decisions to enter confined spaces are made without recognition of the expected danger. Lack of knowledge, carelessness, and simple acceptance of the hazard are the main reasons. The decisions to enter are made in spite of all efforts to provide hazard awareness and safety training.
CONSTRUCTION workers make up only 6 percent of the total workforce, but they are involved in more than 20 percent of all work-related fatalities. Trenching accidents that are directly related to excavation work account for almost 200 deaths annually.
THE attendant is the last individual external to the confined space who can monitor working conditions that will ensure the safety of the workers inside the work space. Attention to specific details outlined on the work permit, the ability to adequately oversee "permitted operations," and the authority to "stop work" when rules are violated are the critical elements of the responsibility.
SAD but true: In spite of all safety regulations and precautions, almost 500 deaths occurred in confined spaces during the past five years. Seventy-five percent of these deaths involved skilled workers who were cleaning, repairing, or performing routine maintenance.
TOXIC VOC exposure is one of the most overlooked hazards in confined space entry. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds characterized by their tendency to evaporate easily at room temperature.
A worker is about to enter a confined space. Prior to entry, he reaches down to his belt and pulls out his gas monitoring device. He points the device into the confined space and initiates a scan of the entire area. Beams of light emit out of the instrument in all directions and cover the entire interior of the confined space.
OXYGEN deficiency is one of the most common of all categories of atmospheric hazards. It stands to reason that the sensors used to measure oxygen concentration are one of the most widely used types of sensors included in portable atmospheric monitors, especially those used in confined space monitoring procedures.
JUST about every industrial facility and parking lot with a manhole has the potential to contain an Occupational Safety and Health Administration-defined "confined space."
I started (and continue) my professional career, for better or worse, in the Golden State of California. As a result, much of my early understanding of health and safety management practices was framed around the early requirements of California's Occupational Safety and Health Division (Cal/OSHA).
OF all the dangers inherent to confined space work, it's the invisible threat of atmospheric hazards that poses the greatest risks to employees.
PERMIT-required confined spaces are death traps if entry teams don't take proper precautions.
THE North American multi-sensor gas detector market is very large. Most of these instruments are purchased, at least in part, for use in confined space entry programs.
THE industrial environment has changed substantially since OSHA first defined confined space entry (CSE) regulation in the late '70s, and gas detection regulation has not kept pace.
I have never actually entered a confined space, and to be honest, I have never really wanted to. I have, however, been responsible for ensuring the safe and effective entry into literally hundreds of confined spaces. One thing is for certain: The safest entry is no entry at all!
OXYGEN deficiencies, explosive atmospheres, and exposure to toxic gases and vapors injure or kill hundreds of workers every year during confined space entry procedures.
MANY articles in safety magazines address the subject of confined space rescue, so everyone should be familiar with 1910.146 (d)(9). It states that a company entering permit-required confined spaces must: "Develop and implement procedures for summoning rescue and emergency services, for rescuing entrants from permit spaces . . . ."
OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.146, "Permit Required Confined Spaces," contains the requirements for practices and procedures to protect employees in general industry from the hazards of entry into permit-required confined spaces.