![]() One of OSHA’s first steps to conducting confined space work should be to determine if the hazards with the space can be controlled or eliminated, thus allowing for Alternate Entry procedures or total reclassification of the space itself. As employees conduct work within these spaces, one area often overlooked is the ability to rescue a worker trapped inside the space. Confined spaces may also be divided into several sub-categories, most notably are Permit-Required and Non-Permit Required Confined Spaces. ![]() Are large enough to enter inside and perform work. ![]() Not designed for continuous human occupancy, and 3. Energy Control - Lockout / Tagout ProgramĬonfined space entry is one of the most dangerous job tasks in most areas of industrial or construction employment.Energy Control Program Lockout / Tagout.The tunnel is several thousand feet long and connects two reservoirs with electricity-generating turbines. The fatally injured workers were trapped deep underground during an operation to coat the inside of the tunnel with epoxy using highly flammable solvents. * On October 2, 2007, five people were killed and three others injured when a fire erupted 1,000 feet underground in a tunnel at a hydroelectric power plant in Georgetown, Colorado, located approximately 45 miles west of Denver. If you need assistance in identifying the level of rescue your location might need, feel free to call us at: 80. (Remember your elders telling you that a stitch in time, saves nine? They were right.)īut every work location is different, as are the confined space rescue needs. As we explained earlier, abating existing and predictable hazards as soon as they arise is by far the best means of protecting workers. Confined space rescue teams are trained to size-up work environments and identify hazards.When it comes to worker safety, we often exceed the OSHA requirements (which are considered to be a bare minimum).The local fire department will take much longer. Whether the situation occurs in a tank or on a rooftop, an on-site confined space rescue team can respond to this situation within minutes and move the worker to a location where they can be transported to a hospital. OSHA doesn't really address the possibility of workers suffering a medical emergency and requiring evacuation.Reclassified confined spaces can also kill. In the example above, the penstock could have been entered under (c)(5) of the confined space standard since the only hazard was posed by the atmosphere. Many accidents have occured in confined spaces that have been entered under alternate entry procedures.To answer this question, I would offer the following points: So why spend that money if it's not required? They are told that many permit-required confined spaces can be entered under alternate entry methods and reclassified as non-permit spaces which means the employer does not have to provide confined space rescue. We often hear from students who are confined space rescue team leaders at their facilities that they are being asked to justify the time and expense needed to maintain the team. I guess in this analogy the buckets of MEK were a waste basket (incipient) fire and the rescue team members refusing to allow these buckets into the confined space would be the extinguishers. So the MEK went in and only one or two workers got out. But no one was present to break the cause and effect chain. In my opinion, the real value of a rescue team on that day would have been their refusal (hopefully) to permit workers to carry buckets of a volatile organic compound into a confined area. This chain of events had to be addressed much earlier. Once the fire was ignited, any rescue team would have had an impossible situation on their hands (workers trapped by a raging fire deep in a mountain). The company and contractor were cited for not having a confined space rescue team, but let's be honest here. Subsequently the enclosed work area became saturated with vapors and a random spark initiated the fire which killed several workers. The workers responded by bringing buckets of methyl ethyl ketone into the penstock to clean the nuzzles. For example, in the Georgetown, Colorado tragedy* (killing painters who were recoating a dam penstock with epoxy resins) the first event was clogging of the paint sprayers. Often the entrants respond to this upset situation by taking some action. The first link in this accident-causing chain is usually the occurrence of some unusual condition or event. As illustrated in a Chemical Safety Board video, methyl ethyl ketone ignites deep in a penstock killing several workers.
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