With year 2020 already claiming 7 lives inside PRCSs within the USA, I have to ask the question: Has OSHA’s Permit-Required Confined Space standard meet its goal? In OSHA’s Preamble for 1910.146, published in 1993, OSHA stated:
OSHA has determined that permit spaces pose significant risks to employees (62 fatalities and 12,643 injuries and illnesses annually) and estimates that compliance with the Permit-Required Confined Space standard will reduce the risk of permit space hazards by 85 percent (preventing 53 fatalities and 10,746 injuries and illnesses annually). This constitutes a substantial reduction of significant risk of material harm.
