Permit Required Confined Spaces

At 10:45 a.m. on January 11, 2020, Employee #1, employed by an oil and gas operation company, was overseeing a heater treater welding repair. Employee #2 emptied the remaining fluids in the heater treater. Employee #1 power washed the heater treater to remove any remaining flammable materials and ensure that it was safe for welding…....

CAUTION:  This interim order is specific to the facility requesting it.  Do NOT use these measures at your facility!!! If I had a nickel for every time I have heard the excuse… “its more dangerous to do these isolations than it is to do the entry with lesser isolations,” I would not be writing this…...

On or about January 11, 2020, employees engaged in performing cleaning and maintenance on a heater treater system with a combustible engine power washer within range of flammable material stored within the heater treater were exposed to burn hazards…. Membership Required You must be a member to access this content.View Membership LevelsAlready a member? Log...

As the debate continues to rage regarding the types of PRCS rescue and when they are required, OSHA has seen fit to publish the following: (emphasis by me) Effective emergency planning is vital to ensure that any entrant who becomes sick or is injured in a permit space can be evacuated quickly and safely. The…...

This a followup to my earlier posting about OSHA LOI and using both Reclassifications and Alternate procedures on the same space at the same time.  I received a lot of questions from that post so I thought I would share the info I shared with those who contacted me.  This information is also directly from…...

Jonathan Zimmerman and I received some less than flattering feedback when I stated in our 2019 ASSP presentation that there are NO exemptions for NOT having a rescue plan for ENTRY RESCUE when the entry method is via a “permit” (1910.146 (d)-(k).  This single topic garnered more discussion after our session than any other –…...

UPDATE from OSHA case file:  At 12:30 p.m. on February 20, 2020, Employee #1, employed by a structural steel fabricator and erector company, was entering a tank to clean it. The tank had a combination of Ecocure II and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) residues and had been purged with nitrogen. Employee #1 entered the permit-required…...

We have all seen it… the person assigned to be the PRCS Attendant (and Fire Watches suffer this infliction as well) are the youngest, weakest, least trained, least experienced, lowest paid, and most incapable person on the job/team. As I have written about before, one of my former employers actually but an age restriction on…...

OSHA published a Letter of Interpretation making it clear that we can use “alternative entry” methods such that when the physical hazard(s) can be ELIMINATED OR ISOLATED through engineering controls, AND any atmospheric hazards can be CONTROLLED through forced-air ventilation and continuous atmospheric monitoring, the space may be entered using the alternate procedures set forth…...

At 12:45 a.m. on December 28, 2019, Employee #1 entered a tanker truck that last held Vinyl Acetate Polymer Residue, a hazardous waste material, and became unresponsive while in the tanker. Employee #2 and Employee #3 entered the tank to rescue Employee #1 and also became unresponsive. Employee #4 entered the tank and was able…...

Today, the NFPA adopted some interesting revisions to their NFPA 350, Guide for Safe Confined Space Entry and Work.  One item that many may find interesting is 8.6.5 Pipes and lines that run through a confined space… Here are the most notable updates/revisions: Non-Members can find the changes Here…. Membership Required You must be a...

From 2011 to 2018, 1,030 workers died from occupational injuries involving a confined space. The annual figures range from a low of 88 in 2012 to a high of 166 in 2017. Fatal occupational injuries involving confined spaces, 2011-2018 Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Fatal work injuries 120 88 112 116…...