Permit Required Confined Spaces

My official question to OSHA was… Recently, OSHA issued an LOI aligning with NFPA 350 regarding PRCS isolation. In particular, OSHA stated that a pipe passing through a PRCS but not terminating within the space would NOT have to be isolated and evacuated. I want to know if this practice would be acceptable if the…...

A fire ignited inside a silo (a confined space) at this firm’s sawmill, and the water used to extinguish it had frozen the wood fiber inside the silo. While a subcontractor’s worker was pressure washing the fiber inside the silo, a large volume of fiber dislodged from an overhang above the work area. The fiber…...

Both OSHA and NFPA state that if the pipe does NOT terminate within the space, the pipe does NOT have to be evacuated to consider the contents of the pipe a “potential” to generate a HAZ ATM. In a recent OSHA LOI, OSHA used several thresholds that the employer should/must use in its evaluation of…...

Based on recent updates from USCG and NFPA, we now know that two days after the incident, a marine chemist arrived on the scene in Alaska and tested the atmosphere of the barge involved in the accident. But the atmosphere therein had been sufficiently ventilated to allow firefighters to enter and recover the body of…...

Way back in 2015, I shared a practice I have used for most of my career, after working a major turnaround back in the 1990’s. And anyone who has worked a turnaround at a processing plant will certainly understand what I am trying to address with this practice. Bottom line, we should NEVER put the…...

Reporting Period: October 2024 – September 2025 Executive Summary During the FY 2025 reporting period, OSHA issued 309 citations across 112 inspections related to the Permit-Required Confined Space standard (1910.146). Total penalties for this period reached $2,174,234. The data reveal a heavy concentration of enforcement in the manufacturing sector, though the highest average penalties per…...