Permit Required Confined Spaces

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When using Blinding/Blanking or Disconnect and Misalignment as an energy isolation method for your PRCS, do these isolation points have to be secured in their safe position with a lockout lock or tagout tag?  In other words, Can I install a blind/blank and not tag it out in the field indicating that it is an…...

UPDATED on 9/19/2015 @ 12:25 pm – As I sit here in my truck eating lunch, I thought I would update this posting after having a very nice and interesting phone call with some of the nice and very helpful folks @ OSHA.  Please see the bottom of this post for more info for those…...

OSHA has announced a 60-day temporary enforcement policy of its Confined Spaces in Construction standard, which becomes effective Aug. 3, 2015. The agency is postponing full enforcement of the new standard to Oct. 2, 2015, in response to requests for additional time to train and acquire the equipment necessary to comply with the new standard…....

My phone has not stopped ringing with clients who have received a ton of advertising about how this “new OSHA rule will impact you.”  Some of this literature is just disgusting in how it misleads an unsuspecting manager who wants to do the right thing.  But as I began to research some of these claims,…...

OSHA has announced their Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Permit-Required Confined Spaces in General Industry Standard.  Some of these announcements have some interesting tid-bits in them.  This PRCS announcement listed all the documentation one would need to fully comply with 1910.146.  Most of us could list many of these items, but…...

The Technical Committee has completed the second draft revisions and, absent any Notice of Intent to Make a Motion (NITMAMs), the new guide will be released this coming November!  This document explains  “how to” comply with provisions in the existing confined space regulations and standards by providing more detailed guidance on subjects such as hazard…...

As the debate rages on regarding rescue services, there is ONE SMALL and SIMPLE requirement that would STOP ALL entries… 1910.146(j) Duties of entry supervisors. The employer shall ensure that each entry supervisor: … 1910.146(j)(4) Verifies that rescue services are available and that the means for summoning them are operable; This Entry Supervisor REQUIREMENT could…...

Seven (7)  incidents were found in a search for firefighter fatalities involving confined spaces.  Eight firefighters were killed in these seven incidents.  The victims were not necessarily in the confined spaces when fatally injured. Five of the seven incidents were investigated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH). The investigation summaries and…...

This is a slippery slope for us and OSHA to walk.  It is clearly a requirement when contractors enter our Permit Required Confined Spaces (PRCS), but how do we demonstrate that we are indeed “debriefing” these contractors as required by 1910.146(c)(8)(v)?  What do we have on hand that can show all entries involving contractors involved…...

Employees risked potentially lethal suffocation caused by dangerous fumes as the company did not test the atmosphere and properly ventilate the air in food transport tankers before allowing workers to enter. After receiving an employee complaint, OSHA initiated an investigation on Aug. 6, 2014, at the tank-cleaning facility. The agency issued two willful and six…...

This fatal Hotwork Incident is a reminder of the dangers of welding inside Confined Spaces, ESPECIALLY those that contained a flammable liquid or gas!  The USCG did an excellent job with this investigation and report, laying out the timeline and facts leading up to this incident that caused this incident to occur.  It is a…...