Complete Confined Spaces Handbook

John F. Rekus

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780873714877
• eBook ISBN: 9781351459433
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Industrial Health & Safety
• Index: Technology & Engineering

This book provides plant managers, supervisors, safety professionals, and industrial hygienists with recommended procedures and guidance for safe entry into confined spaces. It reviews selected case histories of confined space accidents, including multiple fatalities, and discusses how a confined space entry program could have prevented them. It outlines the requirements of the OSHA permit-entry confined space standard and provides detailed explanations of requirements for lockout/tagout, air sampling, ventilation, emergency planning, and employee training. The book is filled with more than 100 line drawings and more than 150 photographs.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction and Overview

THE CONFINED SPACE PROBLEM

Confined space accidents don’t happen often, but when they do, they’re usually fatal. Even more alarming is that many confined space incidents involve multiple fatalities! How is it that these accidents which occur so seldom, claim so many lives in a single event?

As evidenced by reports issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the factor that most often turns a single confined space incident into a multiple death catastrophe is an unsuccessful rescue attempt. These ill-fated rescue efforts are usually made by well intentioned but untrained employees, who being unaware of invisible hazards posed by confined spaces, respond to an emergency emotionally rather than rationally.

A typical scenario involves a worker who enters a space such as a chemical storage tank for cleaning or inspection. Suddenly, he is overcome by either an oxygen-deficient atmosphere, or a toxic air contaminant. A second worker, seeing a fellow employee unconscious at the bottom of the tank, enters to rescue him. He too is overcome. A third, fourth, or even a fifth worker may make further fatally unsuccessful rescue attempts.

The domino effect of worker after worker entering and being overcome has been well documented, and as many as six people have been killed in a single incident. In one particularly tragic case, the lives of three generations of family farmers were snuffed out one-by-one as each tried to rescue others who had been previously overcome in a manure pit. According to newspaper accounts, a prolonged summer heat wave caused manure in the pit to decompose much faster than normal. Carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane formed by the decomposing manure apparently displaced the air in the pit creating an oxygen deficient atmosphere.

Eye witnesses explained that the 28-year old son of a farmer entered the pit to replace a shear pin on an agitator. This task had been performed many times in the past without incident. When the farmer’s son attempted to climb out, he was overcome and fell to the bottom. The farmer, his grandson, a nephew and another son entered one at a time, each attempting to rescue those who had gone before. None of them survived.

My hope in writing this book is to prevent accidents like this from happening by arming you with the information you’ll need to effectively manage confined space hazards. To do this, I’ll use a three pronged approach.

First, I’ll help you to develop the knowledge and skills needed to recognize a wide variety of confined space hazards. Second, I’ll explain how you can use this knowledge and skill to develop an effective confined space entry program. Third, I’ll show you how to implement this program through effective training of workers and supervisors.

Since valuable lessons can be learned from past confined space catastrophes, I have included a variety of case studies to illustrate and reinforce many key points. You might want to incorporate some of these case studies into your training programs. Since people can easily remember stories, case studies provide a great tool for getting workers to remember why it’s in their best interest to follow confined space safety procedures.

CONFINED SPACES DEFINED

Confined space definitions have been published by national standards setting organizations, government agencies and industrial trade associations (Table 1-1). In time, the OSHA general industry definition will probably supersede all others, but OSHA’s definition is relatively new compared to definitions offered by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the American Petroleum Institute (API), NIOSH and some state OSHA program. In fact, years before the federal confined space regulation even existed, 5 of OSHA’s 25 state-plan states were enforcing their own confined space regulations.

It’s also interesting to note that OSHA defines confined spaces differently in maritime operations and construction than in general industry. Both the maritime and construction standards date to the early 1970s and were among the first regulations adopted by OSHA. In its formative years, OSHA was allowed to adopt any existing federal or national consensus standards without the elaborate rule-making process required today. Since the maritime and construction regulations were respectively part of the federally mandated Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act and The Construction Safety Act, they were easily adopted by OSHA.

Table 1-1. Confined space definitions

American National Standards Institute. The definition in the 1989 edition of the American National Standards Institute′s Safety Requirements for Confined Spaces (ANSI Z-117.1-1989) states that a confined space is “…an enclosed area that has the following characteristics: • Its primary function is something other than human occupancy, and • Has restricted entry and exit, and • May contain potential or known hazards.”

American Petroleum Institute. In its Guidelines to Confined Space Work in the Petroleum Industry, the American Petroleum Institute explains that “…confined spaces are normally considered enclosures with known or potential hazards and restricted means of entrance or exit. These enclosures are not normally occupied by people or well ventilated.”

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• 1. Introduction and Overview
• 2. Oxygen-Deficient and Oxygen-Enriched Atmospheres
• 3. Flammable Atmospheres
• 4. Toxic Atmospheres
• 5. Physical Hazards
• 6. Entry Program Requirements
• 7. Lockout/Tagout
• 8. Ventilating Confined Spaces
• 9. Atmospheric Testing
• 10. Personal Protective Equipment
• 11. Respiratory Protection
• 12. Emergency Planning and Rescue
• 13. Entry and Hot Work Permits
• 14. Employee Training
• Appendix A. OSHA Standards
• Appendix B. Sources of Help
• Appendix C. Glossary of Confined Space Terms
• Appendix D. Suppliers of Confined Space Related Products
• Index