Confined Spaces

Purpose The Permit/Non-Permitted Required Entry Program is provided to protect employees who will enter confined spaces and may be exposed to hazardous atmospheres, engulfment in materials or conditions which may contain other safety or health hazards. Definitions Acceptable entry conditions: the conditions that must exist in a permit space to allow entry and to ensure that employees involved with a permit-required confined space entry can safely enter into and work within the space Attendant: an individual stationed outside a permit space who monitors the authorized entrants and who performs all attendants' duties Authorized entrant: an employee who is authorized to enter a permit space Blanking or blinding: the absolute closure of a pipeline, or duct by the fastening of a solid plate (such as a spectacle blind or a skillet blind) that completely covers the bore and that is capable of withstanding the maximum pressure of the pipeline or duct with no leakage beyond the plate Confined space: a space that: 1. Is large enough and so configured that an employee can bodily enter and perform assigned work and 2. Has limited or restricted means for entry and exit (for example, tanks, vessels, silos, storage bins, hoppers, vaults, and pits are spaces that may have limited means of entry) and 3. Is not designed for continuous employee occupancy Double block and bleed: the closure of a line, duct or pipe by closing and locking or tagging two in-line valves and by opening and locking or tagging a drain or vent valve in the line between the two closed valves Emergency: any occurrence (including any failure of hazard control or monitoring equipment) or event internal or external to the permit space that could endanger entrants Engulfment: the surrounding and effective capture of a person by a liquid or finely divided (flowable) solid substance that can be aspirated to cause death by filling or plugging the respiratory system or that can exert enough force on the body to cause death by strangulation, constriction or crushing Entry: the action by which a person passes through an opening into a permit/non-permit required confined space. Entry includes work activities in that space and is considered to have occurred as soon as any part of the entrant's body breaks the plane of an opening in the space Entry permit: the written or printed document that is provided by the employer to allow and control entry into …