Confined Space Training: Signs and Symptoms of Exposure
Sep 6, 2017
The rules that deal with confined space training are clear. Entrants and attendants may need to know a lot about medical issues.
Confined Space: When Air Testing Before Entry is Impractical
Jul 19, 2017
A client recently called me with a question. At his facility there was a confined space (a large vault) that they wanted to enter using alternate entry procedures (also known as reclassifying the space). Can you enter a space to test the air to determine if it’s safe to enter using alternate entry procedures? Or do you have to make an initial entry using all protections afforded by the confined space rules?
Physics in Rope Rescue? Absolutely!
Apr 12, 2017
When it comes to rigging, the laws of physics reign supreme. Small systems (e.g., a single knot) and large systems (e.g., a back-tied, elevated anchor supporting a horizontal line across a ravine) will only function effectively if they reflect an understanding of basic principles.
Confined Space Attendant and Fall Protection
Oct 5, 2016
Consider for a moment the issue of fall protection and the confined space attendant overseeing entry operations for workers in a vault or manhole (top down entry). A question I often ask our students is: “Does the confined space attendant need to be tied off?”
Training Rescue Teams: What Standards Apply?
Aug 24, 2016
If you are not a rescue expert, the process of moving an injured person from a hazardous location to a place of safety may seem hopelessly complex. And like any other complex process one would assume that various organizations who specialize in technical rescue would issue standards to guide us in training rescue teams. So the question becomes: When you are training rescue teams, what standards apply?
Confined Space Safety Best Practice: What to Include in the Inventory
Jun 21, 2016
One of the challenges in administering a confined space safety program is deciding which spaces to include in your inventory. The simple answer is to just include those spaces that meet the definition of a permit space*, but is this a confined space safety best practice? My sense is that it may not be. In fact, I believe that when you’re deciding which spaces to place under the confined space program, you should consider putting aside OSHA’s legal definition of a permit space and instead use a broader measuring stick.
The Shipyard Confined Space Standard: Any Lessons for General Industry?
May 4, 2016
Given a topic as potentially complex as confined spaces, we can often enhance our understanding of the safety requirements by looking at other, similar standards. The shipyard employment standard (29 CFR 1915 Subpart B) offers us one such opportunity.
Fall Protection: Meeting the USACE’s Requirements
Mar 29, 2016
Anyone who has worked at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project understands how much emphasis the corps places on safety. Fall protection offers a great example. Central to this effort are the specific training and retraining requirements for fall protection users, competent persons, and qualified persons.
Fall Protection on Roofs: How Close Can You Get?
Mar 10, 2016
Providing fall protection on flat or low-sloped roofs (defined as roofs with a slope of 0 in 12 to 4 in 12) has always been a hot topic of discussion in our Fall Protection Competent Person classes. And the discussion starts by trying to figure out: How close can a worker get to the edge of a roof before they are exposed to a fall?
Fall Hazards and Permit-Required Confined Spaces
Jan 7, 2016
When Oregon re-wrote its confined space rules last year, one issue of interest among those attending the stakeholder’s meeting hosted by OROSHA, was the question of fall hazards and permit spaces. In other words, if you had a pit twenty feet deep and the only hazard was posed by using a fixed ladder to enter this pit, would the fall hazard be serious enough to make the confined space a permit space?
Confined Space Reclassification: Facts and Myths
Nov 4, 2015
Few topics elicit as much confusion as the reclassification of permit-required confined spaces, also referred to (more appropriately as using alternate entry procedures). People want to know if we should control hazards or eliminate them?
Rope Rescue: Mainline/Belay or Two Tension?
Oct 7, 2015
Given that each rope is attached to the load and an anchor, at some point someone wondered if you could swap them out and switch between using a belay as a mainline and a mainline as a belay. In other words, could you keep both lines tensioned so that if one failed, the other line would prevent any appreciable freefall and associated shock loads?
Confined Space Rescue: Justifying your Team.
Aug 4, 2015
When you are asked the question: Is it worth having a rescue team? Common sense dictates that most employees should be able to respond appropriately to an incipient fire. Alarms and extinguishers have saved countless billions in damages and few would argue against spending money to ensure a safe and effective response in the few moments after a fire has started. Like structural fires, confined space emergencies are the result of a chain of events and if this chain can be broken early, lives can be saved.
Scaffolds and Excavations: When is Close Too Close?
Jul 28, 2015
On a construction site we often need to position some workers above the ground and others below. So we often find scaffolds erected near excavations. While no one would intentionally place a scaffold leg on the lip of an excavation both the excavation competent person and the scaffold competent person (yes, both scaffolds and excavations require competent persons) should be able to answer the question: how close is too close?
Fall Arrest Anchors: Strong Enough or Not?
Jun 24, 2015
If a fall arrest anchor can’t withstand the forces generated, nothing else matters. But when a worker clips in, how can they be assured that the anchor will function if and when it’s needed? This is essentially a quality assurance question and assuring quality requires a variety of processes, none of which are complicated but each are required to make the system work. In this blog we have broken the processes down into various steps with the focus on fall arrest anchors.
Confined Space Train the Trainer UPDATED!
June 2, 2015
For the last five or so years we have enjoyed considerable success with Version 3 of our Confined Space Entrant, Attendant, and Entry Supervisor curriculum. Nonetheless, we are excited to release Version 4.
OSHA Confined Space Rules for Construction
May 27, 2015
In this post I’d like to review the basic requirements for the new Federal OSHA confined space rules for construction (§1926.1200 through 1213). This is intended for people who already have a basic understanding of the confined space rules for general industry (§1910.146) and are curious about the added requirements (none were taken away) that will apply to construction activities.
Construction Confined Space Rules: Updated
May 20, 2015
In both Oregon and nationally we have seen changes to the rules governing entry into confined spaces. None of the changes have anything to do with how we identify, evaluate, and safely enter into confined spaces. But there are important changes to the scope of who must comply with these rules and the types of documentation they must maintain. In addition, both sets of rules changed the reclassification process.
Trench Cave-Ins: Forces and Effects
May 13, 2015
How much force can a trench cave-in impart on the human body? And what are the health effects? When we think about the damage that a cave-in can do, we tend to think exclusively in terms of how much soil weighs and how hard it will press on the worker. It’s a fairly simple calculation. Take the volume of soil that’s fallen, multiply that by the soil weight, and there you have it. But this analysis, although eye-opening, doesn’t present a complete picture because it only looks at the forces present once the soil is laying on you.
Confined Space and Industrial Rescue: How and How Much?
Mar 3, 2015
Does your facility require a rescue team? What OSHA standards require some kind of emergency response procedures? If your facility needs some level of emergency response, how do you develop these capabilities? What types of procedures, equipment, and training is needed? Or should it be out sourced?