PERMIT REQUIRED CONFINED SPACE ENTRY FINAL

1. PERMIT REQUIRED
CONFINED SPACE ENTRY
CREATED BY LOESCHER SAFETY DEPARTMENT FOR TRAINING USE OF EMPLOYEES
WHO MAY WORK IN OR AROUND PERMIT REQUIRED CONFINED SPACES
1/12/17

2. PURPOSE
 To give initial or refresher training to all employees that may work around or in
confined spaces, all rescue personnel, and all competent persons.
 The employer shall provide training so that all employees whose work is regulated
by this standard acquire the understanding, knowledge, and skills necessary for the
safe performance of the duties assigned under this training.
 29.CFR.1910.146 (g)(k)(l)(i-iv)

3. PURPOSE
 Training shall be provided to each affected employee:
 Before the employee is first assigned duties under this section;
 Before there is a change in assigned duties;
 Whenever there is a change in permit space operations that presents a hazard about
which an employee has not previously been trained;
 Whenever the employer has reason to believe either that there are deviations from the
permit space entry procedures or that there are inadequacies in the employee’s
knowledge or use of these procedures.
 Training shall establish employee proficiency in the duties required by this section
and shall introduce new or revised procedures, as necessary, for compliance with
this section.

4. TRAINING POINTS
 Definitions
 PRCS characteristics
 Attendants
 Authorized entrants
 Entry supervisor
 Rescue personnel, methods, and
equipment
 Testing procedures
 Hazards
 Signage

5. DEFINTIONS
 Confined space:
 Large enough and so configured that
a person can bodily enter and
perform assigned work.
 Has limited or restricted means for
entry or exit.
 Not designed for continuous human
occupancy.

6. DEFINITIONS
 Permit required confined space
(PRCS):
 Contains or has potential to contain
hazardous atmosphere.
 Contains material that has potential
for engulfing entrant.
 Has internal configuration such that
entrant could be trapped or
asphyxiated by inwardly converging
walls or by floor which slopes
downward and tapers to smaller
cross-section.
 Contains any other serious safety or
health hazard.

7. CHARACTERISTICS OF A PRCS
 Internal configuration
 Open
 No obstacles, barriers, or obstructions
within space.
 Obstructed
 Permit space contains some type of
obstruction that rescuer would need
to maneuver around, such as baffle or
mixing blade.
 Large equipment, such as a ladder or
scaffolding brought into space for
work purposes, would be considered
an obstruction if positioning or size of
equipment would make rescue more
difficult.

8. CHARACTERISTICS OF A PRCS
 Elevation
 Elevated
 Space where entrance portal or opening
is at or above 4’ above grade
 Usually requires knowledge of high
angle rescue procedures because of
difficulty in packaging and transporting
patient to ground from portal.
 Non-elevated
 Space with entrance portal located
below 4’ above grade
 Will allow rescue team to transport
injured employee normally.

9. CHARACTERISTICS OF A PRCS
 Portal size
 Restricted
 Opening is less than 24”
 Too small to allow rescuer to simply
enter space while using SCBA.
 Too small to allow normal spinal
immobilization of injured employee.
 Unrestricted
 Opening is larger than 24”
 Allows relatively free movement into
and out of permit space.

10. CHARACTERISTICS OF A PRCS
 Space access
 Horizontal
 Portal located on side of permit space.
 Use of retrieval lines could be difficult.
 Vertical
 Portal located on top of permit space;
rescuers must climb down, or at bottom
of permit space; rescuers must climb up.
 May require knowledge of rope
techniques or special patient packaging
to safely retrieve downed entrant.

11. ATTENDANTS
 Individual stationed outside permit space who
monitors authorized entrants and performs all
attendant’s duties assigned in employer’s permits
required confined space program.
 Duties include:
 Knows hazards that may be faced during entry.
 Aware of possible behavioral effects of hazard
exposure in authorized entrants.
 Remains outside space during entry operations until
relieved by another attendant.
 Communicates with authorized entrants.
 Monitors activities inside and outside space.
 Summons rescue and other emergency services.
 Performs non-entry rescues as specified by employer’s
rescue procedure.
 Performs no duties that might interfere with primary
duty to monitor and protect authorized entrants.

12. AUTHORIZED ENTRANTS
 Employee authorized by employer to
enter PRCS.
 Duties of authorized entrants:
 Know hazards that may be faced
during entry, including information
on mode, signs or symptoms, and
consequences of exposure.
 Proper use of equipment.
 Communicate with attendant as
necessary to enable attendant to
monitor entrant status and enable
attendant to alert entrants of need to
evacuate space.

13. AUTHORIZED ENTRANTS
 Alert attendant whenever:
 Entrant recognizes any warning sign or
symptom of exposure to dangerous
situation.
 Entrant detects prohibited condition.
 Exit from space as quickly as possible
whenever:
 Order to evacuate is given by attendant or
entry supervisor.
 Entrant recognizes any warning sign or
symptom of exposure to a dangerous
situation.
 Entrant detects prohibited condition.
 Evacuation alarm is activated.

14. ENTRY SUPERVISOR
 Person (such as employer, foreman, or
crew chief) responsible for determining
if acceptable entry conditions are
present at permit space where entry is
planned, for authorizing entry and
overseeing entry operations and for
terminating duty.
 Entry supervisor may serve as attendant
or authorized entrant, as long as that
person is trained and equipped as
required for each role filled.
 Duties of entry supervisor may be
passed from one individual to another
during entry operations.

15. ENTRY SUPERVISOR
 Duties include:
 Know hazards that may be faced during entry,
including information on mode, signs or symptoms,
and consequences of exposure.
 Verifies, by checking that appropriate entries have
been made on permit, all tests specified by permit
have been conducted and all procedures and
equipment specified by permit are in place before
endorsing permit and allowing entry to begin.
 Terminates entry and cancels permit as required.
 Verifies that rescue services are available and means
for summoning are operable.
 Removes unauthorized individuals who enter or
attempt to enter PRCS during entry operations.
 Determines, whenever responsibility for permit space
entry operation is transferred and at intervals dictated
by hazards and operations performed within space,
that entry operations remain consistent with terms of
entry permit and acceptable entry conditions are
maintained.

16. RESCUE PERSONNEL, METHODS, AND
EQUIPMENT
 Rescue service personnel
 Designated to rescue employees
from PRCS
 May be industry emergency
personnel, outside rescue service, or
combination of teams.
 Employer who designates rescue and
emergency services shall:
 Evaluate prospective rescuer’s ability
to respond to rescue summons in
timely manner, considering hazard(s)
identified.

17. RESCUE PERSONNEL, METHODS, AND
EQUIPMENT
 Retrieval system
 Equipment (including retrieval line,
chest/full body harness, wristlets,
lifting device, or anchor) used for
non-entry rescue of persons from
space
 Equipment selection will vary,
depending on entry portal size,
location, and depth.

18. RESCUE PERSONNEL, METHODS, AND
EQUIPMENT

19. TESTING PROCEDURES
 Process by which hazards that may
confront entrants are identified and
evaluated.
 Includes specifying tests to be
performed in space.
 Testing enables employers to devise
and implement adequate control
measures for protection of
authorized entrants and determine if
acceptable entry conditions are
present immediately prior to and
during entry.

20. TESTING PROCEDURES
 Before an employee enters space
internal atmosphere shall be tested,
with calibrated direct-reading
instrument, for the following
conditions in order given:
 Oxygen content
 Flammable gases and vapors
 Potential toxic air contaminants

21. HAZARDS
 Hazardous atmosphere
 Atmosphere that may expose employees to risk of death, incapacitation, impairment of
ability to self-rescue, injury or acute illness from one or more of the following causes:
 Flammable gas, vapor, or mist in excess of 10% of lower flammable limit (LFL)
 Airborne combustible dust at concentration that meets or exceeds LFL
 Atmospheric oxygen concentration less than 19.5% or greater than 23.5%
 Atmospheric concentration of any substance for which dose or permissible exposure limit (PEL)
could result in employee exposure in excess of dose or PEL
 Atmospheric concentration of any substance not capable of causing death, incapacitation, impairment of
ability to self-rescue, injury or acute illness due to health effects are not covered
 Consult the Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for additional guidance

22. HAZARDS
 Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health
(IDLH)
 Condition that poses immediate or
delayed threat to life or cause irreversible
adverse health effects or interfere with the
individual’s ability to escape unaided from
space
 Isolation
 Process by which permit space is removed
from service & completely protected
against release of energy & material into
space by such means as: blanking or
blinding; misaligning or removing sections
of lines, pipes or ducts; double block &
bleed system; lockout or tagout of all
sources of energy; or blocking or
disconnecting all mechanical linkages

23. HAZARDS
 Drain, vent, or otherwise remove to
the best of your ability any such
hazard from space
 Engulfment:
 Surrounding and effective capture of
a person by liquid or finely divided
(flowable) solid substance that can be
aspirated to cause death by filling or
plugging respiratory system
 Can exert enough force on body to
cause death by strangulation,
constriction, or crushing

24. HAZARDS
 Unstable or dangerous working
surfaces
 Remember, space is not designed for
human occupancy
 Falling objects
 Many entry points are above the
worker’s head (manholes)
 Insects or animals
 Biological hazards
 Contaminated water

25. SIGNAGE
 1910.146(c)(2)
 If the workplace contains permit spaces, the employer
shall inform exposed employees, by posting danger
signs or by any other equally effective means, of the
existence and location of and the danger posed by the
permit spaces.
 NOTE: A sign reading DANGER -- PERMIT-REQUIRED
CONFINED SPACE, DO NOT ENTER or using other
similar language would satisfy the requirement for a
sign.
 ANSI Z117.1 (13)
 All PRCS that cannot be entered without the use of
tools, special equipment, or key(s) shall have a sign
identifying it as a PRCS.
 Signs shall me maintained in a legible condition.
 The sign shall read: “Danger- Permit Required
Confined Space”.

26. THANK YOU