OSHA #7300 - Understanding OSHA's Permit-Required Confined Space Standard

Entry into confined spaces to perform maintenance work carries an inherent risk to those performing the work. A confined space is considered by OSHA to be a Permit Required Confined Space under 29 CRF 1910.126 if it has one or more of the following characteristics:

• It contains or has the potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere
• contains a material that has the potential to engulf an entrant
• has walls that converge inward or floors that slope downward and taper into a smaller area which could trap or asphyxiate an entrant
• contains any other recognized safety or health hazard, such as unguarded machinery, exposed live wires, or heat stress
  

Entry into a Permit Required Confined Space requires special procedures and training under a program that must be developed and implemented by the employer. This course will discuss the requirements of a confined space program and the special procedures that must be followed.