Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001A Hazard: CONFINED

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to the hazards of confined spaces: (a)At the construction site where employees were working in a confined space (underneath the building floor or crawl space) which was not tested for air contaminants prior to entry, exposing the employees to the hazard of oxygen deficiency, chemical poisoning and/or dangerous accumulation of toxic gases (such as carbon monoxide) while entering underneath the building floor or crawl space to conduct welding. Among other methods, fesible and useful, to abate these hazards, one feasible and acceptable abatement method would be to: Institute a confine space entry program meeting the stipulations of the NIOSH criteria document No. 80-106, December 1979 and The American National Standards Institute standard (ANSI Z117.1-1989) "Safety Requirements for Confined Spaces" contain acceptable methods of compliance which include the following: 1.Confined Space Survey shall be conducted by a qualified person. 2.Hazard Identification 3.Hazard Evaluation by a qualified person 4.Confined Space Classification 5.Hazard Re-Evaluation 6.Atmospheric Testing 7.Ventilation 8.Safeguards (ie. enter and exit means, retrieval equipment) 9.Training (Attendants and occupants) 10.Emergency Response Plan.