Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 004A Hazard:

29 CFR 1910.146(c)(4): If the employer decides that its employees will enter permit spaces, the employer shall develop and implement a written permit space program that complies with 29 CFR 1910.146: a. On or about June 5, 2020, the employer had not developed a written permit space program that addressed the required standard elements for full body entry into the mixer located in the Batch Plant's Mixer Room by batch operators for cleaning with an air chisel and by maintenance employees for periodic maintenance and repairs, thereby exposing employees to engulfment, caught-in, and struck-by hazards. With respect to the mixer located in the Batch Plant's Mixer Room, the company's confined space written procedures lacked the development of items such as, but not limited to, the following: i. Specific measures necessary to prevent unauthorized entry into the mixer as required by 1910.146(d)(1); ii. Specific means, procedures, and practices necessary for specifying acceptable condition for entry into the mixer as required by 1910.146(d)(3)(i); iii. Specific means, procedures, and practices necessary for verifying that conditions in the mixer are acceptable for entry throughout the duration of an authorized entry as required by 1910.146(d)(3)(vi); iv. Specific designation of the persons who are to have active roles in mixer entry operations as required by 1910.146(d)(8); v. Specific procedures for summoning rescue and emergency services to the mixer, for rescuing entrants from the mixer, for providing necessary emergency services to employees rescued from the mixer, and for preventing unauthorized personnel from attempting a rescue into the mixer as required by 1910.146(d)(9); vi. Specific procedures for reviewing entry operations into the mixer when the employer has reason to believe that the measures taken under the permit space program may not protect employees and revising the program to correct deficiencies found to exit before subsequent entries are authorized as required by 1910.146(d)(13); vii. Specific procedures for reviewing the permit space program's effectiveness for the mixer using cancelled permits and revising the program as necessary as required by 1910.146(d)(14).