Confined Space Ventilation

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Confined Space Ventilation

• Are We Really Moving Air, or Just Making
  Ourselves Feel Good?

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Class Schedule for Today

• Introductions and Class Overview
• Review of 29CFR1910.146-Permit Required Confined
  Spaces
• Entrants, Attendants, and Supervisors-Who are
  they?
• Confined Space Entry Organization-Smoothing the
  Process

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Schedule continued-

• Why Ventilation
• Ventilation Equipment
• The Mechanics of Ventilation
• Hazardous Atmospheres
• Relationships between Ventilation and Atmospheric
  Monitoring
• Air Monitoring Equipment

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Schedule continued-

• Air Monitoring Techniques
• Review and Questions

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29CFR1910.146-Permit Required Confined Spaces

• Definitions from the standard-the rules we all
  have to live by,
• (Like them or not)

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Confined Space means a space that

• Is large enough and so configured that an
  employee can bodily enter and perform assigned
  work
• Has limited or restricted means for entry or
  exit and
• Is not designed for continous employee occupancy

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Permit Required Confined Space

• Contains one or more of the following
  characteristics
• Contains or has a potential to contain a
  hazardous atmosphere
• Contains a material that has the potential for
  engulfing an entrant

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• Has an internal configuration such that an
  entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by
  inwardly converging walls or by a floor which
  slopes downward and tapers to a smaller
  cross-section
• Contains any other recognized serious safety or
  health hazard

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Definitions-

• HAZARDOUS ATMOSPHERES-
• Means an atmosphere that may expose employees to
  the risk of death, impairment of ability to
  self-rescue(that is, escape unaided from a permit
  space), injury, or acute illness from one or more
  of the following causes

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Definitions continued

• 1) flammable gas, vapor, or mist in excess of 10
  percent of its lower flammable limit (LFL)
• 2) Airborne combustible dust at a concentration
  that meets or exceeds its LFL-Note This
  concentration may be approximated as a condition
  in which dust obscures vision at a distance of 5
  feet.

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Definitions continued

• 3) Atmospheric oxygen concentration below 19.5
  percent or above 23.5 percent
• 4) Atmospheric concentration of any substance for
  which a dose or a permissible exposure limit is
  published in Subpart G, or in Subpart Z which
  could result in exposure above the PEL

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Definitions continued

• 5) Any other atmospheric condition that is
  immediately dangerous to life or health.

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• TESTING-
• means the process by which the hazards that may
  confront entrants of a permit space are
  identified and evaluated. Testing includes
  specifying the tests that are to be performed in
  the permit space.

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• Note Testing enables employers to both devise
  and implement adequate control measures for the
  protection of authorized entrants and to
  determine if acceptable entry conditions are
  present immediately prior to, and during , entry.

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Entry Supervisor

• The person (such as the employer, foreman, or
  crew chief) responsible for determining if
  acceptable entry conditions are present at a
  permit space where entry is planned, for
  authorizing entry and overseeing entry
  operations, and for terminating entry as required
  by this section.

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Supervisor Duties

• Knows the hazards that may faced during entry,
  including information on the mode, signs, or
  symptoms, and consequences of the exposure.

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Supervisor Duties, continued

• Verfies, by checking that the appropriate entries
  have been made on the permit, that all tests
  specified by the permit have been conducted and
  that all procedures and equipment specified by
  the permit are in place before endorsing the
  permit and allowing entry to begin

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Supervisor Duties, continued

• Terminates the entry and cancels the permit as
  required by paragraph (e) (5) of this section
• Verifies that rescue services are available and
  that the means for summoning them are operable

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Supervisor Duties, continued

• Removes unauthorized individuals who enter or who
  attempt to enter the permit space during entry
  operations

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Supervisor Duties, continued

• Determines, whenever responsibility for a permit
  space entry operation is transferred and at
  intervals dictated by the hazards and operations
  performed within the space, that entry operations
  remain consistent with terms of the entry permit
  and that acceptable entry conditions are
  maintained.

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Authorized Entrant

• An employee who authorized by the employer to
  enter a permit space.

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Authorized Entrant Duties

• Know the hazards that may be faced during entry,
  including information on the mode, signs or
  symptoms, and consuquences of the exposure
• Properly use equipment as required by paragraph
  (d) (4) of this section

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Entrant Duties, continued

• Communicate with the attendent as necessary to
  enable the attendent to monitor entrant status
  and to enable the attendant to alert entrants of
  the need to evacuate the space as required by
  paragraph (I) (6) of this section

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Entrant Duties, continued

• Alert the attendant whenever
• The entrant recognizes any warning sign or
  symptom of exposure to a dangerous situation
• The entrant detects a prohibited condition
• Exit from the permit space as quickly as possible
  whenever

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Entrant Duties, continued

• An order to evacuate is given by the attendant or
  entry supervisor,
• The entrant recognizes any warning sign or
  symptom of exposure to a dangerous situation,
• The entrant detects a prohibited condition
• An evacuation alarm is activated

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Attendent

• An individual stationed outside one or more
  permit spaces who monitors the authorized
  entrants and who performs all attendant duties
  assigned in the employers permit space program.

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Attendant Duties

• Knows the hazards that may be faced during entry,
  including information on the mode, signs or
  symptoms, and consequences of the exposure
• Is aware of possible behavioral effects of hazard
  exposure in authorized entrants

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Attendant Duties, continued

• Continuously maintains an accurate count of
  authorized entrants in the permit space and
  ensures that the means used to identify
  authorized entrants under paragraph (f) (4) of
  this section accurately identifies who is in the
  permit space

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Attendant Duties, continued

• Remains outside the permit space during entry
  operations until relieved by another attendent
• Communicates with authorized entrants as
  necessary to monitor entrant status and to alert
  entrants of the need to evacuate the space under
  paragraph (I) (6) of this section

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Attendant Duties, continued

• Monitors activities inside and outside the space
  to determine if it is safe for entrants to remain
  in the space and orders the authorized entrants
  to evacuate the permit space immediately under
  any of the following conditions

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Attendant Duties, continued

• Attendant detects a prohibited condition
• Attendant detects the behavioral effects of
  hazard exposure in a authorized entrant
• Attendant detects a situation outside the space
  that could endanger the authorized entrants

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Attendant Duties, continued

• If the attendant cannot effectively and safely
  perform all the duties required under paragraph
  (i) of this section
• Summon rescue and other emergency services as
  soon as the attendant determines that authorized
  entrants may need assistance to escape from the
  permit space hazards

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Thanks to the following

• Texas Engineering Extension Service
• Texas AM Industrial Rescue Division
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration
• Super Vacuum Manufacturing Company
• The Roco Corporation