Script for Permit Required Confined Spaces PowerPoint
Slide 1. Show your school district’s current written confined space entry (CSE) program to the attendees. It is located in the district’s written Accident Prevention Program.
Confined space entry is a dangerous activity and requires a very thorough program
to avoid serious incidents.
Slide 2. No notes.
Slide 3. If you, as a trainer, have a particular story to share relative to confined
space accidents, describe it to hit home with the audience.
Entering confined spaces without taking the proper precautions is a leading
cause of on-the-job fatalities in the United States.
Slide 4. As you can see, this Standard covers a significant portion of the industrial workforce in this country. Nearly 5 million confined space entries every year certainly increase the potential for catastrophe. The Standard’s success is evident in the reduction of injuries and fatalities.
Slide 5. Limited egress does not necessarily mean just one way in and out.
Breaking the plane of the space opening with any part of your body is considered entry.
If work is not routine in a space, it is tough to classify it as designed for continuous occupancy. A space designed for continuous occupancy should have its own environmental controls, such as an HVAC system.
All three of these must be met to deem a space “confined.”
Slide 6. If any of these four elements are met, the space is permit-required.
Hazardous atmospheres include oxygen-deficient, toxic, etc.
Engulfment hazards include grain, sand, water, etc.
Inwardly converging walls are a perfect example of configurations that can trap
the entrant.
“Any other serious safety or health hazard” is the “catch-all” of the standard that prevents any dangerous confined spaces from slipping through unintended regulatory loopholes.
Slide 7. If you have photos of these types of spaces, show them to the class. List all permit-required spaces specific to your school district.
Permit-required spaces in typical school districts include:
– Steam and/or hot water pipe tunnels (oxygen deficient – entrapment)
– Boilers (entrapment)
– Tanks (oxygen deficient – engulfment – entrapment – fire or explosion hazard)
– Sewage pump pit (oxygen deficient – methane gas - toxic chemicals)
– Water valve pit (oxygen deficient – carbon monoxide)
– Below grade vaults (oxygen deficient – methane, carbon monoxide)
– HVAC air-mixer (entrapment – electrical hazard – mechanical hazard)
– Air plenums (entrapment – electrical hazard – mechanical hazard)
– Sawdust collector (entrapment – engulfment – electrical & mechanical hazards)
– Water tower (entrapment – engulfment)
Pits for bus or auto repair (carbon monoxide – fire hazard)
Slide 8. Include a list of all non-permit-required spaces at your facility.
Non-permit-required spaces include:
– Utility tunnels (if they have adequate ventilation)
– Below-grade trenches (don’t forget about trenching and shoring regulations)
– Electrical vaults (if ventilated)
Ask your attendees to list any other permit-required or non-permit-required spaces in the school district that you have missed.
Slide 9.
• Engulfment hazards are those that can cover the entrant and cause suffocation.
• Oxygen deficiency or enrichment makes it impossible to survive without atmosphere-supplying respiratory protection.
• Flammable gases and dusts can lead to an explosion or fire.
• Combustible dusts can also be quite explosive (e.g., grain dusts).
• If entrants are exposed to toxic substances, they can suffer irreparable health effects, such as chemical burns, cancer, or death.
• Spaces with conditions immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) cannot be entered without the use of atmosphere-supplying respirators.
Physical hazards include such items as noise, light, and repetitive motion.
Slide 10. Monitoring equipment is available from ESD 101. It is available for demonstration and training sessions.
Before entering a confined space, it is necessary to test the atmosphere. Testing for hazards must occur in the following order:
– Oxygen content
– Combustibility/flammability
– Toxic atmospheres
Entrants are given the opportunity to view the atmospheric testing.
Slide 11. Without proper oxygen levels in the atmosphere, entrants cannot survive in confined spaces. Monitoring will determine the levels of toxic gases and vapors within a confined space. Ventilation will keep those levels within acceptable ranges.
Slide 12. If PPE is readily available, demonstrate it during presentation of this slide.
Personal protective equipment will protect entrants of confined spaces only if it is used and maintained properly. PPE includes:
– Retrieval harnesses
– Retrieval lines
– Chemical protective equipment
– Welding apron/sleeves
– Respirators
– Gloves
– Safety glasses
Respirators cannot be worn without a written respiratory program, training, a fit test and a medical evaluation of each individual person.
Slide 13. If you have entry permits available, show them during this slide.
Someone must be accountable for the written program.
All confined spaces must be identified.
Only authorized personnel shall be allowed to work in a confined space.
It is a good idea to print permits so that several copies of each are available for documentation purposes.
Anyone involved with confined space entry must receive training.
If on-site rescue is planned without the use of outside agencies, then an employer must have all the necessary equipment on the premises.
Most school district’s work with local public agencies for CSE and rescue.
Contractors entering a confined space must follow specific requirements for entry. The host employer should oversee the contractor’s entry into a confined space.
Slide 14. Pre-entry briefings are important to ensure that all parties involved in the confined space entry understand the job as well as the potential hazards. Supervisors must be able to make the decision when to evacuate the space. Supervisors must sign the permit and keep records of each permitted entry for future reference. Once the entry is complete, the equipment must be returned to the proper location so that it is available the next time it is needed.
Ultimately, the supervisor is responsible for all confined space entry activities.
Slide 15. Attendants must be at the pre-entry briefing. They should also be trained to recognize any potential hazards and know where to get the information relative to those hazards.
The attendant should act as security for space entry. There are several ways to communicate with the entrants, including radio, voice, hand, rope, etc.
Attendants should never enter the space for rescue unless someone else is available who is qualified to stay outside the space to replace the attendant.
Attendants must know whom to call and the proper chain of command in the event of an emergency. The most important function for the attendant during an emergency is to provide up-to-the-minute information about the situation from outside the confined space.
Slide 16. Attendants must remain in constant communication and be on the property at all times during the permitted entry.
The attendant should be the first available person to recognize a problem within the space that warrants an evacuation.
Just as with an emergency evacuation, a count of all individuals in the space must be maintained and should be documented on the permit.
Slide 17. The entrant must also attend the pre-entry briefing for discussions of hazards and work planning. Entrants must be able to easily recognize when something goes wrong. As is the case with any job, if you are expected to perform it, you must possess the skills to carry it out.
• Evacuate the space immediately if:
– You hear an alarm.
– You lose communication.
– You encounter unknown hazards
– You are ordered out.
Slide 18. Since authorizing individuals are ones who can issue a permit, they must first be familiar with all hazards associated with the space.
It is important that lines are purged of hazardous materials, lockout/tagout is performed, and any other activity necessary to ensure that the safety of the entrants
is done.
The permit must be posted during the entire time that entrants are in the space.
If the permit is violated, entrants must be removed from the space, and the space must be retested and a permit reissued.
Slide 19. The rescuers must know the hazards of the space so that they are not injured during the rescue attempt.
Because confined space rescue is very serious and often difficult, all rescuers must have current emergency first aid and CPR training.
It is important that the attendant make sure that rescuers are familiar with entry procedures so that their entry can be performed safely.
Appropriate training for rescue equipment is a necessity to minimize the potential for failure during the rescue attempt.
A recent revision to the confined space standard requires that emergency rescue drills be conducted at least once annually.
Most schools have no confined spaces. Schools that have one or two confined spaces are usually better off training staff to stay out of those spaces and contracting out for work that must be done inside those spaces. Rescue equipment and respirators can easily cost $10,000 to $20,000.
Slide 20. Hand out the quiz copies. Go over the questions orally and have the employees
write their answers on their quiz sheets.
Slide 21 – 23. No notes.