Page 56 - OHS, September 2022

CONFINED SPACES
Confined But Not Alone: Protecting Workers in Tight Spaces
Understanding the risks of confined spaces can help keep entrants safe.
DBY GEN HANDLEY
o you feel uncomfortable in small, confined spaces? While some level of claustrophobia is fairly normal, there are those who choose to work in confined spaces, even thriving in such environments. However, confined
working environments can be dangerous for a number of reasons, which you will see below.
Working in confined spaces presents a number of unique occupational health and safety challenges and safety hazards which can be fatal when proper safety protocols and strategies are not implemented and employed within the team.
What is a Confined Space?
When you think of a confined space, what comes to mind? “Confined space” can be a subjective term, depending on our spatial comfort levels and physical size. If you ask the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), they would tell you that a confined space is a work area large enough for the worker to enter and perform tasks, but is not designed for people. They add that a confined space “also has limited or restricted means for entry or exit and is not designed for continuous occupancy.”1
Under OSHA’s 1915.84: Working alone safety regulation, whenever a worker is doing their job alone, “such as in a confined space or isolated location, the employer shall account for each employee” regularly throughout their shift via some form of communication.2
Who Works in Confined Spaces?
People who work in confined spaces can come from a wide range of industries and backgrounds, some of which require them to perform their jobs in tight areas more often than others.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), from 2011 to 2018, the top five occupations with the most confined spaces-related deaths were:
■ Construction laborers
■ Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers
■ First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction
workers
■ Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters
■ Farmworkers and laborers, for crops, nurseries and
greenhouses3
The incidents that killed these people included trench
collapses, fall to a lower level, inhalation of harmful substance, engulfment of other collapsing materials, fire and explosions, as well as running machinery.
What are the Safety Hazards of Confined Spaces?
In the same time frame, the BLS states more than 1,000 workers died from occupational injuries involving a confined space. These people were working in the following areas:
■ Tank, bin, vat interiors (septic tanks, grain bins and silos, oil tanks)
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■ Ditches, channels, trenches, excavations Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2022
■ Wells, cisterns
Additionally, people working in confined spaces also face poor air quality with not enough oxygen to breathe or toxic gases that make the worker dizzy and/or lose consciousness. Ventilation, therefore, must be a priority in spaces where it’s been determined that the air quality is compromised. These workers can also be exposed to dangerous chemicals, also causing toxic fumes as well as burns.
Physical safety hazards of confined spaces include extreme noise, extreme temperatures, excessive vibration and radiation. The biological hazards of working in these environments are fecal matter, fungi, molds and the infectious viruses and bacteria that can come from those toxic substances.
Isolation
No matter what the incident may be, what makes working in confined spaces so dangerous is the difficulty to reach the lone worker, quickly removing them from the hazardous circumstances, and getting them help. In an emergency where there’s free-flowing liquid or other materials, the entrance and exit may not be accessible for someone to get in to help and vice versa, for the worker to escape to safety. In many cases, these spaces do not allow for free movement and therefore can prevent the worker from helping themself.4
Working in isolation where help may not be readily available can impact the psychological well-being of the worker, creating stress, anxiety and dangerous mistakes as a result. Even though there may be coworkers on the other side of the tunnel wall, the worker can still be isolated and alone because they cannot easily request help.
Communication is Key
The isolated nature of working in confined spaces limits the type and depth of communication between the lone worker and the employer or monitor. Working in confined spaces, communication can be limited, or at very least, difficult to accomplish, leaving these workers more vulnerable than those working in open spaces and areas.
The success of emergency response is reliant on the information passed between the worker and employer throughout the shift. This is the same for crisis management in which the more context and information an employer knows about the confined workers’ circumstances, the better.5 Information that may initially appear irrelevant could actually be integral to a successful rescue during an incident. Try to foster a healthy communication culture when possible, creating opportunities for engagement and connection, and ultimately, a safer organization.6
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■ Underground mines, caves, tunnels (includes sewers, manholes and storm drains)
■ Confined spaces on vehicles (tanker trucks)
Manure pits
■
■ Crawl spaces