Hiring a contractor to perform construction activities in a confined space at your facility seems pretty straightforward. What you may not know is OSHA’s Confined Spaces in Construction Standard (29 CFR 1926 Subpart AA) requires information sharing between the host employer, controlling contractor and confined space entry employer. This is a critical component to ensure the safety of all employees.
It starts with each of the parties involved identifying all confined spaces in which employees they direct may work. This identification must be done by a competent person, who then must determine if any of those confined spaces are considered permit-required confined spaces (permit space).
If the workplace contains one or more permit spaces, the employer who identifies (or who receives notice of) a permit space must do both of the following: Each employer who identifies, or receives notice of, a permit space and has not authorized employees it directs to work in that space must take effective measures to prevent those employees from entering that permit space.
Before entry operations begin, the host employer must provide the following information to the controlling contractor:
- The location of each permit space
- The hazards or potential hazards in each space or the reason it is a permit space
- Any precautions the host employer or any previous controlling contractor or entry employer implemented for the protection of employees in the permit space
Before entry operations begin, the controlling contractor must obtain the host employer’s information about the permit space hazards and previous entry operations, and provide the following to each entity entering a permit space and any other entity at the worksite whose activities could foreseeably result in a hazard in the permit space:
- The information received from the host employer
- Any additional information the controlling contractor has about the permit space locations, hazards and precautions
- The precautions the host employer, controlling contractor or other entry employers implemented
Before entry operations begin, each entry employer must obtain all of the controlling contractor’s information regarding permit space hazards and entry operations, and must inform the controlling contractor of the permit space program the entry employer will follow, including any hazards likely to be con-fronted or created in each permit space. The controlling contractor and entry employer must coordinate entry operations when more than one entity per-forms permit space entry at the same time, or permit space entry is performed at the same time that any activities that could foreseeably result in a hazard in the permit space are performed.
After entry operations, the following must occur:
- The controlling contractor must debrief each entity who entered a permit space regarding the permit space pro-gram followed and any hazards confronted or created in the permit space during entry operations.
- The entry employer must inform the controlling contractor which permit space program was followed and of any hazards confronted or created in the permit space during entry operations.
- The controlling contractor must notify the host employer of the information exchanged with the entry or entities.
The identification of permit spaces can go a long way in protecting employees working in those spaces.
For more information, visit www.JKeller.com or call (877) 564-2333.
