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SEC-027: Access to Confined Space
The University has established a program and related procedures in order to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standard for Confined Space Entry, 29 CFR 1910.
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Confined Space:
A space that includes all of the following:
- is large enough and so configured that an employee can bodily enter and perform assigned work and;
- has limited or restricted means for entry or exit; and
- is not designed for continuous employee occupancy.
Confined spaces at the University include, but are not limited to: manholes, electrical vaults, boilers, wells, vessels that can be bodily entered and tanks. Generally, areas that can be entered through a door and have the same atmospheric conditions as occupied spaces, would not be classified as confined spaces.
The University will comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standard for Confined Space Entry, 29 CFR 1910. To that end, the Office of Environmental Health & Sciences (OEHS) has developed a Confined Space Program (Program) that defines roles and responsibilities and establishes the procedures to be followed.
Employees must comply with the components of the Program and its respective procedures. This Program is intended to protect employees from the hazards inherent to entry into and work within confined spaces and to ensure that all activities in a confined space are conducted in a manner that does not jeopardize employee health and safety.
The procedures are intended to assist the University in avoiding injuries and fatalities for those individuals required to enter and work in a confined space in order to perform maintenance and construction-related duties.