General Safety Issues, Respiratory Safety

OSHA RECORDS AN AVERAGE OF SEVENTY CONFINED SPACE FATALITIES PER YEAR (GUEST POST)

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By Jack Rubinger – Graphic Products responds with a Free Confined Spaces Best Practices Guide 

Portland, OR – About a million employees enter confined spaces every day, according to OSHA. In most cases, those workers complete their task without incident, but despite the many precautions in place, 70 workers per year never make it back out alive. Besides the ultimate price paid by workers, hefty fines arise if employers are found to be in noncompliance with OSHA regulations. In February of this year, a Texas-based energy company was fined more than $70,000 for confined space violations with hydraulic fracking tanks. 

Graphic Products, Inc., has made a business out of keeping workers safe worldwide. Determined to decrease this high count of confined space deaths, Graphic Products has released a free Confined Spaces Best Practices Guide to help workers, industrial hygienists and environmental health & safety coordinators deal with the very real dangers present in confined spaces. 

Confined spaces — which include storage tanks, ship compartments, pits, silos, wells, sewers, boilers, tunnels and pipelines — have limited or restricted means for entry or exit and it is not designed for continuous occupancy. Workers get trapped cleaning or doing repairs and maintenance in these spaces. Lacking a means of escape, their cries for help may go unheard. 

These spaces often have limited oxygen, or the air is toxic or combustible. This puts a ticking clock on the job and is the main reason workers don’t make it back out alive. Confined spaces that contain or have the potential to contain a serious atmospheric hazard should be classified as permit-required confined spaces and should be tested prior to entry and continually monitored, according to OSHA guidelines. 

Fully illustrated with photographs, diagrams, sample permits and signs and labels, this 18-page guide addresses: 

  • Identifying confined space locations
  • Sign and labeling materials for harsh industrial environments
  • Confined space permitting
  • Training programs
  • Supervisor and coordinator responsibilities
  • Entry and evacuation operations and procedures
  • Testing and monitoring equipment
  • The benefits of using industrial printers to create large format signs and labels that are more likely to be seen 

The new Confined Spaces Best Practices Guide is the most current resource in a growing collection which now includes the following free guides: 

  • Warehouse Safety Guide
  • Safety Inspection Workbook
  • Phosphorescent Marking Guide
  • Required PPE Guide
  • HCS/Hazcom 2012 Best Practices
  • Arc Flash Best Practices Guide
  • Medical Pipe Marking Guide
  • Marine Pipe Marking Guide 

Graphic Products, Inc. manufactures mobile and wide-format labeling systems used by sea shipping lines, distribution centers, mining operations and oil refineries worldwide. Customers include Amazon.com, Boeing, Intel and Toyota. With more than 50 types of labeling supplies, Graphic Products, Inc. helps companies solve communication problems in the toughest industrial environments. For more information, visit www.DuraLabel.com.

One thought on “OSHA RECORDS AN AVERAGE OF SEVENTY CONFINED SPACE FATALITIES PER YEAR (GUEST POST)”

  1. What we like the most about this resource guide is that is clearly outlines what is considered a “confined space.” Many employees may be working in a confined space and may not even know it. This guide makes it easy for managers and employees make sure that they are following safety guidelines properly for the spaces they are working in.

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