R614-3-11. Requirements for Confined Space Entry

A. No employee shall be required or permitted to enter a confined space:

1. Unless protected by self contained or airline type respiratory protective equipment, the employer shall ensure that air supplied for respirators by compressors, fans, or similar devices is free of dusts, oil vapors, toxic or noxious fumes or gases; or

2. Unless an approved ventilation system is being used to ensure the removal of any harmful gases, vapors, smoke, fumes, mists, or dusts from within the confined space; or

3. Until appropriate tests have been made immediately prior to entry to confirm the absence of any harmful gases, vapors, smoke, fumes, mists or dusts or a sufficiency of oxygen. Testing shall be done at intervals during an employee's presence in the confined space to ensure no change of conditions; or

4. When flammable or explosive gases are present, until ventilated, purged and all sources of ignition have been controlled or eliminated.

B. An employee required or permitted to enter a confined space where a harmful atmosphere exists or may develop, shall:

1. Wear a safety harness to which is attached a life line tended at all times by another person stationed outside the entrance and so equipped as to be capable of effecting a rescue, and

2. When entered from the top, wear a safety harness or a harness of a type of which will keep the employee in a vertical position in case of rescue.

C. When the work being performed is such that more than one employee is required or permitted to enter a confined space, provision shall be made in the planning of the work to avoid the safety lines or air hoses from becoming entangled.

D. An employee required or permitted to enter a confined space being ventilated with a ventilation system to maintain respirable air, and in which a harmful atmosphere cannot develop shall:

1. Be attended by and in communication with another person stationed at or near the entrance, or

2. Be provided with a means of continuous communication with a person outside, or

3. Be visually checked by a designated person at intervals as often as may be required by the nature of the work to be performed.