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:: Friday, June 25, 2004 ::

The curse of confined space Canadian Occupational Safety magazine
For McManus, the best definition has to include the boundary surface. He says the boundary surface does not have to be substantive: it can be as thin as a piece of paper. But inside that boundary things can happen. The boundary can trap a hazardous atmosphere. In fact, the boundary surface that envelopes a piece of working machinery is invisible, but if you enter that space you become vulnerable to contact with rotating equipment, moving sharp edges, articulating arms and levers and other parts that can both provide injury and prevent escape.

For the most part, however, confined spaces are distinguished from "normal" working spaces by the function of the space. "Confined spaces do not distinguish themselves by size, shape or the nature of work activity. Some are large; some are small; others are completely enclosed," says McManus. Some house equipment; others store liquid and solid bulk materials. Chemical processes occur in others...."

One notable distinction that sets confined spaces apart from "normal" work spaces, says McManus, is the nature and severity of accidents that occur in them.

"Accidents that occur in confined spaces often are more severe than those that occur in 'normal' work spaces," says McManus. "Like a trap that is set and ready to spring, the hazardous condition that causes the accident acts rapidly, often without prior warning, and often injuring or killing more than one victim. Further, after the accident has occurred, conditions often return to 'normal,' as if nothing has happened."

posted 8:15 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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