Section 22 General Environmental Controls

• Library: Employer-Employee Law 2008

Subpart J of the general industry regulations—covering
29 C.F.R. §§ 1910.141 through 1910.147—contains regulations pertaining to general environmental controls, such as sanitation, temporary labor camps, etc. The most notable (and probably the most frequently cited) standards in Subpart J are the confined space standard, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.146, and the lockout/tagout standard, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.147.

(1) (§13.23) Permit-Required Confined Spaces

Title 29 C.F.R. § 1910.146 is designed “to protect employees in general industry from the hazards of entry into permit-required confined spaces.” 29 C.F.R. § 1910.146(a). The standard defines a “[p]ermit-required confined space” as:

a confined space that has one or more of the following characteristics:

(1) Contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere;

(2) Contains a material that has the potential for engulfing an entrant;

(3) Has an internal configuration such that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls or by a floor which slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross-section; or

(4) Contains any other recognized serious safety or health hazard [such as unguarded machinery, exposed live wires, or heat stress].

Section 1910.146(b). Examples of permit-required confined spaces include underground vaults, tanks, storage bins, manholes, pits, silos, process vessels, and pipelines.

An employer’s most important task is to determine whether its workplace has work areas that fit within the definition of “permit-required confined space.” Some employers...