California Code of Regulations › Title 8 - Industrial Relations › Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations › Chapter 4 - Division of Industrial Safety › Subchapter 4 - Construction Safety Orders › Article 37 - Confined Spaces in Construction › Section 1951 - Definitions

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
The following terms are defined for the purposes of this
						Article only:
Acceptable entry conditions means the conditions that
						shall exist in a permit space, before an employee may enter that space, to
						ensure that employees can safely enter into, and safely work within, the
						space.
Attendant means an individual stationed outside one or
						more permit spaces who assesses the status of authorized entrants and who shall
						perform the duties specified in Section
						1958.
Authorized entrant means an employee who is authorized by
						the entry supervisor to enter a permit space.
Barrier means a physical obstruction that blocks or
						limits access.
Blanking or blinding means the absolute closure of a
						pipe, line, or duct by the fastening of a solid plate (such as a spectacle
						blind or a skillet blind) that completely covers the bore and that is capable
						of withstanding the maximum pressure of the pipe, line, or duct with no leakage
						beyond the plate.
Competent person. See Section
						1504 for the definition of
						competent person.
Confined space means a space that:
(1) Is large enough and so configured that an
					 employee can bodily enter it;
(2)
					 Has limited or restricted means for entry and exit; and
(3) Is not designed for continuous employee
					 occupancy.
Control means the action taken to reduce the level of any
						hazard inside a confined space using engineering methods (for example, by
						ventilation), and then using these methods to maintain the reduced hazard
						level. Control also refers to the engineering methods used for this purpose.
						Personal protective equipment is not a control.
Controlling contractor -- See Section
						336.10(c),
						Controlling employer.
NOTE: If the controlling contractor owns or manages the
						property, then it is both a controlling employer and a host employer.
Double block and bleed means the closure of a line, duct,
						or pipe by closing and locking or tagging two in-line valves and by opening and
						locking or tagging a drain or vent valve in the line between the two closed
						valves.
Early-warning system means the method used to alert
						authorized entrants and attendants that an engulfment hazard may be developing.
						Examples of early-warning systems include, but are not limited to: alarms
						activated by remote sensors; and lookouts with equipment for immediately
						communicating with the authorized entrants and attendants.
Emergency means any occurrence (including any failure of
						power, hazard control or monitoring equipment) or event, internal or external,
						to the permit space that could endanger entrants.
Engulfment means the surrounding and effective capture of
						a person by a liquid or finely divided (flowable) solid substance that can be
						aspirated to cause death by filling or plugging the respiratory system or that
						can exert enough force on the body to cause death by strangulation,
						constriction, crushing, or suffocation.
Entry means the action by which any part of a person
						passes through an opening into a permit-required confined space. Entry includes
						ensuing work activities in that space and is considered to have occurred as
						soon as any part of the entrant's body breaks the plane of an opening into the
						space, whether or not such action is intentional or any work activities are
						actually performed in the space.
Entry employer means any employer who decides that an
						employee it directs will enter a permit space.
NOTE: An employer cannot avoid the duties of the standard
						merely by refusing to decide whether its employees will enter a permit space,
						and the Division will consider the failure to so decide to be an implicit
						decision to allow employees to enter those spaces if they are working in the
						proximity of the space.
Entry permit (permit) means the written or printed
						document that is provided by the employer who designated the space a permit
						space to allow and control entry into a permit space and that contains the
						information specified in Section
						1955.
Entry rescue occurs when a rescue service enters a permit
						space to rescue one or more employees.
Entry supervisor means the qualified person (such as the
						employer, foreman, or crew chief) responsible for determining if acceptable
						entry conditions are present at a permit space where entry is planned, for
						authorizing entry and overseeing entry operations, and for terminating entry as
						required by this standard.
NOTE: An entry supervisor also may serve as an attendant
						or as an authorized entrant, as long as that person is trained and equipped as
						required by this standard for each role he or she fills. Also, the duties of
						entry supervisor may be passed from one individual to another during the course
						of an entry operation.
Hazard means a physical hazard or hazardous atmosphere.
						See definitions below.
Hazardous atmosphere means an atmosphere that may expose
						employees to the risk of death, incapacitation, impairment of ability to
						self-rescue (that is, escape unaided from a permit space), injury, or acute
						illness from one or more of the following causes:
(1) Flammable gas, vapor, or mist in excess
					 of 10 percent of its lower flammable limit (LFL);
(2) Airborne combustible dust at a
					 concentration that meets or exceeds its LFL;
NOTE to subsection (2): This concentration may be
						approximated as a condition in which the combustible dust obscures vision at a
						distance of 5 feet (1.52 meters) or less.
(3) Atmospheric oxygen concentration below
					 19.5 percent or above 23.5 percent;
(4) Atmospheric concentration of any
					 substance for which a dose or a permissible exposure limit is published in
					 Article 4 of the Construction Safety Orders and Group 16 of the General
					 Industry Safety Orders;
NOTE to subsection (4): An atmospheric concentration of
						any substance that is not capable of causing death, incapacitation, impairment
						of ability to self-rescue, injury, or acute illness due to its health effects
						is not covered by this definition.
(5) Any other atmospheric condition that is
					 immediately dangerous to life or health.
NOTE to subsection (5): For air contaminants for which
						the Division has not determined a dose or permissible exposure limit, other
						sources of information, such as Safety Data Sheets that comply with the Hazard
						Communication Standard, Section
						5194, published information, and
						internal documents can provide guidance in establishing acceptable atmospheric
						conditions.
Host employer means the employer that owns or manages the
						property where the construction work is taking place.
NOTE: If the owner of the property on which the
						construction activity occurs has contracted with an entity for the general
						management of that property, and has transferred to that entity the information
						specified in Section
						1952(h)(1), the
						Division will treat the contracted management entity as the host employer for
						as long as that entity manages the property. Otherwise, the Division will treat
						the owner of the property as the host employer. In no case will there be more
						than one host employer.
Hot work means operations capable of providing a source
						of ignition (for example, riveting, welding, cutting, burning, and
						heating).
Immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) means any
						condition that would interfere with an individual's ability to escape unaided
						from a permit space and that poses a threat to life or that would cause
						irreversible adverse health effects.
NOTE: Some materials--hydrogen fluoride gas and cadmium
						vapor, for example--may produce immediate transient effects that, even if
						severe, may pass without medical attention, but are followed by sudden,
						possibly fatal collapse 12-72 hours after exposure. The victim "feels normal"
						after recovery from transient effects until collapse. Such materials in
						hazardous quantities are considered to be "immediately" dangerous to life or
						health.
Inerting means displacing the atmosphere in a permit
						space by a noncombustible gas (such as nitrogen) to such an extent that the
						resulting atmosphere is noncombustible.
NOTE: This procedure produces an IDLH oxygen-deficient
						atmosphere.
Isolate or isolation means the process by which employees
						in a confined space are completely protected against the release of energy and
						material into the space, and contact with a physical hazard, by such means as:
						blanking or blinding; misaligning or removing sections of lines, pipes, or
						ducts; a double block and bleed system; lockout or tagout of all sources of
						energy; blocking or disconnecting all mechanical linkages; or placement of
						barriers to eliminate the potential for employee contact with a physical
						hazard.
Limited or restricted means for entry or exit means a
						condition that has a potential to impede an employee's movement into or out of
						a confined space. Such conditions include, but are not limited to, trip
						hazards, poor illumination, slippery floors, inclining surfaces and
						ladders.
Line breaking means the intentional opening of a pipe,
						line, or duct that is or has been carrying flammable, corrosive, or toxic
						material, an inert gas, or any fluid at a volume, pressure, or temperature
						capable of causing injury.
Lockout means the placement of a lockout device on an
						energy isolating device, in accordance with an established procedure, ensuring
						that the energy isolating device and the equipment being controlled cannot be
						operated until the lockout device is removed.
Lower flammable limit or lower explosive limit means the
						minimum concentration of a substance in air needed for an ignition source to
						cause a flame or explosion.
Monitor or monitoring means the process used to identify
						and evaluate the hazards after an authorized entrant enters the space. This is
						a process of checking for changes that is performed in a periodic or continuous
						manner after the completion of the initial testing or evaluation of that
						space.
Non-entry rescue occurs when a rescue service, usually
						the attendant, retrieves employees in a permit space without entering the
						permit space.
Non-permit confined space means a confined space that
						meets the definition of a confined space but does not meet the requirements for
						a permit-required confined space, as defined in this Article.
Oxygen deficient atmosphere means an atmosphere
						containing less than 19.5 percent oxygen by volume.
Oxygen enriched atmosphere means an atmosphere containing
						more than 23.5 percent oxygen by volume.
Permit-required confined space (permit space) means 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.
Permit-required confined space program (permit space
						program) means the employer's overall program for controlling, and, where
						appropriate, for protecting employees from, permit space hazards and for
						regulating employee entry into permit spaces.
Physical hazard means an existing or potential hazard
						that can cause death or serious physical damage. Examples include, but are not
						limited to: explosives (as defined by Section
						5237, definition of "explosive");
						mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic energy; radiation; temperature
						extremes; engulfment; noise; and inwardly converging surfaces. Physical hazard
						also includes chemicals that can cause death or serious physical damage through
						skin or eye contact (rather than through inhalation).
Prohibited condition means any condition in a permit
						space that is not allowed by the permit during the period when entry is
						authorized. A hazardous atmosphere is a prohibited condition unless the
						employer can demonstrate that personal protective equipment (PPE) will provide
						effective protection for each employee in the permit space and provides the
						appropriate PPE to each employee.
Qualified person means one who, by possession of a
						recognized degree, certificate, or professional standing, or who by extensive
						knowledge, training, and experience, has successfully demonstrated the ability
						to solve or resolve problems relating to the subject matter, the work, or the
						project.
Representative permit space means a mock-up of a confined
						space that has entrance openings that are similar to, and is of similar size,
						con-figuration, and accessibility to, the permit space that authorized entrants
						enter.
Rescue means retrieving, and providing medical assistance
						to, one or more employees who are in a permit space.
Rescue service means the personnel designated to rescue
						employees from permit spaces.
Retrieval system means the equipment (including a
						retrieval line, chest or full body harness, wristlets or anklets, if
						appropriate, and a lifting device or anchor) used for non-entry rescue of
						persons from permit spaces.
Serious physical damage means an impairment or illness in
						which a body part is made functionally useless or is substantially reduced in
						efficiency. Such impairment or illness may be permanent or temporary and
						includes, but is not limited to, loss of consciousness, disorientation, or
						other immediate and substantial reduction in mental efficiency. Injuries
						involving such impairment would usually require treatment by a physician or
						other licensed health-care professional.
Tagout means:
(1) Placement of a tagout device on a circuit
					 or equipment that has been deenergized, in accordance with an established
					 procedure, to indicate that the circuit or equipment being controlled may not
					 be operated until the tagout device is removed; and
(2) The employer ensures that:
(A) tagout provides equivalent protection to
					 lockout, or
(B) that lockout is
					 infeasible and the employer has relieved, disconnected, restrained and
					 otherwise rendered safe stored (residual) energy.
Test or testing means the process by which the hazards
						that may confront entrants of a permit space are identified and evaluated.
						Testing includes specifying the tests that are to be performed in the permit
						space.
NOTE: Testing enables employers both to devise and
						implement adequate control measures for the protection of authorized entrants
						and to determine if acceptable entry conditions are present immediately prior
						to, and during, entry.
Ventilate or ventilation means controlling a hazardous
						atmosphere using continuous forced-air mechanical systems that meet the
						requirements of Section
						1530, General Requirements for
						Mechanical Ventilation Systems.