Washington Administrative Code › Title 296 - Labor and Industries, Department of › Chapter 296-36 - Safety standards - Compressed air work › Section 296-36-100 - Compression and decompression of workmen - General

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
Subject to subsections 1-5 below, compression and decompression
				of workmen shall be carried out in accordance with the rules hereinafter
				prescribed:
(1) Compression or
			 decompression may be carried out in accordance with such alternative
			 regulations as are approved by the state department of labor and industries in
			 writing.
(2) Except in an
			 emergency, no workman shall be compressed to a pressure exceeding 50 pounds per
			 square inch gage unless regulations for the decompression of such workman have
			 been approved under the foregoing paragraph of this rule.
(3) The monograph "Decompression sickness and
			 its prevention among compressed air workers" prepared by Gerald J. Duffner,
			 M.D. (Captain, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy) and dated 6 November 1962, establishes
			 the criteria for and shall be the guide in the determination of decompression
			 methods and procedures and the preparation of decompression tables. Copies of
			 the monograph are available from the supervisor of safety, department of labor
			 and industries, state of Washington.
(4) A special low-pressure decompression
			 chamber of sufficient size to accommodate the entire force of workmen being
			 decompressed at the end of a shift shall be provided under the following
			 circumstances:
Excepting the infrequent, occasional or emergency condition,
				when any regularly established routine term or schedule of work includes a
				working period requiring a total time of decompression exceeding seventy-five
				minutes, the special low-pressure decompression chamber shall be provided and
				shall be used as a facility to accomplish the final stage or phase of
				decompression. The special chamber shall conform with and shall be operated in
				accordance with sections WAC
				296-36-130 and
				296-36-120(2) 
				example No. 2 respectively.
(5) When a workman has, within the
			 immediately preceding period of 8 hours, been exposed to a pressure greater
			 than 13 pounds per square inch gage and has to be compressed in a man lock
			 other than the lock in which he was last decompressed, he shall, before
			 compression, produce to the lock attendant written particulars signed by the
			 lock attendant of the lock where he was last decompressed indicating his last
			 working period. For the purposes of these regulations, the term "working
			 period" shall mean the period or the sum of the periods during which, since
			 last subject to ordinary atmospheric pressure for at least 8 consecutive hours,
			 a workman has been under pressure in a working chamber or chambers; the written
			 particulars shall be specific in stating the length of time the workman was
			 exposed to compressed air, the gage pressure to which he was subjected, the
			 schedule of decompression used, the total length of time devoted to
			 decompression procedures and the hour at which decompression was completed. As
			 soon as practicable, all data shall be entered in the prescribed register or
			 log at the lock where he is compressed and the data shall, as soon as
			 practicable, be communicated to the attendant at any other lock from which the
			 workman is liable to return to the open air.
Rules (Part IV A), filed 12/28/62; § 2, filed
				  3/23/60.