Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00405:body:0:p6
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00405
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 12754–15546

represented by a health and safety representative, the consultation must involve that representative.
Consultation with workers and their health and safety representatives is a critical part of managing work health and safety risks.
You must consult your workers who are involved in carrying out work in or near a confined space during the process of identifying hazards, assessing risks and implementing control measures.
It is often more effective to involve a team of people in the risk management process to draw
on a range of knowledge and experience, for example knowledge of:
    * the particular confined space under assessment
    * any work methods that will be used in or near the confined space
    * confined space hazards and control measures.

Consulting, co-operating and co-ordinating activities with other duty holders
Section 46: If more than one person has a duty in relation to the same matter, each person with the duty must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, co-operate and co-ordinate activities with all other persons who have a work health or safety duty in relation to the same matter.

Sometimes more than one person conducting a business or undertaking will have the same duty in relation to a confined space. For example, a person who owns the plant or structure that contains the confined space will have management or control of the confined space. A contractor engaged to carry out work in the same space will also have management or control of the confined space at the time that work is being carried out. In these situations, effective communication, co-operation and co-ordination of activities between duty holders is essential to ensure that risks associated with the confined space are eliminated or minimised as far as is reasonably practicable.
Further guidance is available in the Code of Practice: Work Health and Safety Consultation,
Co-operation and Co-ordination.

1.4             How to determine whether a space is a confined space
A confined space is determined by the structure and a specific set of circumstances. The same structure may or may not be a confined space depending on the circumstances when the space is entered. Entry to a confined space is considered to have occurred when a person's head or upper body enters the space.
A space may become a confined space if work that is to be carried out in the space would generate harmful concentrations of airborne contaminants.
Temporary control measures such as providing temporary ventilation or achieving a satisfactory pre-entry gas test will not cause a confined space to be declassified. For a confined space to be declassified as a non-confined space, it needs to have undergone sufficient changes in structure and use to eliminate all inherent hazards that define a