What makes a confined space dangerous? The textbook answer is that it contains some hazard and that it’s difficult to escape. But, as one Garden Grove employer recently learned, a lack of knowledge is also a dangerous—and potentially costly—thing.

Recognizing Confined Space Hazards

Atmospheric hazards in confined spaces are often invisible and may be odorless. So when a worker collapses in a confined space, coworkers may mistakenly believe that their unconscious colleague has had a medical emergency—a heart attack, perhaps. When they enter the space to rescue the downed worker, they discover that the atmosphere is toxic or oxygen-poor, but they usually discover that too late to save themselves.

That’s how confined spaces often claim more than one victim: The initial victim collapses, and would-be rescuers enter the space and are also overcome before anyone realizes that the space itself contains the hazard. This is why the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) confined space standards require employers to identify hazards in permit-required confined spaces before employees enter them and to train workers in the potential hazards of permit-required confined spaces.

Unfortunately, some employers still have not laid the groundwork for safe confined space entry. One of those employers, Garden Grove-based Kittyhawk, Inc., discovered its failure the hard way.

A Hazard Without Warning

Kittyhawk, Inc., heat-treats metals under pressure in an inert gas environment. On March 13, 2016, a Kittyhawk supervisor sent an untrained production assistant into a pressure vessel furnace to perform maintenance. The assistant didn’t have an oxygen sensor with him when he descended into the 7-foot-deep space, which was filled with argon gas.

Argon is a noble gas that is chemically inert under most conditions. It’s colorless, odorless, and much heavier than air. Although argon is nontoxic, it can displace oxygen in a confined space. When oxygen levels fall below 19.5 percent, workers will lose physical coordination and good judgment and become easily fatigued. If oxygen levels fall below 12 percent, workers can faint without warning.

When the Kittyhawk worker was overcome by the argon gas and collapsed inside the unit, a coworker went in after him, became dizzy, and lost consciousness. A third employee realized what the problem was and blew fresh air into the confined space with a fan. The first worker was hospitalized for 4 days as a result of his exposure to the oxygen-deficient atmosphere; his coworker was treated and released.

What Nobody Knew

Following an investigation, OSHA cited Kittyhawk for nine safety violations. Three were classified as serious and three more as serious, accident-related. Allegedly, Kittyhawk had utterly neglected to make its employees aware of the existence of or hazards posed by permit-required confined spaces by failing to:

  • Identify permit-required confined spaces. Workers couldn’t have known which spaces in the workplace were permit- required confined spaces because the spaces hadn’t been identified and clearly labeled. OSHA recommends that spaces be marked with signs reading “DANGER—PERMIT-REQUIRED CONFINED SPACE. DO NOT ENTER.”
  • Train its employees to safely perform work in these confined spaces. Workers hadn’t been trained to work safely in confined spaces. All employees who work in areas with permit-required confined spaces should, at a minimum, understand why a permit is required and what constitutes “entry.”
  • Monitor the atmospheric conditions in a confined space during maintenance. Neither worker who entered the space knew to monitor the atmospheric conditions—they had no way to know that the atmosphere was oxygen-deficient. Workers need to know how to monitor, and they need to have the proper equipment to do so.
  • Develop effective rescue and emergency procedures. Even with training and monitoring, things can go wrong inside a confined space—and such spaces are, by definition, difficult to escape. Employers should have a plan in place to get workers out of a space if something goes wrong. Kittyhawk had no plan.

As a result of its investigation, OSHA has proposed $73,105 in fines against Kittyhawk.

If you have permit-required confined spaces in your workplace, make sure that you know it, that employees know it, and that everybody knows how to stay safe.

For more information or assistance with your Environmental and Health & Safety regulatory compliance needs, contact Ralph Carito at Total Environmental & Safety, LLC (Total) at rcarito@TotalEnviron.com or 908-442-8599.