Dive Brief:
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a final rule designed to protect construction crews that work in confined spaces like manholes, crawl spaces and tanks.
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Those spaces often have small entryways and only one way to exit, and are not designed for long-term occupancy. The rule will require employers to evaluate the job site and identify confined spaces, and then ensure the spaces are safe for crews and that employees have the safety information they need.
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OSHA has estimated that the rule will prevent 780 serious injuries a year by giving construction workers protections similar to those already in force in manufacturing and general industry.
Dive Insight:
The safety hazards that construction crews face in confined spaces—like toxic substances, electrocutions, explosions and asphyxiation—can be life-threatening. Last year, a worker died from asphyxiation while repairing leaks in a manhole. When a co-worker entered the space to try to save his team member, he died, too.
“In the construction industry, entering confined spaces is often necessary, but fatalities like these don’t have to happen,” Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez said in a statement.
The rule will take effect on Aug. 3.
