Sacramento, CA — Changes to California’s regulations on construction safety orders for confined spaces went into effect Jan. 1.
Approved in September by the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board and the state’s Office of Administrative Law, the revisions require employers to identify and evaluate confined spaces. That includes having a “competent person conduct an initial survey” of a work area for confined spaces before work begins.
Cal/OSHA defines a “competent person” as “one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them.”
In addition, employers must have a competent person inspect work areas with sufficient frequency to identify new confined spaces.
A new requirement states that employees and the controlling contractor must be informed by the employer of any newly discovered or created confined spaces because of construction or demolition activity.
A competent person must identify each confined space that is a permit-required space through consideration, evaluation and testing. If one or more permit-required spaces are identified, employers must inform exposed workers by posting danger signs or communicating the hazard’s existence and location via equally effective means. The controlling contractor and employees’ representative must also be made aware of each permit-required space.
The revisions include several updated definitions, including that a hazardous atmosphere can be caused by airborne combustible dust that exceeds 20% of the minimum explosive concentration.
