The American Society of Safety Engineers just announced the approval of the newly revised ANSI//ASSE Z117.1-2009 Standard, Safety Requirements for Confined Spaces. The voluntary consensus standard, which was approved on July 27, 2009, establishes minimum safety requirements that aim to protect workers who enter, exit, work in confined spaces. The effective date for the newly revised standards is November 2, 2009. It does not pertain to underground mining, tunneling, caisson work, intentionally inert confined spaces or other similar tasks that have established national consensus standards.
After reviewing current available data addressing confined space, the committee noted that the cause of death associated with confined space entry has not changed appreciably during recent years. The committee also noted that approximately 65 percent of incidents with fatalities involved atmospheric contamination and engulfment accounted for less than 10 percent of the identified causes. Although this is true, it's important not to forget that the fatality cases in this sampling do not represent all U.S. confined space incidents resulting in fatalities.
The aim of the newly revised Z117 standard is to provide for the minimum performance requirements necessary in developing and implementing a comprehensive confined space program for the protection of workers. On September 30th, ASSE will hold a webcast to discuss the new revisions. For more information go to http://www.asse.org/education/z117-webinar.php
Sources:
ehstoday.com
ohsonline.com
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