Many commercial/industrial facilities have sub-grade vaults, pits or above-grade machinery/equipment requiring periodic access by employees to perform routine inspections, maintenance or repair activities.  According to federal regulations outlined in 29 CFR 1910.146, such a facility is obligated to (1) conduct evaluations of the spaces to determine if the areas/equipment are confined spaces as defined in 29 CFR 1910.146; and (2) if so, promulgate and enforce written procedures to be followed whenever personnel enter such spaces.  In general, a confined space is any area, machinery or equipment large enough for an employee to enter and perform assigned work; has limited or restricted means of ingress and egress; is not designed for continuous occupancy; and may have potential atmospheric and/or physical hazards associated with entry, occupancy or exit activities.

Typical activities/tasks completed as part of CEG's Confined Space Evaluations include:

Conduct an on-site evaluation of all spaces and identify those that qualify as confined spaces under State and/or Federal
    regulations

Conduct specific tests of air quality and assess physical hazards within identified confined spaces, if necessary

Identify all Permit Entry Only confined spaces

Assist the facility in the preparation of appropriate written procedures to be followed by personnel when entering Permit
    Entry Only confined spaces

CEG can conduct inspections of from a single confined space to entire facilities to identify all potential confined spaces and prepare written plans for safe ingress, occupancy, and egress activities.  CEG's confined space plans outline all the potential hazards and how to properly deal with those hazards in order to comply with all federal regulations and protect the lives of your personnel.

As with most compliance issues, the value of identifying and effectively addressing the confined space issue lies in minimizing the likelihood of financial losses associated with lost time injuries to personnel, non-compliance fines levied by government or other public agencies, or increased insurance premiums for failure to properly address this important health and safety issue, as required by OSHA.