Environmental Health and Safety - Confined Spaces
Confined Spaces at WKU
At WKU, there are areas and spaces where workers must enter to perform work that are considered confined spaces.
A confined space:
- is large enough to enter and perform assigned work,
- has limited or restricted means for entry or exit, and
- is not designed for continuous employee occupancy.
Some of these spaces on campus include manholes, tunnels, pits, and boilers and many require a permit to enter. A permit required confined space has all of the above characteristics and may have one or more of the following:
- the potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere,
- the potential for engulfing an entrant,
- it is so configured that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls,
- or it may contain other recognized serious safety or health hazards.
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