Confined Space
Many workplaces contain areas that are considered "confined spaces;" these spaces have limited or restricted means for entry or exit and are not designed for continuous occupancy, but are large enough for workers to enter and perform certain jobs. Confined spaces on campus include tanks, vessels, vaults, pits, manholes, tunnels and equipment housings.
OSHA uses the term "permit-required confined space," or permit space, to describe a confined space that has one or more of the following characteristics: contains or has the potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere; contains material that has the potential to engulf an entrant; has walls that converge inward or floors that slope downward and taper into a smaller area which could trap or asphyxiate an entrant; or contains any other recognized safety or health hazard, such as unguarded machinery, exposed live wires or heat stress.
