Confined spaces expose workers to deadly hazards in a variety of industries here in Indiana and Illinois. The risks of working in a confined space are well established: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), two or more people die each week in this country from bodily injuries sustained in an on-the-job confined space accident. Sadly, it is estimated that 60% of workers who fall victim to confined space dangers are those who are trying to rescue a fellow worker who has become hurt or trapped in the confined space.
What is a Confined Space on a Work Site?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) describes a confined space as any place on a job site “…not necessarily designed for people, [but] … large enough for workers to enter and perform certain jobs.” It has a limited entry or exit. It has not been designed for a human being to occupy for any extended period of time. It can be very large or quite small.
Under federal regulations, a “permit-required confined space” involves one of more of the following dangers for any worker or employee that enters it:
- 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.
Confined Spaces in Indiana and Illinois
While construction sites are the most common place to find workers performing tasks within a confined space, other industries also demand men and women to enter this dangerous hazard in order to get their jobs done. These include: farms, ranches, and other agricultural work zones; plumbers, pipe fitters, and steamfitters; material movers; freight laborers; equipment and machinery cleaners; commercial truck drivers; maintenance and repair workers.
Examples of confined spaces endangering workers in Indiana and Illinois include:
- Tanks
- Vessels
- Sewers
- Pipes
- Rail Cars
- Aircraft Wings
- Truck Mixer Drums
- Boilers
- Manure Pits
- Silos
- Storage bins
- Hoppers
- Vaults
- Ditches
- Trenches
- Pits
- Manholes
- Pipelines
- Ductwork
- Attics
- Large industrial machines.
Variety of Injury Threats Facing Workers in Confined Spaces
One of the reasons that confined spaces are notorious for causing workplace fatalities is because they offer a variety of dangers, any one of which can result in serious or fatal harm to the worker. Hazards facing anyone working within a confined space include things like:
(1) not being able to breathe because of insufficient oxygen or because of exposure to toxic gases;
(2) crushed by collapse of the space walls or roof (e.g., trench collapse);
(3) drowning in liquid;
(4) suffocation (e.g., silo);
(5) burned in a fire caused by flames, chemicals, or exposure to electricity; and
(6) explosion.
The BLS warns that certain types of deadly hazards cause most of confined space fatalities. According to their data, the majority of worker confined space deaths during the time period 2011 to 2018 were caused by trench collapses, and the majority of the collapses of a confined space happened on a construction site.
Inhalation of harmful substances is another high risk in a confined space, according to the BLS. In particular, exposure of the worker in a confined space to hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, methane, sewer gas, and solvents and degreasers.
Employers Have a Legal Duty to Protect Workers Against Confined Space Hazards
Regardless of the industry, every employer in Indiana and Illinois has a responsibility to protect workers from hazards on the job, especially known dangers like those involved with working in a confined space. See, e.g., NSC Safety Experts Warn of Dangers Facing Workers in the OSHA Top Ten List of Violations ; and OSHA Pushes Employers on Reporting On the Job Injuries: Will Workers Be Safer at Work?
Workers should be able to depend upon their employers to undertake the following confined space safety measures specific to the particular industry environment:
- Identify all confined spaces on the job site;
- Research and evaluate the hazards involved with each confined space; and
- Design controls to protect against these hazards that include not only engineering and static site measures but also training of workers and providing the workers with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).
Employers do not act in a vacuum. OSHA, for instance, provides guidelines for confined spaces and confined space entry (CSE) program procedures for employers to follow in order to provide confined space safety on the job site. These include things like detailed checklists for employers to follow before placing workers at risk of harm as they enter a confined space on the job.
Victims of Confined Space Accidents on the Job in Indiana and Illinois
Sadly, there will be workers who will be permanently harmed or die in a confined space accident in our part of the country no matter how well-known the hazards of working in these high-risk areas. All too often, employers will fail to meet their legal duty of care to protect their employee with tragic results.
Particularly heart-wrenching is the reality that over half of the confined space fatalities in this country involve those heroes who run to help a fellow worker who is hurt or trapped in a confined space. These rescuers perish as they try to save others on the job who have fallen victim to the employer’s failure to meet its duty of care and safety.
The laws of Indiana and Illinois both serve to provide justice to these victims and their loved ones in the aftermath of a confined space incident on the job site. Negligence, product liability, workers’ compensation, and wrongful death laws may provide avenues for justice in a confined space accident. For more on worker injury claims, read:
- The Increasing Danger of Dying on the Job: Fatality Risk Just Keeps Growing for Workers
- Respiratory Protection: Deadly Dangers Facing Variety of Workers in Indiana and Illinois
- Rising Trend in Workers Killed on the Job: BLS Reports Highest Number of Worker Deaths Since 2008
- Industrial Machine Accidents: Deadly Dangers Facing Machinists, Mechanics, Maintenance, and Millwrights in Indiana and Illinois
- Steel Mill Workers Risk of Injury on the Job: Equipment, Working Conditions
- Farming Accidents in Indiana and Illinois: Small Farm Fatality Dangers
- Grain Accidents in Indiana and Illinois: Danger of Death in Engulfment, Entrapment, or Explosion.
Confined spaces are a part of the job for many workers in Indiana and Illinois. Brave men and women routinely enter these high-risk hazards to perform their tasks, placing their lives on the line as they trust employers to keep them safe from harm. Please be careful out there!
