Tag Archive for: construction site injuries

OSHA Confined Spaces Regulations: Ensuring Safety in Construction Environments

/by

A construction site can present a variety of hazards for workers. While many people visualize construction sites as being open spaces with equipment and materials, this isn’t always the case. Often, work takes place in confined spaces, which pose a particular set of hazards. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has created specific confined space guidelines for the construction industry to keep workers safe. 

What is a Confined Space?

According to OSHA, a confined space is anything that meets the following criteria:

  • Is configured and large enough that it allows an employee to physically enter and perform their work; and
  • Has limited means of exit or entry, which can make it difficult for workers to exit or enter quickly in case of an emergency; and
  • Is not intended for continuous occupancy, meaning the space is not designed to have a human inside it continuously, such as vessels, pipelines, tanks, or underground areas. 

OSHA’s definition of a confined space also extends beyond the physical characteristics of a space to include any potential hazards that might be present in the space. A space might be considered a “confined space” if it:

  • Lacks proper ventilation
  • Contains hazardous substances
  • Poses a risk of entrapment, engulfment, or other hazardous conditions
  • Contains any other recognized serious health or safety hazard

OSHA states that a “permit space” is any confined space with one or more of the following characteristics:

  • Contains material that could potentially engulf an entrant; 
  • Contains or could contain a hazardous atmosphere;
  • Has a configuration that could entrap an entrant; or
  • Contains another serious health or safety hazard. 

OSHA’s Confined Space Standard for Construction Environments

On May 15, 2015, OSHA issued a new regulation for confined spaces in the construction industry. Previously, the agency only stated that construction companies must provide training for employees who enter confined spaces. The new regulation imposes a long list of additional requirements on covered employers in the construction industry, which is meant to keep workers safe and prevent serious injuries. 

Covered Employers

OSHA’s new rule applies to all businesses involved in construction activities, except for underground construction, excavation, and diving activities, which are covered by separate standards. Multiple employers at a construction site are subject to the new rules:

  • The “host employer” is the owner or manager of the construction site. 
  • The “controlling contractor” is usually the general contractor or the one with overall responsibility for activities at the site. 
  • The “entry employer” is any employer, such as a subcontractor, who directs a worker to enter a permit space. 

Worksite Inspection

Before employers can begin work at a construction site with confined space, OSHA requires that a “competent person” inspect the worksite to identify all confined spaces as well as any spaces that qualify as “permit spaces.” 

OSHA defines a “competent person” as someone who is capable of identifying workplace hazards and has the authority to promptly eliminate them. The person must have knowledge of the testing methodology used to identify hazards. 

Employee Notice

Employers who receive notice of or identify a permit space must notify workers that it exists and any hazards it poses by posting appropriate danger signs or in some other effective way. The employer must also inform other interested parties, such as the controlling contractor, and take measures to prevent unauthorized workers from entering the area. 

Written Permit Space

If workers must enter a permit space to complete assigned tasks, the employer must implement a written permit space program on the job site and make it available to employees prior to and during the entry. The program should evaluate and identify any confined space hazards, create measures to prevent unauthorized access and implement measures for safe exit and entry. If necessary for safety, the employer must provide appropriate PPE to workers at no cost and provide training on its use. 

Communication and Coordination for Permit Space Entry

Prior to entering a site, the host employer must inform the controlling contractor of all known permit spaces, any entry precautions implemented, and all known hazards. The controlling contractor is then required to relay that information to any other workers entering the space. Once confined space operations are completed, the controlling contractor must debrief workers who entered the permit space and report any additional hazards encountered to the host employer. 

What If You’ve Suffered a Confined Space Injury on a Construction Site?

If you’ve been injured on a construction site due to a confined space issue or any other hazard, it’s important to understand that your employer has an obligation to provide a safe workplace that protects you from harm. Sufficient safeguards and training are essential parts of workplace preparedness. To learn more about asserting and protecting your rights, contact OSHA Injury Attorney directly. 

Construction Site Safety

/by

The construction industry sees a disproportionate number of worker injuries and fatalities, the majority of which are preventable. For both employers and employees alike, construction site safety is an extremely important consideration that shouldn’t be overlooked. Consider some of the following best practices and recommended guidelines for keeping construction sites, and the workers who are at them, safe and injury-free. If you have been injured on the job, please reach out to an OSHA Injury Attorney directly to learn more about your rights and how our law firm can help.

Staying Safe: Know Hazards in the Workplace

When thinking about construction site safety and how to mitigate risks, it is first important to consider the potential hazards and the most common causes of injuries to workers. As reported by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the potential hazards for workers in the construction industry include:

  • Repetitive motion injuries;
  • Trench collapses;
  • Lack of use of personal protective equipment (PPE);
  • Electric shock and arc flash/arc blast;
  • Falls from heights; and
  • Scaffold collapse.

Most worker fatalities in the construction industry are a result of falls, electrocution injuries, caught-in/between machinery injuries, and struck-by-object accidents. Controlling for these accident types is essential.

In addition to familiarizing oneself with common hazards and injury types, it is also important to review OSHA’s most commonly cited construction violations.

Improving Construction Site Safety

Improving construction site safety requires a multi-pronged strategy and approaching safety from all angles. Recommendations for improving construction site safety include:

  • Adhere to OSHA regulations. All operations within the construction industry have an obligation to comply with OSHA regulations, which can be found These regulations provide guidance for a wide range of safety and health issues, including general safety and health provisions, safety training and education, recording and reporting of injuries, and more.
  • Develop a job site safety plan. All construction operations should have a job site safety plan in place that accounts for OSHA’s recommendations and guidelines. A job site safety plan for the construction industry should include information about worker training, tools and equipment, inspections, protective equipment, and more. The safety plan should be something that everyone who works on the site is intimately familiar with.
  • Mitigate common hazards. As stated above, there are common hazards, such as the risk of falls, that cause a disproportionate number of worker injuries. Implementing policies and protocols to mitigate these types of accidents specifically can help to keep workers safe. For example, an article from Constructive Dive recommends improving fall protection on the job site by setting uniform requirements, communicating expectations early and often, ensuring that workers receive training on all equipment and safety gear, planning ahead, and “closing the revolving door,” which refers to limiting the number of times that workers are rotated from one site to the next, as people will gain more experience (which helps to keep them safe) by staying at the same site.
  • Protect crews from external threats. External threats are those risks to construction workers that are outside of the direct job site, such as reckless third-party drivers. Employers should have a plan in place to control for external threats, especially when working on roadside construction sites and other high-risk areas. For example, equipping hardhats with especially bright lights for workers who are working at night on a roadside construction project may help to make these workers more visible to drivers.
  • Consider mental health in your safety plan. Many employers only think about the risks to a worker’s physical health when designing a safety plan, but mental health should be a consideration, too. Mental and emotional health is not only more difficult to discern, but it can play a role in the safety of the affected worker themselves and others on the job. Like the rate of workplace injury, the rate of worker suicide within the construction industry is disproportionately–and tragically–high. Supporting workers’ mental health is an important consideration for construction site employers. 
  • Monitor and improve. Finally, remember that in improving construction site safety, the process requires a level of adaptive management – that is, continued learning while doing. When circumstances change, new tools or safety gear are introduced, workers rotate, or the task at hand shifts, the safety plan should be updated and reevaluated for relevance. Continued monitoring of workers and improvement of a safety plan can help to keep everyone safer.

OSHA Injury Attorney’s Mission

The goal of our OSHA Injury Attorneys is to make sure that workers have access to information about their rights and how to stay safe in the workplace. When workers’ rights are breached, it is important that they seek the guidance of an attorney who can provide guidance and legal support in helping workers pursue damages and recover compensation. If you have concerns about your employer’s failure to meet OSHA safety requirements, or if you have been injured on the job, please complete our contact form and we will forward your information to a qualified workplace injury attorney.