5157: Permit-Required Confined Spaces

Question 1

Acceptable entry conditions

Answer 1

the conditions that must exist in a permit space to allow entry and to ensure that employees involved with a permit-required confined space entry can safely enter into and work within the space.

Question 2

Attendant

Answer 2

an individual stationed outside one or more permit spaces who monitors the authorized entrants and who performs all attendants duties assigned in the employer’s permit space program.

Question 3

Authorized entrant

Answer 3

an employee who is authorized by the employer to enter a permit space

Question 4

Blanking or blinding

Answer 4

the absolute closure of a pipe, line, or duct by the fastening of a solid plate (such as a spectacle blind or a skillet blind) that completely covers the bore and that is capable of withstanding the maximum pressure of the pipe, line, or duct with no leakage beyond the plate.

Question 5

Confined Space

Answer 5

a space that:

(1) is large enough and so configured that an employee can bodily enter and perform assigned work;
(2) has limited or restricted means for entry or exit (tanks, vessels, silos, storage bins, hoppers, vaults, and pits)
(3) is not designed for continuous employee occupancy

Question 6

Double block and bleed

Answer 6

the closure of a line, duct, or pipe by closing and locking or tagging two in-line valves and by opening and locking or tagging a drain or vent valve in the line between the two closed valves.

Question 7

Emergency

Answer 7

any occurence (including any failure of hazard control or monitoring equipment) or event internal or external to the permit space that could endanger entrants.

Question 8

Engulfment

Answer 8

the surrounding and effective capture of a person by a liquid or finely divided (flowable) solid substance that can be spirated to cause death by filling or plugging the respiratory system or that can exert enough force on the body to cause death by strangulation, constriction, or crushing.

Question 9

Entry

Answer 9

the action by which a person passes through an opening into a permit-required confined space. Entry includes ensuing work activities in that space and is considered to have occurred as soon as any part of hte entrant’s body breaks the plane of an opening into the space.

Question 10

Entry permit (permit)

Answer 10

the written or printed document that is provided by the employer to allow and control entry into a permit space and that contains the information specified in subsection (f).

Question 11

Entry supervisor (may also serve as an attendant or as an authorized entrant, can be passed from one individual to another)

Answer 11

person (employer, foreman, or crew chief) responsible for determining if acceptable entry conditions are present at a permit space where entry is planned, for authorizing entry and overseeing entry operations, and for terminating entry as required by this section.

Question 12

Hazardous Atmosphere (Definition)

Answer 12

An atmosphere that may expose employees to the risk kof death, incapacitation, impairment of ability to self-rescue (that is, escape unaided from a permit space), injury, or acute illness from one or more of the following causes

Question 13

Hazardous Atmosphere (Cause 1)

Answer 13

Flammable gas, vapor, or mist in excess of 10 percent of its lower flammable limit (LFL)

Question 14

Hazardous Atm (Cause 2)

Answer 14

Airborne combustible dust at a concentration that meets or exceeds its LFL; (NOTE: this conc. may be approx. as a condition in which the dust obscures vision at a distance of 5 feet (1.52M) or less.

Question 15

Hazardous Atm (Cause 3)

Answer 15

Atmospheric oxygen concentration below 19.5 percent or above 23.5 percent

Question 16

Hazardous Atm (Cause 4)

Answer 16

Atmospheric conc. of any substance for which a dose is published in Group 14 for Radiation and Radioactivity or a permissible exposure limit is published in section 5155 for Airborne contaminants and which could result in employee exposure in excess of its dose or permissible exposure limit.

Question 17

Hazardous Atm (Cause 5)

Answer 17

Any other atm condition that is immediately dangerous to life or health.

Question 18

Hot work permit

Answer 18

the employer’s written authorization to perform operations (riveting, welding, cutting, burning, and heating) capable of providing a source of ignition

Question 19

Immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH)

Answer 19

any condition that poses an immediate or delayed threat to life or that would cause irreversible adverse health effects or that would interfere with an individuals ability to escape unaided from a permit space.

Question 20

Inerting (This procedure produces an IDLH oxygen-deficient atmosphere)

Answer 20

the displacement of the atmosphere in a permit space by a noncombustible gas (such as nitrogen) to such an extent that the resulting atmosphere is noncombustile

Question 21

Isolation

Answer 21

the process by which a permit space is removed from service and completely protected against the release of energy and material into the space [blanking or blinding; misaligning or removing section of lines, pipes, or ducts;,,,]

Question 22

Line breaking

Answer 22

the intentional opening of a pipe, line, or duct that is or has been carrying flammable, corrosive, or toxic material, an inert gas, or any fluid at a volume, pressure or temperature capable of causing injury

Question 23

Non-permit confined space

Answer 23

confined space that does not contain or, with respect to atmospheric hazards, have the potential to contain any hazard capable of causing death or serious physical harm

Question 24

Oxygen deficient atmosphere

Answer 24

atmosphere containing less than 19.5% oxygen by volume

Question 25

Oxygen enriched atmosphere

Answer 25

containing more than 23.5% oxygen by volume

Question 26

Permit-required confined space

Answer 26

(Permit Space) meaning a confined space that has one or more of 4 characteristics

Question 27

Permit-Req’d Confined Space (CHARACTERISTICS)

Answer 27

1. Contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere
2. Contains a material that has the potential for engulfing an entrant
3. Has an internal configuration such that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls or by a floor which slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross-section
4. Contains any other recognized serious safety or health hazard

Question 28

Permit-Required confined space Program

Answer 28

the employer’s overall program for controlling and, where appropriate, for protecting employees from, permit space hazards and for regulating employee entry into permit spaces

Question 29

Permit system

Answer 29

the employer’s written procedure for preparing and issuing permits foe entry and for returning the permit space to service following termination of entry

Question 30

Prohibited condition

Answer 30

any condition in a permit space that is not allowed by the permit during the period when entry is authorized

Question 31

Rescue services

Answer 31

the personnel designated to rescue employees from permit spaces

Question 32

Retrieval system

Answer 32

the equipment (including a retrieval line, chest or full-body harness, wristlets, if appropriate, and a lifting device or anchor) used for non-entry rescue of persons from permit spaces

Question 33

Testing

Answer 33

the process by which the hazards that may confront entrants of a permit space are identified and evaluated (enables employers both to devise and implement adequate controle measures for the protection of authorized entrants and to determine if acceptable entry conditions are present at entry)