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['Confined Spaces']
['Permit-Required Confined Spaces']
03/12/2026
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Institute
Confined Spaces
Safety & Health
General Industry Safety
Permit-Required Confined Spaces
What would you Do Answers
English
Analysis
Focus Area
USA
How would you qualify these spaces?: Answers
- Answer: Yes. An area of a confined space with a small cross section can develop a hazardous atmosphere if ventilation is inadequate. In addition, a space of this configuration could prevent an injured worker from escaping the space and make rescuing the worker more difficult. That means that regardless of the other qualities, this space is a permit space.
- Answer: Yes. The competent person must be familiar with the work to be done in the space and the potential for that work to introduce atmospheric hazards. For example, a confined space that is safe when first entered can become deadly if inert gas welding inside the space leads the inert gas to displace oxygen from a worker’s breathing zone.
- Answer: No. Although this is a confined space, it is not a confined space that either contains or could contain atmospheric hazards capable of causing death or serious physical harm. A permit space, by contrast, is a confined space with one or more of the following characteristics:
- It contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere,
- It contains a material that has the potential to engulf an entrant,
- It is configured such that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by converging walls or by a floor that slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross section; or
- It contains any other recognized serious safety or health hazard.
confined-spaces
Confined Spaces
How would you qualify these spaces?: Answers
- Answer: Yes. An area of a confined space with a small cross section can develop a hazardous atmosphere if ventilation is inadequate. In addition, a space of this configuration could prevent an injured worker from escaping the space and make rescuing the worker more difficult. That means that regardless of the other qualities, this space is a permit space.
- Answer: Yes. The competent person must be familiar with the work to be done in the space and the potential for that work to introduce atmospheric hazards. For example, a confined space that is safe when first entered can become deadly if inert gas welding inside the space leads the inert gas to displace oxygen from a worker’s breathing zone.
- Answer: No. Although this is a confined space, it is not a confined space that either contains or could contain atmospheric hazards capable of causing death or serious physical harm. A permit space, by contrast, is a confined space with one or more of the following characteristics:
- It contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere,
- It contains a material that has the potential to engulf an entrant,
- It is configured such that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by converging walls or by a floor that slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross section; or
- It contains any other recognized serious safety or health hazard.
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Copyright 2026 J. J. Keller & Associate, Inc. For re-use options please contact copyright@jjkeller.com or call 800-558-5011.