• A host employer is required to share certain information with a contractor hired to work in a permit space.
• A host employer and contractor should work together to choose the best permit program for their project.
• Regular communication about work performed in permit spaces is essential for employers and contractors.

Host employer responsibilities

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that host employers who hire contractors to work in permit-required confined spaces share specific information and coordinate entry procedures with those contractors (29 CFR 1910.146(c)(8)). If an outside contractor is hired to perform work in a permit space, it is the host employer’s responsibility to ensure that the contractor uses a written permit space program. The host employer must verify that the contractor’s workers are adequately trained in permit space entry and that they understand the hazards in the host’s facility as it relates to their work.

Host employers must provide contractors with several key pieces of information:

• The number and location of the host employer’s permit spaces,
• The host employer’s permit space program,
• Established precautions and procedures for working in permit spaces, and
• Any likely hazards that the contractor’s workers may encounter in the space.

Once work has begun in the permit space, the host employer should routinely check that the contractor is following the agreed-upon procedures. Once entry has terminated, the host employer must debrief the contractor about the permit program that was followed and about any hazards encountered in the permit space.

Contractor responsibilities

Contractors working in a permit space must ensure that all necessary information regarding the space, its hazards, and its entry procedures are obtained from the host employer. Contractors must also report any hazards encountered during work in a permit space to the host employer.

The host employer and contractor should work together to select the permit program best suited to the specifics of the permit space and the work to be done. Importantly, host employers and contractors are required to coordinate entry operations whenever personnel of both the host employer and contractor will be working in or near a permit space.

Contractor personnel enter permit spaces under many different circumstances. There are circumstances in which a contractor sets up a complete permit space program at the host employer’s workplace, and there are situations in which both contractor and host employer employees work side by side in a permit space.