TORONTO - On March 31, 2010, CSA Standards announced CSA Z1006 Management of Work in Confined Spaces. This is a new standard the specifies requirements and guidelines for work in confined spaces as well as co-ordinating rescues.
Workers in confined spaces can be at risk of serious injury or death resulting from asphyxiation, engulfment, electric shock, falls, and heat, fire, explosion or long-term illness. In addition, more than 60% of confined space fatalities are would-be rescuers.
A confined space is defined as a workspace that is fully or partially enclosed, is not designed or intended for continuous human occupancy and has limited or restricted access, exiting or an internal configuration that can complicate provisions of first aid, evacuation, rescue or other emergency response services. This includes tunnels, mines, grain silos, hydro vaults, shipping compartments, pump stations, boilers, chemical tanks and more. Every confined space is considered to be hazardous unless deemed not so by a competent person through a hazard identification and risk assessment.
"Even the most skilled workers can become trapped, injured or overcome by toxins in a confined space," says Suzanne Kiraly, president, CSA Standards. "This new CSA standard, the first of its kind in Canada, defines what a confined space is and provides guidelines to managers, workers and rescuers for identifying and avoiding potential risks while not becoming victims themselves."
The new standard is pending approval to be utilized nation-wide. Please visit www.CSA.ca.
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