The Quebec Regulation respecting Occupational Health and Safety (ROHS) defines a confined space in section 1 as any area that is completely or partially enclosed and is not designed for human occupation, nor intended to be, but may occasionally be occupied for the performance of work.
Confined space work is regulated in Quebec with respect to worker qualifications, hazard identification, atmospheric control, entry monitoring and rescue procedures. Canada has a standard for confined space work: CSA Z1006 – Management of Work in Confined Spaces. In practice, before starting work in a confined space, a qualified person must conduct a risk assessment in order to take appropriate risk elimination and reduction measures.
The purpose of this research project was to contribute to confined space accident prevention by helping companies apply existing regulations. The specific objectives were to gain a better understanding of confined space risk management and identify issues based on the literature and field observations, and to develop a confined space risk analysis and work categorization tool that meets the needs defined in the first stage of the project.
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Two scientific peer-reviewed publications are available: