CLOSE, a free online tool for analysing and managing the risks associated with work in confined spaces is now available. This tool is intended for use by people already qualified for confined space risk management, including prevention officers, supervisors, clients, principal contractors, designer-integrators and rescuers.

It takes into consideration the main potential hazards within the context of Quebec’s standards and regulations. It can be used for both designing a confined space and assessing an existing one. CLOSE consists of five modules for describing the confined space, describing the planned work, determining the potential hazards, choosing preventive measures and estimating the risk before and after implementing the measures. Users can save the results of their analysis. They can also generate reports, add or update information in the different modules and use the information to prepare documents such as entry permits, audits or calls for tenders for subcontractors.