816 Confined Space Safety in Construction

Permit Space Pre-Entry Communication and Coordination

Host Employer Communications

The host employer owns or manages the property where the construction work is taking place.

Before permit space entry operations begin, the host employer must provide the following three items of information, if it has it, to the controlling contractor:

1. The location of each known permit space;
2. The hazards or potential hazards in each space or the reason it is a permit space; and
3. Any precautions that the host employer or any previous controlling contractor or entry employer implemented for the protection of employees in the permit space.

Controlling Contractor Communications

The controlling contractor has overall responsibility for construction at the worksite. If the controlling contractor owns or manages the property, then it is both a controlling employer and a host employer. Before entry operations begin, the controlling contractor must:

• Obtain the host employer's information about the permit space hazards and previous entry operations; and
• Provide the following information to each entity entering a permit space and any other entity at the worksite whose activities could foreseeably result in a hazard in the permit space:
• Information received from the host employer;
• Additional information the controlling contractor has including information about the permit space, hazards, precautions and previous operations; and
• Precautions that the host employer, controlling contractor, or other entry employers implemented to protect employees in the permit spaces.

If there is no controlling contractor present at the worksite, the controlling contractor's role and responsibilities must be fulfilled by the host employer or other employer who arranges to have employees of another employer perform work that involves permit space entry.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.