This policy establishes the procedures to be used by University of Vermont employees for entry into confined spaces defined by OSHA as meeting the following criteria:
- Any space that is not ordinarily inhabited by people and is large enough for an individual to enter
- Has limited or restricted entry or exit (for example, tanks, vessels, silos, storage bins, hoppers, vaults, and pits are spaces that may have limited means for entry)
- Is not designed for continuous employee occupancy
Entry into a confined space has occurred if any part of the person's body breaks the plane of an opening to a confined space. Confined spaces that can typically be encountered by University of Vermont personnel include tanks, concrete vaults, sumps, boilers, tunnels, and exhaust systems
The Enivornmental Health and Safety (EHS) maintains a list of identified permit and non-permit confined spaces on campus that Physical Plant employees may enter, with detailed entry procedure documents. Authorized persons who have taken the confined space training offered by EHS may access the Confined Space List (requires NetId login). If you are not authorized and feel you should be, please contact us. Contractors should contact their project coordinator/manager for a list of identified permit and non-permit confined spaces.
Other departments and hired-contractors may follow their own program if it is submitted to us for approval prior to performing work. Email the EHS Safety Programs Coordinator for more information. All contractor confined space entry programs will be reviewed to assure that they are at least as stringent as UVM’s program. It is the explicit responsibility of the Contractor to train and educate their employees prior to assigning them work at UVM.