Yunku Industrial Safety

A confined space is a space that is enclosed or partially enclosed, has restricted ingress and egress but is accessible to personnel, is not designed as a fixed workplace, is poorly ventilated, and is susceptible to the accumulation of toxic, hazardous, flammable, and explosive substances or to insufficient oxygen content.

I. What are the characteristics of a confined space?

1. A confined space is a tangible, relatively isolated space from the outside world, which can be either completely or partially closed.

2. The confined space is limited to its own volume, shape and structure, and most of the entrances and exits are narrow, or the settings of the entrances and exits are not convenient for the personnel to enter and exit, but the personnel can enter and carry out the work.

3. The design of the confined space does not take into account the requirements of lighting, illumination, ventilation and fresh air volume according to the fixed workplace, and the personnel only enter the confined space to carry out temporary work when necessary.

4. Poor ventilation in a confined space is likely to result in the accumulation of toxic, hazardous, flammable and explosive substances or insufficient oxygen content.

II. How many types of confined spaces are there?

Confined spaces are divided into three categories: underground confined spaces, aboveground confined spaces and confined equipment.

1. underground confined space, such as basements, underground warehouses, underground works, underground pipe ditches, culverts, tunnels, culverts, pits, deep foundation pits, waste wells, cellars, inspection well chambers, biogas digesters, septic tanks, sewage treatment tanks and so on.

2. above ground confined space: such as wine lees pool, fermentation pool, pickling pool, pulp pool, granary, silo, etc.

3. confined equipment: such as cabins, storage (tank) tanks, vehicle tanks, reaction towers (kettles), kilns, furnaces, flues, pipelines and boilers.

III. What does confined space operation mean?

Confined space operation refers to the personnel to enter the confined space to implement the operation. Common confined space operations mainly include clearing, cleaning operations, equipment installation, replacement, maintenance operations, painting, anticorrosion, waterproofing, welding operations, inspections, overhaul operations, and so on. For example, entering sewage wells to carry out dredging operations, entering fermentation tanks to carry out cleaning operations, entering sewage regulating tanks to replace equipment, carrying out anticorrosion operations in storage tanks, and entering inspection wells and heat pipe trenches to carry out inspections, etc., all belong to the confined-space operations.