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Confined spaces

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Health and Safety
Executive

Confined spaces
A brief guide to working safely

This leaflet explains what you, as an employer, may need to do to protect your employees when working in confined spaces. It will also be useful to the self-employed or employees and their representatives. The leaflet will help you take the necessary action to meet the requirements of the Confined
Spaces Regulations 1997.

Confined spaces can be deadly
A number of people are killed or seriously injured in confined spaces each year in the UK. This happens in a wide range of industries, from those involving complex plant to simple storage vessels. Those killed include people working in the confined space and those who try to rescue them without …show more content…

For work in confined spaces this means identifying the hazards present, assessing the risks and determining what precautions to take. In most cases the assessment will include consideration of:

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the task; the working environment; working materials and tools; the suitability of those carrying out the task; arrangements for emergency rescue.

Confined spaces: A brief guide to working safely

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Health and Safety
Executive

HSE’s risk management website will help you further (see Further guidance). You may need to appoint competent people to help manage the risks and make sure that employees are adequately trained and instructed (under the Management of
Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 7). Of course, you may be the best person to do this, however, you may need to train someone else or engage the services of a competent person for additional help.
If your assessment identifies risks of serious injury from work in confined spaces, such as the dangers highlighted above, the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 apply. These regulations contain the following key duties:

■■ avoid entry to confined spaces, eg by doing the work from outside;
■■ if entry to a confined space is unavoidable, follow a safe system of work; and p ■■ ut in place adequate emergency arrangements before the work starts.
These duties, and how to carry

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