A 42-year-old laborer leak testing joints inside a 54-inch round pipe suffered fatal blunt force injuries in October 2015, when an inflatable ¿bladder¿ ruptured at a waste-water treatment plant. Inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor¿s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found his employer failed to train him properly on the testing procedure.

Workers can be killed when employers fail to protect construction workers from the many dangers in confined spaces, said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. These are among the first citations under OSH¿s new Confined Space Standard. Employers can prevent more tragedies like this one if they ensure proper training of workers and communication among multiple employers whose workers are on the same site.

In August 2015, OSHA implemented its confined space in construction standard after research showed proper safety procedures would protect hundreds of workers each year from life-threatening hazards. Hazards include the risks of toxic exposure, electrocution, explosion and asphyxiation present for workers in confined spaces such as pipes, manholes, crawl spaces and tanks. In an emergency, it can be difficult to exit these spaces quickly or for rescuers to enter safely.

The agencys investigation also found the four companies failed to continuously monitor confined spaces for atmospheric and other hazards and train workers in hazards. 

Source:Osha.gov