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PDFWAC 296-809-20002

Identify permit-required confined spaces.

You must identify all permit-required confined spaces in your workplace. Use a person with the knowledge, skills, and abilities, capable of identifying actual and potential hazards related to permit-required confined spaces and with the authority to take prompt corrective action, such as an entry supervisor or competent person.
Important: Identification of Permit-Required Confined Space(s) involves a two-step process.
Step 1:Identify confined spaces.
Confined space. A space that is all of the following:
Large enough and arranged so an employee could fully enter the space and work.
Has limited or restricted entry or exit. Examples of spaces with limited or restricted entry are tanks, vessels, silos, storage bins, hoppers, vaults, excavations, and pits.
Not primarily designed for continuous human occupancy.
See Appendix A Frequently Asked Questions and Examples of Confined Spaces by visiting the labor and industries web site at
Step 2: Evaluate the actual and potential hazards of each confined space to identify the permit-required confined space(s).
Permit-required confined space or permit space. A confined space that has one or more of the following characteristics capable of causing death or serious physical harm.
Contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere.
Contains a material with the potential for engulfing someone who enters.
Has an internal configuration that could allow someone entering to be trapped or asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls or by a floor, which slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross section.
Contains any physical hazard. This includes any recognized health or safety hazards including engulfment in solid or liquid material, electrical shock, or moving parts.
Contains any other recognized serious safety or health hazard that could either:
(a) Impair the ability to self-rescue; or
(b) Result in a situation that presents an immediate danger to life or health.
See Appendix B Examples of Permit-Required Confined Space Hazards by visiting the labor and industries web site at
[Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010, 49.17.040, 49.17.050, 49.17.060 and chapter 49.17 RCW. WSR 18-02-071, § 296-809-20002, filed 1/2/18, effective 2/5/18. Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010, 49.17.040, 49.17.050, 49.17.060. WSR 15-24-102, § 296-809-20002, filed 12/1/15, effective 1/5/16; WSR 04-03-081, § 296-809-20002, filed 1/20/04, effective 5/1/04.]
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