Canada–Nova Scotia Offshore Area Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (SOR/2021-248)

Marginal note:Instruction and training

129 The instruction and training that every employer must provide to an employee who uses materials handling equipment in the course of their work includes instruction and training on the effects of environmental conditions on the equipment’s safe and proper use.

PART 25Confined Spaces

Marginal note:Evaluation

• 130 (1) The risks to which a person in a confined space is exposed are prescribed risks for the purpose of paragraph 210.02(2)(a) of the Act and every employer must ensure that, before any work begins at a workplace under its control, a competent person evaluates the workplace and makes a record of all confined spaces in it.

• Marginal note:Re-evaluation

  (2) The employer must ensure that each workplace is re-evaluated by a competent person at least once every three years, as well as on the creation or elimination of a confined space, and that the competent person records any changes in respect of the confined spaces at the workplace from the last evaluation.

• Marginal note:Identification

  (3) Every employer must ensure that each confined space at a workplace under its control, other than a confined space that has been made inaccessible with bolted blind flanges, is visibly identified at each point of access as

  • (a) being a confined space;

  • (b) being a space to which access is restricted to authorized persons; and

  • (c) containing a danger.

Marginal note:Occupational health and safety program

131 Every occupational health and safety program must, with respect to the various confined spaces at the workplace and the types of work that could be carried out in them,

• (a) identify the personal protective equipment that is to be used or worn by employees in the confined space;

• (b) set out measures to be taken to prevent the entanglement of lifelines and other equipment used by employees in the confined space;

• (c) identify the atmospheric hazards that may be present in the confined space and the equipment to be used for atmospheric testing and monitoring in the confined space;

• (d) address the calibration and testing of the equipment referred to in paragraph (c) and the appropriate frequency of atmospheric testing;

• (e) set out a plan for responding to emergencies in the confined space that, among other things,

  • (i) identifies the situations that would trigger emergency response procedures,

  • (ii) identifies the equipment, including personal protective equipment, to be used or worn in carrying out those procedures,

  • (iii) sets out procedures for ensuring the immediate evacuation of the confined space when an alarm is activated or if there is any potentially hazardous change in the atmospheric concentration of a hazardous substance, oxygen or another flammable, explosive or combustible substance, and

  • (iv) sets out procedures for retrieving persons from the confined space, including alternate procedures that will ensure they can be retrieved safely if an obstruction or other condition makes the use of certain retrieval procedures or equipment unsafe for them or for those carrying out the retrieval;

• (f) identify the means by which persons inside and outside the confined space are to communicate among themselves, including in an emergency;

• (g) identify all resources necessary for ensuring the health and safety of employees in the confined space, including by setting out the manner of determining the number of attendants whose presence is necessary at the confined space;

• (h) set out the manner in which persons designated under paragraph 133(1)(i) are to be notified of the time and location at which their assistance might be required; and

• (i) provide for the regular conduct of emergency response drills and exercises.

Marginal note:Work permit

• 132 (1) A work permit is required for any occupation of a confined space at a workplace.

• Marginal note:Additional contents

  (2) In addition to the information that is required to be set out in a work permit under subsection 53(1), the following information must be included in a work permit for the occupation of a confined space:

  • (a) the method of entering and exiting the confined space;

  • (b) the escape route from the confined space, which, if persons are required to use a self-contained breathing apparatus or airline respirator, must allow for escape before the air supply is expected to be exhausted; and

  • (c) a record of all persons signing in and out of the confined space.

• Marginal note:Validity

  (3) A work permit for the occupation of a confined space ceases to be valid 12 hours after the most recent testing conducted under subsection 134(2).

• Marginal note:Posting and updating

  (4) The employer must ensure that a copy of the work permit is posted at every entrance to the confined space for the duration of its occupation and is updated as new information referred to in paragraph (2)(c) or paragraph 53(1)(i) becomes available.

Marginal note:Entry and occupation requirements

• 133 (1) Every employer must ensure that no person enters or remains in a confined space at a workplace under its control unless

  • (a) the person is knowledgeable about the provisions of the occupational health and safety program that pertain to confined spaces;

  • (b) the person is wearing a full body harness to facilitate their retrieval or, if wearing the harness would pose a greater risk to them than not wearing one, measures are in place to ensure that the person can be retrieved safely in accordance with the alternate procedures referred to in subparagraph 131(e)(iv);

  • (c) the opening to be used for entry into and exit from the confined space is sufficiently large to allow safe passage of persons wearing personal protective equipment;

  • (d) any mechanical and electrical equipment that is in the confined space but not required to carry out any work there is

    • (i) disconnected from its energy source, and

    • (ii) isolated, locked out and tagged in accordance with Part 27;

  • (e) all sources of ignition are eliminated, if a flammable, explosive or combustible substance is present in the confined space;

  • (f) any liquid in which a person may drown or free-flowing solid in which a person may become entrapped has been removed from the confined space;

  • (g) engineering controls are in place to prevent any inadvertent discharge from any source, including a pipe or other supply line, that may be hazardous to the health or safety of any person in the confined space;

  • (h) measures have been taken to ensure that, if an atmospheric hazard arises while the confined space is occupied, the confined space will be continuously ventilated;

  • (i) persons have been designated to respond to any emergency that may arise in the confined space and have been notified of the time and location at which their assistance may be required;

  • (j) sufficient equipment referred to in paragraph 131(a) and subparagraph 131(e)(ii) is provided as close as feasible to the entrance to the confined space for use by the persons referred to in paragraph (i); and

  • (k) a drill has been completed simulating an emergency rescue from the confined space.

• Marginal note:Isolation of piping

  (2) The engineering controls referred to in paragraph (1)(g) must, with respect to a pipe containing a hazardous substance or a substance under pressure or at a high temperature, consist of a blank or blind in conjunction with valves or other blocking seals that are secured in the closed position — using a positive mechanical device that is designed to resist being opened inadvertently, other than as a result of excessive force — to prevent the substance from reaching the blank or blind. The employer must ensure that the pipe is clearly marked to indicate the location of the blank or blind and that the valves or seals are clearly marked as being closed.

• Marginal note:Unauthorized entry

  (3) The employer must ensure that adequate barriers are erected to prevent unauthorized entry to the confined space.

• Marginal note:Sign in and out

  (4) Every employer must ensure that every person entering and exiting a confined space signs in and out.

Marginal note:Atmosphere

• 134 (1) Every employer must ensure, if feasible, in respect of every occupied confined space at a workplace under its control — and every area whose atmosphere may be affected by, or may affect, the atmosphere in an occupied confined space — that

  • (a) no person’s exposure to a hazardous substance in the atmosphere exceeds the threshold limit value for that substance, as adjusted if necessary to reflect the length of time the person is in the confined space or area, or the biological exposure index for that substance, without regard to any protection that may be afforded to the person through the use of personal protective equipment;

  • (b) the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere is not less than 19.5% and not more than 22.5%; and

  • (c) the concentration of any other flammable, explosive or combustible substance in the atmosphere is less than 10% of its lower explosive limit.

• Marginal note:Testing

  (2) The employer must ensure that a competent person conducts atmospheric testing, and records the results, at times and frequencies appropriate to the hazards in the atmosphere, including

  • (a) before each time the confined space becomes occupied, unless the atmosphere in the space was, while the space was unoccupied, continuously monitored for any accumulation of contaminants that could pose an immediate threat to life or that could interfere with a person’s ability to escape unaided from the space and that monitoring shows no irregularities;

  • (b) after any change in the work or to the confined space that may affect its atmosphere; and

  • (c) in any case, no less frequently than every 12 hours while the confined space remains occupied.

• Marginal note:Testing from outside

  (3) The employer must ensure that the competent person does not enter the confined space to carry out testing unless they have first carried out preliminary testing of its atmosphere from outside the space.

• Marginal note:Continuous monitoring

  (4) In addition to the testing required under subsection (2), the employer must ensure that the atmosphere in the confined space is continuously monitored for any accumulation of contaminants that could pose an immediate threat to life or that could interfere with a person’s ability to escape unaided from the confined space and must ensure that all persons in the space are alerted to any such an accumulation with sufficient warning to be able to exit the space safely.

• Marginal note:Lifeline

  (5) If it is not feasible to comply with subsection (1), the employer must ensure that every person in the confined space who wears a full body harness in accordance with paragraph 133(1)(b) has securely attached to it a lifeline that is secured outside the confined space and is monitored and controlled by an attendant, unless the risk of using the lifeline would pose a greater risk to the person than not using it.

Marginal note:Attendants

• 135 (1) Every employer must ensure that attendants are stationed outside and near all entrances to each confined space at a workplace under its control while the space is occupied to

  • (a) maintain a record of all persons entering and exiting the confined space and communicate that information among themselves;

  • (b) maintain communication with and monitor the safety of persons in the confined space; and

  • (c) provide emergency assistance to persons in the confined space and summon additional assistance if needed.

• Marginal note:Means of communication

  (2) The employer must ensure that attendants are provided with a means of communicating continuously with persons in the confined space, of communicating with other attendants at the confined space and of summoning additional assistance.

• Marginal note:No entry

  (3) Attendants must not enter the confined space.

• Marginal note:No other duties

  (4) The employer must ensure that attendants are not assigned any duties beyond those referred to in subsection (1) while stationed outside a confined space.

• Marginal note:Multiple entrances

  (5) If a single attendant is responsible for monitoring more than one entrance to a confined space, the employer must ensure that they are stationed in the location that best allows them to perform their duties in respect of each of those entrances.

Marginal note:Instruction and training

• 136 (1) The instruction and training that every employer must provide to employees whose work relates to confined spaces at a workplace under its control, including employees whose work involves entering, evaluating, attending at, supervising persons in or carrying out emergency response procedures in relation to a confined space, includes

  • (a) training on the legislation applicable to confined spaces, including as it pertains to rights and duties;

  • (b) training on the identification of confined spaces;

  • (c) training on and practice in the assessment of risks associated with confined spaces, including the particular risks of carrying out hot work in confined spaces;

  • (d) training on the issuance and use of work permits for the occupation of confined spaces;

  • (e) an overview of the operation of personal gas monitoring devices;

  • (f) training on atmospheric testing, including practice in selecting appropriate testing methods and equipment;

  • (g) training on methods to safely ventilate or remove unwanted substances from confined spaces;

  • (h) training on the measures required under paragraphs 133(1)(d) and (g) for isolating energy and substances;

  • (i) training on methods of emergency response; and

  • (j) training on and practice in the selection and use of appropriate personal protective equipment and rescue equipment in a confined space.

• Marginal note:Frequency

  (2) The training required under subsection (1) must be provided to every employee before the first time they do any work relating to confined spaces at the workplace and then at least once every three years.

• Marginal note:Emergency response

  (3) The employer must also provide any employee who may be required to carry out emergency response procedures in relation to a confined space with training and instruction in

  • (a) appropriate emergency response procedures for that confined space; and

  • (b) first aid at a level appropriate to the types of situations that may arise in that confined space.