New OSHA rule aimed at protecting construction workers in confined spaces

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a final rule to increase protections for construction workers in confined spaces.

The agency says the rule, which matches those in manufacturing and other industries, could protect nearly 800 construction workers a year from serious injuries and reduce life-threatening hazards.

The rule applies to areas including manholes, crawl spaces, tanks, and other confined spaces that are not intended for continuous occupancy and are difficult to exit in an emergency.

People working in confined spaces face life-threatening hazards including toxic substances, electrocutions, explosions, and asphyxiation. The agency cited a case last year in which two workers were asphyxiated while repairing leaks in a manhole. The new rule was devised to prevent such incidents.

The new regulations include requirements to ensure that multiple employers share vital safety information and to continuously monitor hazards—a safety option made possible by technological advances after the manufacturing and general industry standards were originally created.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.