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F. Confined Space Basic Rules Occasionally our work requires that we enter manholes or other types of enclosed or confined spaces. Work in these types of spaces presents a significant hazard to our employees. There can be hazardous substances such as Hydrogen Sulfide gas. H2S, as it is called, smells like rotten eggs and can deaden your sense of smell quickly, inhibiting your ability to sense its presence. Once inhaled into the lungs, H2S transforms the fluid in your lungs into sulfuric acid, burning the delicate tissue there, causing you to suffocate. Other substances, like carbon monoxide and combustible gases can also be present from a Variety of sources. There are safe ways to perform work in these spaces, all of which are governed by a specific set of safety standards. As a new employee, you may be asked to perform a duty associated with confined space work. If so, your duties will be clearly defined and a fully trained "Competent Person" will.be in charge of the work ensuring that all safety rules are followed. The following is the minimum information you must have prior to performing any work involving confined spaces: Never enter a confined space without training —There is an eight hour course designed specifically for work in confined spaces. There are four distinctly separate job duties assigned to confined space work. These job duties and a brief description of each are: o Entrant — employee(s) who will bodily enter the space to perform work o Attendant—employee who is responsible to "attend" to the entrance of any confined space that employee(s) are working in. This job requires communicating with the entrants and assessing their condition, signing entrants into and out of the space, monitoring air testing and air blowing equipment and possibly removing entrants from a space (from the outside of the space only) with the use of a retrieval device. o Entry Supervisor — employee who is in charge of all confined space operations and permitting. This position must be capable of performing all other duties assigned to confined space work. The Entry Supervisor is generally the job Foreman or Superintendent. o Rescue Personnel —this position can be an employee or employees whose job, WITHOUT ENTERING THE SPACE, is to remove entrants from the space. Otherwise, rescue personnel who will enter the space will need to be from a rescue unit trained in the use of supplied air respiratory systems. Hazards found in Confined Spaces — What makes them dangerous? — If you suddenly found yourself on a foreign planet somewhere and were asked exactly what percentages of which 14