It was first thing this morning, before I had my tea or my computer was fully booted up, when Mark* called me, very upset. (*To protect identities, I’m not using any real names.)

Mark works for Sam, a client of mine whose small company of 15 people does well drilling, tank entries and confined space work. Last year, I had given Sam’s company a half-day training program on confined space entry training.

I should explain that Mark is more than just a company employee; he’s also Sam’s son.

How I Met Sam

I was working at a client’s chemical plant when I met Sam. My client’s safety manager, Jamie, was going to have Sam’s company go into a vertical access shaft approximately 8 feet deep to remove and replace a water pump. When Sam was asked about his confined space procedures he basically said they didn’t have any. Jamie said they couldn’t work on her site unless they were able to get into compliance. This is when she introduced me to Sam.

The following week, I was at Sam’s offices for the half-day session. I explained to Sam’s employees what a confined space is and what makes a permit-required confined space (PRCS) hazardous. We talked about meters and they had a chance to try some. I showed them a harness and rescue tripod. We rigged it up, they bucked up and felt what is was like to hang in the harness. A week later they did Jamie’s job with no problems.

Compliance was Short-Lived

This morning, Mark called to tell me that yesterday his father had him in a 12-foot, vertical shaft – without rescue equipment – burning and welding galvanized pipe. He went home last night very sick. As he described his symptoms – chills, nausea and vomiting – I thought, “sounds like metal fume fever.” Mark confirmed it. He’d looked his symptoms up on the Internet and, yes, it was metal fume fever. He drank a lot of milk.

Mark told me he was scared for his health and well-being, especially since he’s got a 3-month old baby son. He wanted to know who to call at OSHA if his father kept pushing to get him back in the shaft to finish the job without the necessary safety equipment. He wanted to know what he could show his father to prove what they are required to do. He said that his father was trying to do this job on the “cheap and quick.”

A Quick Refresher

I gave Mark instructions on how to use OSHA’s website to find the permit-required confined space regulations (29 CFR 1910.146). I then quickly ran down the definitions of a confined space and that the burning and welding made the space a PRCS.

I repeated more of what I had told them in class about measurements, ventilation and PPE. He said that his father had given him a small fan to put at the bottom of the shaft and Mark didn’t feel it was the right one. “It’s not like what you showed us in class.” “This one,” he said, “only pushes the smoke around.”

I then told him that should he feel threatened, he could call 800-321-OSHA for 24-hour access to their hotline and I also gave him the phone number for his local OSHA area office.

Mark thanked me and said that he felt better having this information and that should his father insist he go back into the shaft, he could show him the regulations and make the call as backup.

Conclusion

Before he hung up, Mark asked if I was going to document his call, “in case anything happened.”

I said, “Yes and don’t go back into the shaft until YOU are satisfied that conditions are safe and don’t hesitate to call OSHA if you have any concerns. And let me know how things turn out.”

Then I took a blood pressure pill and went to get my tea.

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