Deck Barge Safety 6
Deck Barge Safety 6 : Hazards Associated with Confined/Enclosed Spaces: The Confined or enclosed spaces on barges may have an atmosphere that is unsafe, causing injury or death. The main hazards include: oxygen deficiency, explosive or flammable atmospheres, and atmospheres containing toxic compounds. These hazards might be found in watertight compartments or other areas with little or no ventilation. An oxygen-deficient atmosphere inside a tank can be caused by many factors. One example is rusting that may occur in a steel tank where water or water vapor is present. If the tank is airtight, as they are designed to be, then the rusting process would remove oxygen from the tank atmosphere until there is not enough oxygen in the space to support human life. Another example is displacement of oxygen by another gas or vapor, which may occur when a tank is sealed after it is freshly painted. The paint coating may not have time to cure, resulting in the paint vapor displacing oxygen. An explosive or flammable atmosphere can develop from many sources. Some examples of these sources may include: (1) If you are leasing a barge, a previous user may have dumped waste into the space or used it as a slop tank. (2) A spill of diesel fuel or gasoline on deck may have entered the tank, resulting in an explosive atmosphere. (3) The paint or coating system applied to the tank could ignite if not locally removed prior to hotwork. Before beginning work in, near or around a confined space or compartment, a visual inspection must first be performed in order to identify potential physical, atmospheric and fire hazards. Second, the atmosphere must be tested, using a combustible gas meter, not only prior to entry into the space but also if you plan on doing hotwork on a tank exterior. Conducting hotwork on the exterior of a tank can be just as dangerous as when done internally if an explosive atmosphere or a flammable coating is present, which could result in a fire or explosion. Toxic atmospheres are generally the most difficult to identify and can only be determined through testing, which should only be conducted by a qualified person (i.e., marine chemist, competent person, etc). The potential for a toxic atmosphere is always present and can come from several sources including: (4) A space that is painted and sealed up before the paint has time to cure, causing the off-gassing of the fresh paint to release toxic levels of paint and solvent vapors into the secured space. (5) A tank cover inadvertently left open that allows nearby engine exhaust to raise the amount of carbon monoxide in the tank to dangerous levels. (6) Contents from a chemical spill (deck above) entering the space. (7) Multiple waste or slop dumped into a space that creates a toxic compound. Based on the hazards discussed above, entry into any confined/enclosed space or any space with limited ventilation space on a deck barge should be done with caution. For More Information About Atmospheric Hazards and Confined Spaces: OSHA Safety and Health Topics: Confined Spaces http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/confinedspaces/index.html. Shipyard Employment e-Tool: Ship Repair http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/shipyard/shiprepair/sr_index.html. See more from topic source: https://www.osha.gov/html/a-z-index.html
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