Air Monitoring in Confined Spaces

Confined spaces are great places for

chemicals to accumulate, often to explosive
or lethal concentrations, because of their
tight spaces and limited air movement.
And even at very high concentrations,
many chemicals give little or no warning to
our senses that they are there.
Consequently, each year there are still
many deaths and many more illnesses and
injuries resulting from confined space
emergencies. And all too often, emergency
response personnel are included in these
figures.

Air monitoring is the only way to measure chemicals in these spaces. In this
section, we’ll discuss equipment and procedures that emergency responders can
use to determine if there is a hazardous atmosphere in the space before they enter
or become a statistic. We have already learned about the instruments that monitor
combustible gases and vapors. This section will introduce the oxygen meter and
the way electrochemical sensors work.

First, let’s look at what OSHA requires of employers whose employees enter and
work in confined space.

OSHA’s STANDARD

The OSHA Permit-Required Confined Space Standard (29 CFR 1901.146) outlines
actions employers must take to protect workers who enter and work in confined
spaces. The employer must identify and label all confined spaces at their facility
and take steps to prevent unauthorized entry into them. A space is a confined
space if it is:

• Large enough to be entered

• Has limited or restricted means for entry or exit
• Is not designed for continuous human occupancy

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If workers will enter any confined spaces, the employer must develop and
implement a confined space program that will control all entries into the spaces.

When workers must enter the space, the employer must evaluate the space before
anyone enters to determine if it requires a permit because of an:

• Entrapment hazard,
• Engulfment hazard,
• Hazardous atmosphere
• Other recognized serious safety and health hazard.

OSHA considers a space to have a hazardous atmosphere if it has any of the

following conditions:

• > 10% of LEL of flammable gas or vapor

• >LFL of combustible dust
• <19.5 or >23.5 oxygen
• Exposure >PEL for chemical that causes acute, immediate illness or injury
• Other IDLH atmospheric hazard

The permit must identify the space, the work to be done, air-monitoring results,
and required equipment and procedures necessary for safe work in the space. The
permit must be posted at the entry into the confined space.

Air Monitoring Requirements

The employer must test the conditions of the space before anyone enters. This is
not a problem for small spaces where the whole space is accessible from the
entryway. For larger spaces or spaces that are part of a continuous system (like a
sewer), the employer must test to the extent possible before entry and then monitor
conditions continuously in the area where workers are working.

If the air monitoring equipment does not monitor for all hazards at the same time,
the regulation requires that tests be made in the following order:

1. Test for oxygen

2. Test for combustible gases and vapors
3. Test for toxic gases and vapors

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The reason for this is that the combustible gas meters require adequate oxygen to
operate properly. Also, fire/explosion hazards and abnormal oxygen atmospheres
are considered to be more immediate hazards than toxic gases and vapors. An
instrument that has all three sensors satisfies this requirement because the hazards
are monitored simultaneously.

Special Considerations

Instrument Response Time OSHA recommends that measurements should be

made for at least as long as the response time of the instrument as indicated by the
manufacturer. Air monitoring instruments require time for the sensor to interact
with the air and display a response. Also, if the test is done from outside the space
using a pump and sample line, allow extra time for the air to travel to the sensor.

Stratified Layers. A space may contain different gases and vapors, each with their
own vapor density. Also, air circulation is usually poor. Therefore, gases and
vapors may settle into layers with in the space. The space should be evaluated at
all levels. Also, when moving through a space that has not been thoroughly tested,
the air should be tested for 4 feet ahead and the sides of the workers as they move.

Responding to Emergencies in Confined Spaces

Response personnel called to perform a confined space rescue are entering a

potentially dangerous situation. After all, someone has already been injured or
made ill while in this environment. Upon arrival, rescuers should check the permit
- if one was issued - to identify hazards known to be present. However, if the
original entry was made under a permit, then something unexpected has happened.
Therefore, information listed on the permit may no longer be valid.

Rescuers should conduct their own air monitoring to ensure that the conditions are
safe for their entry instead of relying on past readings. If a hazardous atmosphere
is known or suspected, all entries should be made using SCBA or other
atmosphere-supplying respirators.

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OXYGEN METERS

One of the leading causes of death in confined

space emergencies is oxygen deficiency. Unlike
open spaces, confined spaces can allow vapors to
accumulate to such high concentrations that oxygen
is forced out of the air. Oxygen meters are the only
reliable way to be certain that there is enough
oxygen in the atmosphere. Let’s look at how
oxygen meters operate.

The oxygen meter is one type of instrument that

uses an electrochemical sensor. These sensors
contain an acid or base solution in which there is both a sensing electrode and a
counting electrode. By changing the solution or the metals of the electrodes, the
instrument can used to measure specific gases or vapors.

Oxygen meters use a base solution and a lead or zinc electrode. Oxygen in the air
reacts with the sensing electrode to produce an electrical current. Changes in the
oxygen concentration will change the amount of electrical current produced. A
circuit amplifies the current and produces a display of the oxygen concentration.

The normal oxygen concentration is 20.7% in

the air. Air that has less than 19.5% oxygen
is said to be oxygen-deficient, while air with
more than 23.5% is oxygen-enriched. (This
concentration doesn’t vary much in nature
unless something is adding or displacing
oxygen in an area.)

Even a small change in the oxygen level can

be a sign of a significant problem. Consider
this example: The oxygen meter reads
19.7%, down 1% but still above the
minimum allowable oxygen level in air.
Since oxygen is 1/5 (20%) of the air, a drop of 1% of oxygen may mean that there
is 5% of some gas or vapor in the air. Now consider that a 1% concentration
equals 10,000 ppm. So, a drop of 1% oxygen may not be an oxygen-deficiency
problem, but it could warn that there is 50,000 ppm of some chemical in the air.
That’s likely to be a dangerous concentration of any chemical!

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Oxygen Meter Considerations

The electrolyte solution in an electrochemical sensor will deteriorate over time or

with heavy use. Oxygen sensors have a service life of 1-2 years with normal use.
Strong acid gases in the air will neutralize the base electrolyte solution. Don’t
breathe into your oxygen meter because carbon dioxide will act as an acid gas and
shorten the life of your sensor.

A change in altitude can cause a change in the

atmospheric pressure as well as the partial pressure of
oxygen. That is why it is more difficult to breathe at
higher altitudes. It also affects the oxygen meter
readings. A meter calibrated at sea level and then
used at an altitude of 5000 feet (Denver, CO) will read
less than 18% oxygen in normal air. Likewise, that
meter taken down to 1000 feet below sea level will
read over 21.5% in normal air. This problem is
avoided if the instrument is calibrated at the altitude at
which it will be used.

DATALOGGING

Many of today’s instruments

used for confined space
monitoring have
microprocessors that allow
readings to be stored in
memory. The instrument
records the readings at time
intervals set by the user. The
data can be downloaded to a
computer or printed directly
from the instrument. This
makes it easy to document the
actual exposures during an entry
into a confined space.

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SUMMARY

Confined spaces are dangerous places to work. OSHA’s Confined Space Standard
requires employers who send employees into confined spaces to work to make
provisions for rescue if there is an emergency. If your fire department agrees to
perform such rescue, it’s vital that you be trained and equipped. Since one of the
leading causes of death in confined space fatalities, you must be able to measure
the atmosphere in the space. Air-monitoring instruments like the oxygen meter are
the only way to be sure the rescue can be made safely.

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