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Permit-Required Confined Space Entry

Identification and control of permit-required confined spaces in a warehouse, covering the workplace evaluation that finds every space (dock leveler pits, elevator and lift pits, sumps and drainage vaults, baler and compactor chambers, silos, tanks and tank trailers, HVAC plenums, and crawl spaces), danger signs and informing employees, the choice between prohibiting employee entry with effective measures and running a written permit space program, the entry permit and everything it must identify, isolation and lockout, atmospheric testing in the order oxygen then combustible gas then toxic gas with the entrant's right to observe, forced air ventilation, the attendant who stays outside for the whole entry, entrant and attendant duties, entry supervisor authorization and permit cancellation, non-entry retrieval and the arrangement and evaluation of rescue services, training and certification, retention of canceled permits, and the review of the program.

Audience
Facility and safety managers who own the permit space program, entry supervisors, authorized entrants and attendants, maintenance technicians and janitorial staff who work in pits and equipment chambers, area leads and shift supervisors, and any contractor performing entry work on the property
Review cycle
annual
Last reviewed
2026-08-29
Revision
1

What is in the procedure

9 sections. Regulatory language is fixed and passes through verbatim. Sections marked customized get rewritten around your facility, your equipment, and your job titles.

  1. 01

    Purpose

    Fixed

    This procedure implements 29 CFR 1910.146, the permit-required confined space standard, at this facility.

  2. 02

    Scope

    Customized

    This procedure applies to every permit-required confined space on this property and to every employee and contractor who works in, near, or on the equipment served by one.

  3. 03

    Responsibilities

    Customized

    The program owner performs and maintains the workplace evaluation that identifies permit spaces, keeps the space inventory current, posts and replaces the danger signs, maintains the written program and makes it...

  4. 04

    Procedure: Identifying Permit Spaces, Signs, and Keeping People Out

    Customized

    1. Evaluate the workplace space by space to determine whether any spaces are permit-required confined spaces.

  5. 05

    Procedure: Isolation, Testing, Ventilation, and the Entry Permit

    Fixed

    1. Ask first whether the job can be done without entry.

  6. 06

    Procedure: Duties of Entrants, Attendants, and the Entry Supervisor

    Fixed

    1. Authorized entrants know the hazards they may face, including the mode, the signs and symptoms, and the consequences of exposure; use the equipment properly; and stay in communication with the attendant so the...

  7. 07

    Procedure: Rescue Arrangements, Retrieval, and the Ban on Untrained Rescue

    Customized

    1. Rescue is arranged before the entry, not during it.

  8. 08

    Prohibited Conditions, Emergency Termination, and Reporting

    Customized

    Any condition the permit does not allow ends the entry.

  9. 09

    References

    Fixed

    29 CFR 1910.146 Permit-required confined spaces, including its non-mandatory appendices: appendix A, the permit-required confined space decision flow chart; appendix B, procedures for atmospheric testing, which explains...

Regulatory references

Permit-Required Confined Space Entry: 29 CFR 1910.146(c)(1)

Every SOP generated from this template cites the paragraphs below, with a plain-language summary of what each one requires. Citations are informational and are not legal advice.

StandardTitleWhat it requires
29 CFR 1910.146(c)(1)Permit-required confined spaces: evaluation of the workplaceThe employer must evaluate the workplace to determine if any spaces are permit-required confined spaces. A note to the paragraph points to the decision flow chart in non-mandatory appendix A as an aid to compliance. Applied to a warehouse, this is a documented walk of the building, the yard, and the roof in which each space is judged against the confined space test and then against the permit space hazard criteria, rather than an assumption that a distribution center has no such spaces.
29 CFR 1910.146(c)(2)Permit-required confined spaces: informing exposed employeesIf the workplace contains permit spaces, the employer must inform exposed employees, by posting danger signs or by any other equally effective means, of the existence and location of and the danger posed by the permit spaces. The note to the paragraph states that a sign reading DANGER: PERMIT-REQUIRED CONFINED SPACE, DO NOT ENTER, or other similar language, satisfies the requirement for a sign.
29 CFR 1910.146(c)(3)Permit-required confined spaces: decision that employees will not enterIf the employer decides that its employees will not enter permit spaces, the employer must take effective measures to prevent its employees from entering the permit spaces, and must still comply with paragraphs (c)(1), (c)(2), (c)(6), and (c)(8): evaluating the workplace, informing exposed employees, reevaluating a non-permit confined space when changes in its use or configuration might increase the hazards to entrants, and meeting the host employer duties toward contractors. A no-entry decision is an active compliance position with ongoing duties, not the absence of a program.
29 CFR 1910.146(c)(4)Permit-required confined spaces: written permit space programIf the employer decides that its employees will enter permit spaces, the employer must develop and implement a written permit space program that complies with this section, and the written program must be available for inspection by employees and their authorized representatives.
29 CFR 1910.146(d)(3)Permit space program: means, procedures, and practices for safe entryUnder the permit space program the employer must develop and implement the means, procedures, and practices necessary for safe permit space entry operations, including but not limited to specifying acceptable entry conditions; providing each authorized entrant or that employee's authorized representative with the opportunity to observe any monitoring or testing of permit spaces; isolating the permit space; purging, inerting, flushing, or ventilating the permit space as necessary to eliminate or control atmospheric hazards; providing pedestrian, vehicle, or other barriers as necessary to protect entrants from external hazards; and verifying that conditions in the permit space are acceptable for entry throughout the duration of an authorized entry.
29 CFR 1910.146(d)(5)Permit space program: evaluating space conditions and the order of atmospheric testingWhen entry operations are conducted the employer must test conditions in the permit space to determine that acceptable entry conditions exist before entry is authorized, and must test or monitor the space as necessary to determine that acceptable entry conditions are being maintained during the course of entry operations. When testing for atmospheric hazards, the employer must test first for oxygen, then for combustible gases and vapors, and then for toxic gases and vapors. Each authorized entrant or that employee's authorized representative must be given an opportunity to observe the pre-entry and any subsequent testing or monitoring, must be able to have the space reevaluated in their presence when they have reason to believe the evaluation may not have been adequate, and must immediately be given the results of any testing conducted.
29 CFR 1910.146(d)(6)Permit space program: attendant outside the spaceThe employer must provide at least one attendant outside the permit space into which entry is authorized, for the duration of entry operations. The note to the paragraph adds that an attendant may be assigned to monitor more than one permit space, and may be stationed at any location outside the space being monitored, only as long as the attendant duties can be effectively performed for each permit space that is monitored.
29 CFR 1910.146(f)Permit-required confined spaces: what the entry permit must identifyThe entry permit that documents compliance and authorizes entry must identify the permit space to be entered, the purpose of the entry, the date and the authorized duration of the permit, the authorized entrants by name or by another means such as a roster or tracking system that lets the attendant determine quickly and accurately who is inside, the personnel currently serving as attendants by name, the individual currently serving as entry supervisor by name with a space for the signature or initials of the entry supervisor who originally authorized entry, the hazards of the space, the measures used to isolate the space and to eliminate or control its hazards before entry, the acceptable entry conditions, the results of initial and periodic tests with the names or initials of the testers and an indication of when the tests were performed, the rescue and emergency services that can be summoned and the means for summoning them, the communication procedures used by entrants and attendants, the equipment to be provided, any other information necessary given the circumstances of the particular space, and any additional permits such as for hot work.
29 CFR 1910.146(k)(3)Rescue and emergency services: non-entry retrieval systemsTo facilitate non-entry rescue, retrieval systems or methods must be used whenever an authorized entrant enters a permit space, unless the retrieval equipment would increase the overall risk of entry or would not contribute to the rescue of the entrant. Each authorized entrant must use a chest or full body harness with a retrieval line attached at the center of the entrant's back near shoulder level, above the entrant's head, or at another point that the employer can establish presents a profile small enough for successful removal; wristlets may be used instead only where the employer can demonstrate that a chest or full body harness is infeasible or creates a greater hazard and that wristlets are the safest and most effective alternative. The other end of the retrieval line must be attached to a mechanical device or fixed point outside the permit space so that rescue can begin as soon as the rescuer becomes aware that rescue is necessary, and a mechanical device must be available to retrieve personnel from vertical type permit spaces more than 5 feet (1.52 m) deep.

Compliance checklist

What an inspector looks for

  • The workplace has been evaluated to determine whether any spaces are permit-required confined spaces, and the evaluation covers the building, the mechanical rooms, the roof, the yard, and equipment interiors

    29 CFR 1910.146(c)(1)

  • Exposed employees are informed of the existence, the location, and the danger of every permit space, by danger signs posted at each space or by an equally effective means

    29 CFR 1910.146(c)(2)

  • Covers or guardrails protect personnel from the hazards of open pits, tanks, vats, and ditches, including any pit or vault left open during service

    29 CFR 1910.176(g)

  • Where the facility has decided that its employees will not enter permit spaces, effective measures are in place to prevent them from entering, and the evaluation, employee notification, reevaluation, and host employer duties are still met

    29 CFR 1910.146(c)(3)

  • Contractors doing entry work are told the workplace contains permit spaces and that entry is allowed only under a complying program, are apprised of the hazards and the precautions in place, have their entries coordinated, and are debriefed afterward

    29 CFR 1910.146(c)(8)

  • Written procedures exist for summoning rescue and emergency services, for rescuing entrants, for providing emergency services to rescued employees, and for preventing unauthorized personnel from attempting a rescue

    29 CFR 1910.146(d)(9)

  • The designated rescue service has been evaluated for timely response and for proficiency with the rescue tasks and equipment these spaces require, has been informed of the hazards it may confront here, and has been given access to the spaces to plan and practice

    29 CFR 1910.146(k)(1)

  • Every canceled entry permit is retained for at least one year, with any problem encountered during the entry noted on the permit

    29 CFR 1910.146(e)(6)

  • The permit space program is reviewed using the canceled permits within one year after each entry and revised as necessary, with a single annual review allowed to cover all entries in the 12 month period

    29 CFR 1910.146(d)(14)

  • Training is certified in a record that contains each employee's name, the signatures or initials of the trainers, and the dates of training, available for inspection by employees and their authorized representatives

    29 CFR 1910.146(g)(4)

  • Gas detectors are calibrated and bump tested per the manufacturer's instructions before use, and the records are kept with the permit file

  • Blowers and ducting, harnesses and retrieval lines, the tripod or davit and winch, lighting, and blank permit forms are staged, inspected, and in working order before any entry is scheduled

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This page is informational and is not legal advice. Have a qualified safety professional review any procedure before it goes into service at your facility.