DES PLAINES, IL - American Society of Safety Engineers' (ASSE) member Gary Lopez, CSP, testified today during an informal public hearing at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. on the proposed rule for confined spaces in construction.

Lopez, senior director of safety for Ranger Construction Industries Inc. in West Palm Beach, Florida, a former member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z117 Accredited Standards Committee for Confined Space Entry and current chair of the ASSE standards development committee, stated that the proposed rule is unduly complicated, introduces unnecessarily new terminology and burdensome requirements, fails to recognize current and widely understood safety practices that have proven successful both in general industry and construction, and inadequately addresses several vitally important confined space issues.

Lopez noted the Proposed Rule is not in harmony with the Z117.1-2003 voluntary consensus standard currently widely adopted throughout both general industry and construction and among safety and health professionals managing confined space hazards in workplaces countrywide.

"What concerns me is what I fear may be a lack of full appreciation of the on-the-job realities ASSE's members face every day as they strive to help workers protect themselves when entering confined spaces," Lopez said. "I firmly believe that, if the writers of this proposed rule were in our shoes, they would have assumed a new way of looking at construction confined spaces separately from general industry - with new classifications, new terminology, new requirements - was not the way to address the confined space risks viewed as unique to the construction industry.

"Confined spaces in general industry are no less hazardous to enter then construction industry confined spaces," Lopez continued. "The real difference is the risks presented in construction are less predictable than in general industry. This is because most general industry confined spaces are "fixed," meaning that they have either been entered before or have a history of use that helps in determining risks and precautions. As a result, they are easier to address during the entry permit risk assessment process."