Many workplaces contain spaces that are considered "confined" because their configurations hinder the activities of any employees who must enter, work in, and get back out of them. A confined space is one that is difficult to get into and out of, is big enough for a person to enter and is not designed for human occupancy. Examples of such spaces are water valve pits, storage tanks, sewer manholes, manure pits and electrical vaults. These spaces may contain physical hazards such as moving mixing blades or steam, engulfment hazards from the material in the space and chemical hazards from materials used in the space. A very real and perhaps the most common hazard in confined spaces is the potential for a hazardous atmosphere. There may too little oxygen to breathe, a poisonous gas such as carbon monoxide or a flammable atmosphere. These atmospheric hazards usually cannot be seen, smelled or otherwise detected by our senses. Instruments built to measure these hazards need to be used in order to ensure the space is safe to enter.

EH&S has instrumentation needed to test these spaces and can provide training and guidance to identify and reduce the hazards of entry into these types of spaces.