Almost every large building and commercial establishment will have one or two permit spaces such as boilers, vaults, and bins. Large industrial facilities may have hundreds of permit spaces. In many cases the safety manager may nt be aware of the hazards these spaces pose or of the requirements of the new regulations.

You will need to identify all locations in your district that send workers into permit spaces and, therefore, might require rescue services. Larger industrial facilities may have their own fire departments that will perform these services, but many companies simply cannot afford the expense of training and equipping an inhouse rescue capability.

Be advised that some locations are not required to have a rescue capability. For example, confined spaces in which the only hazard present is a hazardous (or potentially hazardous) atmosphere that can be controlled with continuous forced air ventilation, are exempt from needing many elements of a permit program including rescue services. An example of a space like this is a telecommunications vault.

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