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Oregon OSHA is working with Northwest Utility Contractors Association members and other construction industry leaders to refine confined space rules for work in open-space areas.

Existing confined space rules apply to tanks, wells or tunnels, but not open-air excavation and construction sites, said Bret Taylor, GM and co-founder of Cascade Shoring, a NWUCA member. OSHA last year adopted new rules removing the exclusion, but dropped plans to begin enforcement following protest from NWUCA and Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter.

“There was a lot of blowback from (NWUCA and AGC),” Taylor said. “We didn’t have a say in the fight.”

Potential new rules include enforcing confined space rules in open-air excavation sites only when workers enter pipes 24 inches or greater, Taylor said. Those precautions include testing for harmful elements in the atmosphere and oxygen deficiencies, and providing a rescue plan for retrieving a victim from such an environment, he said.

With discussions under way, Taylor is satisfied that industry leaders now have a voice in the process, he said.

Next up is a March 11 meeting with the Confined Space Task Force, OSHA spokeswoman Melanie Mesaros said.

“Once we have the meeting we would propose changes and hold public hearings,” she said. OSHA hopes to have the new rules ready for launch by Jan. 1, 2015, Mesaros said.