“The right to know” is the basis of the hazard communication standard (29 CFR 1910.1200), which sets down guidelines for communicating hazardous chemical information to your workforce. A good HAZCOM plan should cover four basic areas.
In the nearly 20 years since OSHA 29 CFR 1910.147, The Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout) was enacted, thousands of tragic incidents from hazardous energy sources have no doubt been avoided through application of the standard. Yet many accidents and fatalities still occur every year.
These general rules are the distilled wisdom of confined space operations, consolidated from many sources, and with the exception of the first rule, they are not in any particular order.