Under Federal and State Occupational Health and Safety laws, employers have a general duty to provide and maintain a safe and healthful workplace for employees (29 U.S.C. § 654, 5(a)1).
Employers must take proper measures to ensure that confined space hazards are adequately identified and controlled and that proper procedures are used prior to, during and following any work performed in confined spaces. In addition, if the workplace contains permit-entry confined spaces, the employer must inform exposed employees by posting danger signs warning of the existence and location of and the danger posed by the permit spaces (29 C.F.R. 1910.146(c)(2)).