Development of a context-specific knowledge base for Inherently Safer Design (ISD) in confined spaces: A resource for designers and end users

Abstract

Confined space work is an important activity in various industries and a significant cause of workplace fatalities worldwide. Accidents and fatalities persist despite international standards, regulations, and efforts to improve safety in confined spaces. To address this issue, it is crucial to understand and disseminate knowledge on accident prevention strategies for confined spaces, to raise awareness among safety practitioners, and to harmonize communication between designers and end-users to anticipate OHS risks throughout a structure's lifecycle. Besides, confined spaces are unique and context-dependent, which affects the flexibility of their design and modifications. This paper introduces a Confined Space Permanent Collective Protection (CSPCP) knowledge base as a set of design-oriented principles and sub-principles that can be integrated into confined spaces to protect workers. It incorporates data from legislative and normative safety management frameworks, Inherently Safer Design (ISD) principles, literature-based solutions, expert knowledge, and contextual guidance on 112 CSPCP solutions based on the analysis of 19 case studies. This guidance is finally presented as a relational database, considering input from experts and client-side designers to understand the advantages and limitations of CSPCP for retrofitting confined spaces or designing and manufacturing new ones. Moreover, it provides owners, designers, and safety specialists access through flexible queries to help them balance safety, profitability, and investment.