Incident Prevention Magazine

Understanding the principles of layering

Anyone who has grown up in any climate that includes cold weather has heard it said that to stay warm you have to layer. This holds true for the bitter cold of winter to moist cold spring evenings.

While many analogies are true for the human body, of particular interest is comparing the body to a chemical reaction. All of our bodily functions are forms of chemistry. Respiration, digestion and excretion all have their fundamentals in chemistry, and one of the factors that affect most chemical reactions is temperature.

One of the significant risks that many organizations take in managing their confined spaces is to try to sort spaces into permit-required and non-permit spaces. Many times the only thing separating the two is a shaky assumption. The characteristics of many spaces can change, increasing the risk. The best programs I have observed treat all spaces on-site as if they were permit spaces. But what exactly is a Permit Required Confined Space?