January 14, 1997

Tim Mann, Safety Director
Oregon Brewing Co.
2320 O.S.U. Drive
Newport, OR 97365

Dear Mr. Mann:

This letter is in response to your telephone conversation with Dave McLaughlin and your letter of December 9, 1996 with accompanying photographs of the cleaning process for your tanks.

In your letter and pictures, you identify a tank with a “manway” opening on the front of the tank. The top of the opening appears to be approximately 4 feet from the floor. The description of the cleaning process is that the tanks are rinsed, a cleaning solution is run through them, and then they are rinsed again.

You indicated in your telephone conversation with Dave McLaughlin that this rinsing and cleaning process is automated by machinery inside the tank.

After this process, the manway is then opened and an inspection mirror is used to identify areas around the manway that may need additional scrubbing. The scrubbing process is shown as an employee standing outside of the tank with his arm inside the tank up to approximately his elbow as he scrubs the inside of the manway.

In your letter, you indicate that this configuration and process is the same for all of your tanks.

According to 1910.146, “Permit-Required Confined Spaces,” these tanks are permit-required confined spaces, and the process of scrubbing the interior of the manway meets the definition of a confined-space entry.

However, this cleaning process, as explained by your letter and photos, would be a technical violation of the code, and classified as a “de minimis” violation, as long as there are no deviations from the process described by your letter and shown by the photographs. De minimis violations are violations in which a standard is violated, but the violation has no direct or immediate relationship to employee safety or health.

We hope this answers your question regarding confined spaces. If you have any questions or if we can be of further assistance, please contact David McLaughlin at (503) 378-3272.

Sincerely,

Marilyn K. Schuster, Manager
Standards and Technical Resources Section
Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division

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