“You know what’s the greatest part of anything ever in the history of everything? Exaggeration. No wait; it’s correcting yourself. No, better yet, it’s making lists.” — Demetri Martin
When Google offers an AI response, it includes a statement: “AI responses may include mistakes.” That was never so obvious to me as when I posed the question “Is a list of permit-required confined spaces required?” and then asked the question, “Does OSHA require a list of permit-required confined spaces?”
The AI answer to the first question was “Yes, a written record or list of identified permit-required confined spaces is required to implement the necessary safety procedures and a written permit space program, as mandated by OSHA’s Permit-Required Confined Space standard (1910.146).” The answer to the second question was “No, OSHA does not explicitly require employers to maintain a formal, written list of all permit-required confined spaces, but it is an employer’s responsibility to identify all confined spaces and evaluate them to determine if they are permit-required spaces.”
It seems that both answers cannot be correct. So, which is?
Why Ask?
For years, I’ve believed that a list of permit-required confined spaces was a required element of the written permit space program called for in 29 CFR 1910.146(c)(4). I believed that it wasn’t enough to simply know what the permit-required confined spaces were. The only thing I felt any uncertainty about was whether a list was required if there wasn’t a requirement for a written program.
Why wouldn’t there be a written program? One reason for a workplace to not have a written program is that the workplace doesn’t have any confined spaces. Another reason is that a workplace has confined spaces, but none of them are permit-required confined spaces.
A third reason is in 1910.146(c)(4) itself, where it states, “If the employer decides that its employees will enter permit spaces, the employer shall develop and implement a written permit space program that complies with this section.” If an employer is not going to allow its employees to enter permit spaces, then no written permit space program is required.
As for my belief that a list was required, that was based on my experience with the Hazard Communication Standard.
The List in the Hazard Communication Standard
The HazComm Standard requires three modes of communication: Safety Data Sheets, labels, and training. All of these are to be described in a written hazard communication program. The requirements for the written hazard program include, in 1910.1200(e)(1)(i),“a list of hazardous chemicals known to be present.”
The HazComm Standard requires a written list. Year after year, the HazComm Standard is in the top 10 list of OSHA standards cited for violation, typically just behind Fall Protection. In FY2025, the HazComm Standard was second on the list again, with 1910.1200(e), on written programs, the most frequently cited section. OSHA takes its lists seriously and expects us to take them seriously as well.
So, I simply expected OSHA to require a list of permit-required confined spaces.
Written Program for Permit-Required Confined Spaces
As with the HazComm Standard, the Permit-Required Confined Spaces Standard also requires a written program. The requirement to have a program is in 1910.146(c)(4), but the required elements of the written program are listed in 1910.146(d). There are a lot; fourteen altogether, some with multiple requirements of their own.
Nowhere in that list of fourteen requirements is a requirement for a list of permit-required confined spaces. The closest is the requirement in 1910.146(d)(2) that permit spaces be identified and their hazards evaluated before employees enter them. But that is not a requirement for a list.
There is also a requirement in 1910.146(c)(2) that each permit-required confined space have a warning sign posted on it. OSHA tells us that a sign reading “DANGER – PERMIT-REQUIRED CONFINED SPACE, DO NOT ENTER” satisfies the requirements for a sign.
Again, not a requirement for a list of all the spaces to which such signs have been attached.
Naughty or Nice?
Having a list of permit-required confined spaces is helpful. It facilitates checking that all permit-required confined spaces have signs. A list also assists in checking that a specific permit-required confined space has been identified and its hazards evaluated.
So, I will continue to suggest that making a list of permit-required confined spaces is a nice thing to do. However, I will not be telling anyone that the list itself is an OSHA require
