Working in confined spaces can pose serious risks to employees, such as oxygen deficiency, toxic gases, fire hazards, or entrapment. Therefore, it is essential to create a safety plan that identifies, evaluates, and controls these hazards before any work is performed. A safety plan for employees in confined spaces should include the following elements:
A confined space is any enclosed or partially enclosed area that is not designed or intended for continuous human occupancy, has limited or restricted means of entry or exit, and may have a hazardous atmosphere or other potential hazards. Examples of confined spaces include tanks, silos, pipelines, sewers, ducts, wells, or crawl spaces. You should identify and label all confined spaces in your workplace and inform your employees about them.
A hazard assessment is a systematic process of identifying and evaluating the hazards that may be present in a confined space and the potential effects on the health and safety of the workers. You should conduct a hazard assessment for each confined space before any work is performed and update it whenever there are changes in the conditions or activities. The hazard assessment should consider the physical, chemical, biological, and environmental factors that may affect the workers, such as temperature, noise, lighting, ventilation, or contaminants.
Remember that hazards within confined Spaces can change quickly, ie internal areas of old fuel tanks can change with variations in temp ie sunlight. NEVER ASSUME that a space is "gas free" .
Control measures are the actions or devices that are used to eliminate or reduce the hazards in a confined space. You should implement control measures based on the hierarchy of controls, which prioritizes the most effective and reliable methods. The hierarchy of controls consists of elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment (PPE). For example, you may eliminate the hazard by cleaning or purging the confined space, substitute a less hazardous material or process, install ventilation or isolation systems, establish safe work procedures and training, or provide appropriate PPE for the workers.
A permit system is a written authorization that specifies the conditions and requirements for entering and working in a confined space. You should establish a permit system to ensure that only authorized and qualified workers can access the confined space and that they follow the safety plan. The permit system should include information such as the location and description of the confined space, the purpose and duration of the work, the hazards and control measures, the names and roles of the workers, the emergency procedures and equipment, and the verification and cancellation of the permit.
Roles and responsibilities are the duties and expectations that are assigned to the workers who are involved in the confined space work. You should assign roles and responsibilities to ensure that the workers are competent and accountable for their actions and that they communicate and cooperate effectively. The roles and responsibilities should include the entrant, who enters and performs the work in the confined space, the attendant, who monitors and assists the entrant from outside the confined space, the supervisor, who oversees and coordinates the work and the permit system, and the rescue team, who responds and provides assistance in case of an emergency.
Training and education are the processes of providing the workers with the knowledge and skills that are necessary to perform the work safely and efficiently in a confined space. You should train and educate workers to ensure that they understand the hazards and control measures, the permit system, the roles and responsibilities, and the emergency procedures and equipment. You should also evaluate the effectiveness of the training and education and provide refresher courses or updates as needed.
In my experience an area not forgotten but not fully appreciated is the emergency extraction of personnel. Gas monitors need to be understood, I was highly trained by a major oil company and on facing my first emergency extraction I was less than effective, train, train and retrain.