According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH), over one-third of confined space incidents involve multiple fatalities. Proper confined space planning can reduce the chances of this happening, provide a safer work environment for workers, and make it easier to carry out rescues. Read on as we discuss the necessary elements to consider when planning tasks involving confined spaces and how this impacts your rescue efforts.
Identify Potential Hazards and Risks
All confined spaces present a unique set of hazards and risks that require special planning. It would help if you also enforced controls that promote worker safety. The first step is to identify the dangers and risks associated with the particular confined space you are dealing with.
As per OSHA, a permit-required confined space (PRCS) usually has one or more of the following features that can pose a risk:
- It has or may have the potential to have a hazardous atmosphere
- The area contains material that could potentially engulf entrants
- It is built in a way that could trap an entrant or asphyxiate them
- The space presents other recognized severe health or safety hazards
Once you identify the hazards and risks, you can set up safety measures that allow you to minimize the risk associated with entering a confined space. You can learn more here about what is a confined space.
Review All Spaces With the Potential of Being a Confined Space
It’s essential to carry out a comprehensive pre-entry risk/hazard assessment that reviews all spaces within a facility and determines whether these carry the potential to be a confined space. Next, you can evaluate whether to classify these spaces as a PRCS. Your assessment should be appropriately structured and documented. It should record all potential hazards. These include non-atmospheric risks, such as pneumatic, electrical, slip/fall, trip hazards, etc.
You can use this information to develop a plan for entering the space safely.
Develop Plans for Carrying Out Rescues
Understanding the definition of a confined space and deciding how to conduct a safe entry is not enough. Effective confined space planning requires you to develop rescue plans, as well. The best companies are proactive in this regard. They spend an equal amount of time planning entry in a confined space, defining rescue efforts, and conducting an entry.
They understand that even if a space is not particularly hazardous under OSHA guidelines, they must be prepared if things go sideways. Such companies understand things can go wrong very quickly when working in confined spaces and plan to deal with adverse situations.
Get In Touch With DCS Rescue
Proper confined space planning can save lives, enable a safer working environment, and help you prepare for challenging situations. If you don’t have an internal team for confined space planning, get in touch with DCS Rescue. We have a qualified team of experts in place who can help you with confined space rescue. Reach out to us today and get help with:
- Identifying confined spaces in your facilities
- Determining the risks and hazards associated with these spaces
- Developing rescue plans
- Ensuring continued safety
We hope to hear from you!