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Confined spaces are everywhere in industry, from mines and construction sites to processing plants and farms. Every year, thousands of employees enter confined spaces as part of their normal working operations. While most of them complete their work safely, injuries and fatalities are a major concern, especially in high-risk industries like construction. A confined space emergency rescue plan gives you a blueprint for responding to crisis situations in confined spaces, protecting the safety of your team.
A confined space is more than just a small space where people work. If a space is designed for human occupancy and has adequate ventilation and lighting, it’s not considered a confined space, regardless of its size.
According to the Work Health and Safety Act (WHS Act), a confined space is by definition not designed to be occupied by a person. It’s likely to be a volatile environment due to unsafe oxygen levels or contaminants in the atmosphere. In confined spaces, gases, vapours, and other stored substances pose a multitude of risks.
Confined spaces take a variety of forms, including vats, tanks, pits, ducts, pipes, chimneys, silos, shafts, trenches, tunnels, and more. Entry to a confined space is said to have occurred once a person’s head or upper body has entered the space.
Many parties have safety responsibilities regarding confined spaces, including persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), safety officers, designers, manufacturers, and others involved in the creation of substances and structures.
Rescue planning is an important part of confined space safety planning. A confined space rescue system gives you a solid plan of action in the worst-case scenario of a confined space emergency.
Here’s the SSTC guide to confined space emergency rescue planning: why they’re necessary, what to consider and what to do if things go wrong.
Confined spaces present unique hazards, and you need a unique safety and rescue plan to deal with them. Rescue plans help confined space rescue teams carry out rescues more efficiently, taking into account the nature of the environment. Confined space rescue plans can save the lives of your team and prevent serious injuries, as well as help you to adhere to all legal requirements.
Some hazards that commonly lurk in workplace confined spaces include:
Toxic gases like carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide are frequently found in confined spaces, making the air dangerous to breathe and the environment more flammable. Confined spaces can also be short on oxygen due to the presence of another gas that displaces it or another chemical reaction process. An oversupply of oxygen with combustible materials present can also raise the risk of fires and explosions.
Both liquids and solid substances can also flow into the confined space, causing injuries like suffocation and burns.
Most confined spaces are poorly ventilated locations with little to no air flow, and some include a heat source as well. Without adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), a worker runs a greater risk of collapsing from heatstroke or heat stress.
According to the WHS Act, a PCBU must eliminate or minimise the risks of working in a confined space as much as practicable. A confined space emergency rescue plan helps you meet your legal and regulatory requirements and helps rescuers navigate potential hazards in confined spaces. Many confined space fatalities are workers who attempted to rescue others from emergency situations and succumbed to the hazards themselves, and having the right plans in place helps stop these tragic scenarios from occurring.
A confined space rescue plan is a thoughtfully crafted, detailed document detailing the personnel, procedures and equipment needed to safely remove people from confined spaces in unsafe situations. When coming up with a confined space rescue system that best suits the needs of your business, factors to consider include:
There are three forms of confined space rescue: self-rescue, non-entry rescue and entry rescue. Self-rescue is when the person in the confined space can recognise a hazard and remove themselves from the space with no assistance required. Non-entry rescue involves the use of equipment, such as pulley systems, lines, and tripods, so the rescuer can remove the entrapped person from the confined space without exposing themselves to danger. Entry rescue is a last resort and requires appropriate levels of protective clothing, as well as specialised equipment such as harnesses and retrieval systems.
A confined space rescue plan should include the types of scenarios that warrant entry or non-entry approaches, the procedures to follow and the roles and responsibilities of everyone present.
Your plan should include a complete inventory of all the equipment you’re likely to need during a confined space rescue, including PPE, gas detection devices, lifting apparatuses and means of communication.
A confined space rescue plan needs to address all hazards specific to the confined space, including atmospheric hazards, engulfment risks and electrical dangers.
Your plan should include a highly trained and qualified emergency rescue team, as well as their roles and responsibilities in a crisis situation. Only properly trained and certified personnel should hold such an important role in a confined space emergency.
Your plan should outline who initiates the emergency rescue, the communication protocols and the steps for evacuation and medical care.
You’ll need to coordinate with local emergency service departments and provide clear access routes for emergency responders.
There are many challenges involved in a confined space emergency rescue. If the process isn’t carefully planned and trained professionals don’t carry out the operation, there’s a lot that can go wrong. Challenges to consider and hazards to overcome when carrying out a confined space rescue include:
This is a tragically common scenario. A would-be rescuer enters the confined space to save someone else and becomes a victim themselves due to a lack of PPE, insufficient atmospheric testing or just bad luck. Improper entry can lead to multiple fatalities in the same confined space, and it takes a professional approach to make sure this kind of situation doesn’t occur.
Different situations call for different equipment, strategies and approaches. For example, tripods are designed to lift from the centre, so problems can arise if you have to use one to lift a person from a tank and lower them down the outside of it. Atmospheres containing corrosive materials can compromise the integrity of rescue materials, such as nylon harnesses and rope.
If devices like radios or headsets fail inside the confined space, it can impair or disrupt the communication between the trapped person and their rescuers.
Rescuers who haven’t been adequately trained are more likely to make rash or poorly planned decisions. Likewise, there needs to be someone on site who is trained in providing medical care when the person is freed from the confined space.
Creating the right rescue plan involves understanding the complexity of the rescue, as well as the measures and risks involved. A confined space rescue plan needs to prepare your team for a fast, safe, and efficient response in case of an emergency.
Steps to take to build the right plan include:
There’s so much to consider when crafting a confined space rescue plan. You can alleviate the stress on your shoulders and ensure the safety of your workers by partnering with SSTC’s confined space management experts.
SSTC can handle all your confined space needs, from the initial permit issuance to documentation, confined space setup, and emergency response team support. No matter the size or the scale of your project, our highly trained, safety-focused and dedicated team will protect your workers. To find out more, call 1300 007 782 or contact the SSTC team for a free quote.