Welcome to Permit-Required Confined Space Rescue training for supervisors. This session is designed for personnel responsible for managing confined space rescue. Confined spaces are dangerous places. Employees who enter them may be at risk from a variety of hazards— some of them deadly. When something goes wrong and confined space entrants get in trouble, you have to get them out fast, without endangering rescuers. That is why the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, requires you to plan for and be able to carry out successful rescue operations. The purpose of this session is to make sure you’re prepared to do that.

Session Objectives

The main objective of this session is to review the requirements for successful confined space rescue operations. By the time the session is over, you will be able to:

• Recognize confined space hazards;
• Plan for rescues;
• Evaluate rescue services;
• Differentiate among types of rescues;
• Train and equip a rescue team; and
• Identify the phases of a rescue operation.

What You Need to Know

During the session, we’ll discuss:

• OSHA rescue requirements;
• Why rescues may be necessary;
• How to prevent rescue fatalities;
• How to plan for successful rescues;
• How to develop and manage a rescue team; and
• How to conduct an effective rescue operation.

OSHA Rescue Requirements

OSHA’s confined space rescue requirements are found at 29 CFR 1910.146(k). This section says that if you send employees into confined spaces, you must plan for their rescue should something go wrong. The regulations give you two options:

• You can create your own rescue team made up of your own employees; or
• You can contract with an outside rescue service, such as a fire department, to provide rescue services.

If you choose the first option and create your own rescue team, designated members of that team must be:

• Trained in rescue duties;
• Trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, and first aid;
• Provided with appropriate personal protective equipment, or PPE;
• Provided with necessary rescue equipment; and
• Given an opportunity to practice rescues from the spaces on your premises at least once a year.

Are you familiar with the detailed requirements of the standard?

Confined Space Hazards

OSHA emphasizes rescues in the standard because confined spaces are such hazardous places. Every year, hundreds of incidents lead to numerous fatalities. Accidents and deaths may be caused by a variety of hazards. For example:

• The atmosphere in the space might be flammable, toxic, corrosive, or have insufficient oxygen.
• There might be mechanical and electrical hazards created by equipment brought in to perform the required work.
• Falls from slippery access ladders are common. Visibility may be limited, which can also lead entrants to stumble and fall.
• Thermal effects such as heat and cold can affect the health and safety of entrants.
• Structural hazards such as barriers, bends in tunnels, baffles in tanks, overhead pipes, small and difficult entry and exit openings, and other such impediments can create emergency situations.
• And, in some cases, entrants can be engulfed by materials in the space such as sand, grain, or water.

Facts About Rescues

With so many hazards, it is no wonder that emergencies occur that require the rescue of workers from confined spaces that have suddenly become dangerous. Here are some basic facts about confined space rescues that you should know:

• Many confined space fatalities occur among rescuers.
• Most failed rescues result from improper planning, inadequate training, and insufficient manpower to carry out an effective rescue.
• Atmospheric problems account for most confined space deaths, both for entrants and rescuers.
• Inadequate recognition of hazards, evaluation of the space, and testing and monitoring before entry cause most emergency situations requiring rescue. And those same inadequacies hamper rescue efforts and endanger rescuers.

Preventing Rescue Fatalities

What can be done to prevent rescue fatalities? Throughout the session, we’ll be addressing that key question. But let’s quickly highlight the essential strategies right here at the beginning.

• First of all, entrants, attendants, and supervisors must be trained to recognize hazards and take proper precautions. If they do that, the lives of entrants will not be put at risk, and rescue attempts that endanger rescuers will not be necessary.
• You must also plan for rescues. If there is no tested and proven plan of action, rescues will be haphazard, risky, and often unsuccessful. And the lives of both rescuers and entrants may be lost.
• Preventing rescue deaths means designating and training a special rescue team. Not just anyone can be a rescuer.
• In order to ensure the safety of your rescue team, you have to make sure they’re properly equipped with both necessary PPE and rescue equipment.
• And preventing rescue fatalities also involves conducting regular practice drills using the kinds of spaces your employees enter and simulating all the different types of hazardous situations rescuers might encounter.

Elements of a Rescue Plan

A written rescue plan is the key to successful rescue planning.

A thorough rescue plan includes:

• Self-rescue, nonentry rescue, and entry rescue procedures;
• Victim removal procedures and equipment;
• Required PPE and protective clothing for rescuers;
• Methods of communication and lighting;
• Testing, evaluation, and monitoring procedures to assess emergency situation;
• Control of hazards through ventilation, lockout of energy, and so on;
• Control of secondary hazards such as cave-ins, traffic at the site, and so on; and
• Availability of emergency vehicles and medically trained personnel at the scene.

Think about your confined space rescue plan. Does it contain all of these elements?

Reevaluating Your Rescue Plan

Your rescue plan should be reevaluated whenever:

• Conditions within a confined space change;
• New hazards are discovered;
• There is turnover in the rescue team;
• New equipment is introduced;
• A real or simulated rescue fails; or
• Performance of rescuers on routine proficiency tests or in simulations is unsatisfactory.

Anatomy of a Rescue

When planning for a rescue you must think about each minute of a confined space emergency—from the time an emergency situation is recognized until the rescue is completed.

• A rescue operation really begins the moment the entrant realizes that he or she is in trouble and communicates the problem to the attendant. Or, in some cases, lack of communication from the entrant might be what alerts the attendant to a problem.
• If the entrant can’t get out safely himself and nonentry rescue is not appropriate, the attendant contacts the rescue team.
• The rescue team arrives on the scene:

– They immediately assess the situation; and

– Prepare to carry out the rescue.

The clock is ticking, but this assessment time is essential. Moving too quickly can place rescuers at risk and make the situation worse for both entrants and rescuers.

• Once the hazards are recognized and controlled and the rescuers are properly equipped and prepared, the rescue operation can proceed quickly and, hopefully, successfully.

Standby or Available Rescue

• Depending on the hazards of the space, you might need a rescue team to be on standby during a confined space entry so that it can respond to an emergency within minutes, or you might only need a team to be available to respond and be able to get to the site as quickly as possible.
• Generally, you need to have a rescue team at the site if:

– The atmosphere in the space is or could potentially become immediately dangerous to life or health, or IDLH—in other words, there is toxic or insufficient oxygen.

• Just keep in mind that in the case of a CPR emergency—no breathing, no pulse—you only have about 4 minutes to restore breathing and heart function before brain damage occurs.

Available Rescue

If you use an off-site rescue service, such as your local fire department, make sure they know:

• The number, description, and location of each permit-required confined space on your premises, and
• All known hazards associated with each space.
• Also be sure to provide access to these spaces so that off-site rescue personnel can familiarize themselves with the space, develop an adequate rescue plan, and practice rescue operations.

If you contract with an off-site rescue service, have you provided them with all the information they need to plan for successful rescues? Have you provided them with access to your confined spaces?

Evaluating Rescue Services

When selecting off-site services, you have to evaluate them carefully. OSHA says your evaluation must consist of two components—an initial evaluation and a performance evaluation. During the initial evaluation, you should meet with the off-site service personnel and ask questions like these:

• How quickly can the team get to the confined space in an emergency?
• What is the availability of the team? 24/7? Or are there times when it is not available?
• Are team members properly trained in rescue duties?
• Does the team have all the required PPE and rescue equipment?
• Do team members have the required medical skills, such as CPR and first-aid certification?

Evaluating Rescue Services (cont.)

The performance evaluation should be based on documentation of the team in action during practice drills. You should look for answers to questions such as the following:

• Have team members been trained as permit space entrants, including training in the potential hazards of the types of permit spaces from which rescue may be needed?
• Can team members recognize the signs, symptoms, and consequences of exposure to any hazardous atmospheres that may be present in those permit spaces?
• Do they know how to use all kinds of rescue equipment, including testing equipment?
• Can they perform their functions safely and efficiently?
• Do they know how to identify and interpret essential information from permits and safety data sheets, or SDSs?
• Does the team have a proven rescue plan for each type of confined space on your premises?

Planning for Rescue

• Now it’s time to ask yourself if you understand the information presented so far about planning for confined space rescues. Do you understand:

– The hazards of confined spaces?

– Rescue plans?

– Standby (on-site) or available (off-site) response?

– Evaluating rescue services?

Now let’s continue to the next series of slides, where we’ll talk about the different types of rescues and about training and equipping rescue teams.

Types of Rescues: Nonentry

• When self-rescue is not an option, the next best choice is nonentry rescue. Advantages of nonentry rescue include:

– Speed—Entrants can be removed immediately using rescue devices such as lifelines and winches; and

– Safety—Rescue personnel are not exposed to hazards.

• Nonentry rescue is appropriate if:

– Entrants are equipped with a full-body harness that is connected to a lifeline;

– The end of the retrieval line is attached to a mechanical device such as a tripod and winch—this is required when an entrant is 5 feet or more below the entrance;

– Attendants can visually or verbally confirm that the entrant can be moved safely; and

– The retrieval line is not wrapped around an obstacle in the space that could damage the retrieval line.

• The attendant may perform nonentry rescue if specified in the rescue procedure.

Types of Rescues: Entry

• When neither self-rescue or nonentry rescue are possible, the last resort is entry rescue, requiring the services of a rescue team.
• Entry rescues are required when:

– Victims inside the space are unconscious or are injured in a way that makes it impossible for them to help themselves or be removed safely using rescue equipment and devices alone;

– Victims need immediate emergency medical assistance, such as CPR, first aid, or safe breathing air; or

– The configuration of the space makes nonentry rescue impossible—for example, structural barriers, etc.

Remember, entry rescues expose rescuers to the same hazards that got entrants in trouble. Those hazards may be life threatening. Entry rescues must therefore be fully planned ahead of time, and rescuers must be well-trained and properly equipped to handle the situation safely.

Rescue Training

When a rescue team is required to get entrants out of a confined space, you want to be absolutely certain that the team can perform the rescue safely and bring victims out alive—as well as getting out alive themselves. That means your team must be trained to deal with all kinds of hazardous conditions. Rescue training should include:

• Hazard recognition for all permit-required confined spaces on your premises and methods for controlling those hazards;
• Safe entry procedures;
• Use of testing and monitoring equipment;
• Use and maintenance of required PPE and rescue equipment;
• First-aid and CPR certification; and
• Practice drills at least every 12 months in which actual conditions are simulated in actual spaces.

Be sure to document training for each member of the rescue team and update your documentation annually.

Think about your confined space rescue training program. Does it adequately prepare rescue personnel to conduct effective rescues?

PPE for Rescuer Team

PPE for rescue personnel will depend on the hazards of the confined space. Generally, rescue teams must be equipped with the following PPE:

• Full-body harness attached to a retrieval line;
• Air-supplying respirator;
• Helmet;
• Gloves;
• Proper footwear;
• Jumpsuit; and
• Air monitoring devices that measure, at a minimum, flammability and oxygen levels.

OSHA allows wristlets to be used instead of a full-body harness when you can demonstrate that the use of a harness is infeasible or creates a greater hazard and that the use of wristlets is the safest and most effective alternative.

Think about the PPE your rescue team needs. Have you provided all necessary items?

 

Rescue Equipment

Rescue teams must also be provided with all necessary rescue equipment. For example:

• Victim removal systems, including tripods and winches or pulleys and ropes;
• Air supply for victims;
• Explosion-proof lighting and communication systems for flammable atmospheres;
• Monitoring and ventilation equipment; and
• Stretchers or other devices on which to carry victims.

Think about the rescue equipment your team needs. Have you provided all necessary items?

Rescues and Rescue Teams

• Do you understand the information presented in the previous slides about types of rescues, rescue team training, and rescue equipment and PPE? It is important for the safety of your rescue team that you understand and act on this information.

Now let’s discuss the different phases of a rescue operation.

Rescue Operations: Evaluating the Scene

When the rescue team arrives on the scene, they need to evaluate the situation before they can act. This is critical to the safety of team members as well as the success of the operation. Acting without adequately appreciating and controlling risks leads to rescue fatalities.

Evaluating the scene means the rescue team must:

• Identify and assess the hazards of the space;
• Examine a diagram of the space;
• Determine the number and location of victims;
• Find out how long victims have been exposed to hazards;
• Assess the possible nature of injuries and the condition of victims; and
• Review information about the space and its hazards from the entry permit, an SDS, or other pertinent documents.

Think about the procedures your rescue team follows to evaluate the scene of a confined space emergency.

Rescue Operations: Making the Scene Safe

The next phase of the rescue operation is to make the scene safe for rescuers if an entry rescue is required.

• The first step in securing the scene is to set up a perimeter to keep unauthorized people and traffic away from the scene. This is essential to allow emergency personnel to operate freely and also to ensure that individuals not associated with the rescue operation are not exposed to hazards such as toxic vapors if the space has to be ventilated.
• The next step is to perform any atmospheric testing necessary to determine oxygen levels, flammability, and toxicity. The team will continue to monitor the space during the rescue operation.
• Based on the results of testing, the space may need to be ventilated to make entry safe. The type of ventilation used will depend on the nature of the atmospheric hazard. Either positive or negative ventilation may be used, or both may be required.
• At the same time, utilities to the space such as electricity, water, and gas must be shut off and locked out.
• Rescuers must also consider the structural stability of the space. If there’s danger of collapse, this hazard must be controlled before entry.

Rescue Operations: Entry

In order for rescuers to safely enter the space and conduct the rescue operation, the team must ensure that:

• An effective communication system between rescuers and outside personnel has been established;
• Lighting is safe and adequate for rescuers to function;
• Rescuers are familiar with the layout of the space; and
• Rescuers have been provided with all required PPE and rescue equipment.

Remember that if there is a flammable atmosphere in the space, explosion-proof lighting and communication equipment will be required. If this is not available, cyalume-type lighting may be used and a tag line or message relay person may be used for communication.

Are all of these issues dealt with satisfactorily before you allow a rescue team to enter a confined space?

Rescue Operations: Victim Assessment

Once the victim has been reached, rescuers must assess the person’s condition. Victim assessment involves:

• A primary assessment to see if the victim is breathing and has a pulse;
• Providing the victim with breathing air, if necessary;
• A secondary assessment to check for other problems such as bleeding, broken bones, and other injuries;
• Treatment of life-threatening injuries such as heavy bleeding, if possible; and
• Precautions for head, neck, or spine injury, if possible.

Rescue Operations: Removal of Victim(s)

At this point, the victim or victims should be ready to be safely removed from the space. Removal involves:

• Packaging the victim for removal using a stretcher, backboard, or other similar removal device;
• Securing the victim to the device and securing any buckles, straps, webbing, or ties that could hamper the removal process; and
• Getting the victim out of the space using the chosen rescue equipment.

It is important to note that whenever possible during victim removal, the rescuer should always remain between the victim and the space exit so that the rescuer does not get trapped if a problem occurs during victim removal.

Rescue Operations: Transfer for Treatment

Once the victim is safely out of the confined space, he or she must be taken to the hospital for treatment. This means that:

• The rescue team transfers the victim to emergency medical personnel waiting outside the space;
• Emergency medical personnel conduct an examination of the victim to determine the exact nature of injuries; and
• If necessary, the victim is decontaminated to remove any hazardous substances that he or she has come in contact with in the confined space.

Rescue Operations: Terminating the Operation

Now the rescue operation is all but over. But a few things remain that the team must do to successfully terminate the operation. For example:

• All rescue personnel must be accounted for;
• Tools and equipment must be removed from the site—unless there’s been a fatality, in which case, these items must be left until an investigation has been conducted;
• Rescuers must decontaminate clothing, equipment, and themselves if they’ve been in contact with a hazardous substance in the space;
• Final atmospheric testing is usually also conducted at this point prior to securing the space; and
• The rescue team will generally conduct a preliminary debriefing concerning critical phases of the rescue operation.

Think about the procedures your rescue team follows when terminating a rescue. This final step is important and should always be taken.

Key Points to Remember

Here are the main points to remember from this session on confined space rescue:

• OSHA requires you to plan for confined space rescues;
• You must identify all the potential hazards of your confined spaces;
• You must make sure that the designated rescue team is properly trained and equipped to make successful rescues; and
• Rescue teams must conduct practice drills at least once a year.

This concludes the confined space rescue training session.