I've been running my own OHS/HSE, Emergency Management and Business Continuity training company for some time now and spend most of my days travelling around the country teaching Emergency Response Teams (ERT's), Plant Operators and Managers about health and safety and emergency management matters. (Everything from building evacuations, confined space entry/rescue, safe work at heights, breathing apparatus and many other topics) This includes airlines, refineries, chemical process, manufacturing industries and many others.

Everytime I walk into a new site/class, I'm always a bit apprehensive- what sort of group am I going to face, what sort of knowledge do they have, what previous training do they have, do they an alliance to a particular brand/company, etc)

Yet, unfortuanetly in many, many instances my worries are unfounded. I train both full time ERT's and part time/casual ERT's, which include many members of emergency services outside of their employment, such as volunteers.

It still astounds me the lack of knowledge that many have about key aspects of their role. (Their core role)

For example, Company A (Shall remain nameless for obvious reasons) has a full time ERT on site, 24/7, consisting of 2 members. Their key role on site is the issuing and monitoring of hot work and confined space permits, medical response, first attack fire fighting and everytime there's confined space work happening, they assume the role of the standby person.

Their role in confined space work is very clearly spelt out in company protocols, SOP's and other paperwork and has been in palce for many years.

For my very first session with Company A, I attended the site a week before to familiarise myself with the site, the layout and to also scope out areas to train in. I then attended on day 1 and thought I'd do a quick bit of theory and group discussions in the classroom environment- this gives me a good opportunity to scope them out. See what they know, more importantly, see what they don't know.

So I split them into 2 groups of 6 and gave them a photo of a different confined sapce I had taken on my initial visit.

I then asked them to do a few things-
1) Draw a detailed diagram of the space I had given them (Showing depth, size, etc)
2) In plenary, tell the group why it was (or wasn't) deemed a confined space
3) Outline the hazards likely to be found in that space
4) Write a Rescue Plan for that space

As each group stumbled their way through exercise 2 (as outlined above), I was astounded at the what they didn't know abouttheir job.

Neither group could tell me what the definition of a confined space was. I've got a thousand things running through my head right at this point, but first and foremost- why not? They are the designated permit issuers, for the site, they're the designated standby personnel for each entry being undertaken!

I then stopped the session and took them through the paraphrased, legislated definition (In my State, we have legislation that outlines what is and isn't a confined space- it's very black and white) using the PRACOE acronym.

To be a confined space in my State, it needs to meet all of the following-
P= Person required to enter? YES/NO
R= Restricted means of entry or exit? YES/NO
A= At atmospheric pressure? YES/NO

It then needs to meet any one of the following-
C= Harmful level of contaminants? YES/NO
O= Unsafe Oxygen levels (Below 19.5% or above 23.5%) YES/NO
E- Chance of engulfment by any material except a liquid? YES/NO

Using the bolded words, it forms PRACOE. A bit like RECEO and ARCHER and the 100's of other ones out there to help us.

They weren't familiar with the definition, as set out by LAW.

I then spoke about exposure limits (TWA, STEL, PEAK)- again they had never heard of these and didn't understand what they meant and where to get this information from. That means, that for a number of years now, they could have been exposing operatings to contaminants that could be detrimental to their health, and didn't know it!

I then spoke about the rescue plans- they'd never heard of one and had never written one. I stepped them through the process and suggested that they risk assess every single space and develop a rescue plan for each one which then got reviewed as part of the permit issuing process. Their reply, "No, management wouldn't allow us the time to do that".

I was amazaed! The day progressed where I took them out to a simulated space (That didn't meet the legislative definition) and took them through some simple entries that slowly scaled up to rescues and then rescues with SCBA.

Am I confident in their ability now? No. But their management don't see the issue and aren't prepared to spend more time and money on their education. The system in palce is doomed to fail without management support.

Now, to bring this back to the Emergency Services which is what this website is all about- have alook at what your department's core business is. If it's Confined Space Rescue, then know the relevant legislation, know how to risk assess them, develop rescue plans in consaultation with the plant owners- be proactive and get out there in the community and talk with the experts who know these spaces.

If you dont know what you're dealing with, then don't do it! Walk away now, while it's still safe!

We have to better educate ourselves on what our core business is, and what we need to do and have in place to undertake a response to that core business.

It's called "pre-planning".

It's called "risk management".

It's called "training".

It's called "understanding".

It's about not killing ourselves....