FireRescue magazine's Fireground Operations column
The Awareness Level: What to do when you need to hang back
By Freddie LaFemina

You’re working your shift and you’re in the middle of a long tour. So far, your unit has responded to three structural fires and about a dozen medical-related incidents. After all of this work and no time for anything else, you receive a response for a man trapped in a hole. En route, you begin your mental size-up and the words “confined space” pop into your head. You start to realize that if this is a true confined-space incident, you have no personnel on the apparatus trained above the awareness level.

This type of response happens frequently, and many times it doesn’t turn out to be a true confined-space incident. In this article, I’ll discuss what to do if you’re a fire officer working with members who aren’t trained to enter confined spaces. I’ll also outline a couple of actions you can take as a first responder trained only at the awareness level.

Confined-Space Stats
The numbers concerning confined space don’t lie (and it still amazes me that the fire service responds to these incidents on a frequent basis). OSHA statistics confirm that a quarter of a million confined spaces exist nationally. More than 1.9 million workers enter these spaces at a rate of 4.8 million times a year. Workers generally enter these spaces to perform work, clean-up or just general maintenance.

Deaths and injuries occur when safety education and injury prevention are ignored and complacency permeates the workplace. On average, 67 deaths occur in confined spaces annually—and 60 percent of those victims are rescuers themselves.

Of the above statistics, which one sticks right out at you? I bet it’s the last one about 60 percent of confined-space deaths occurring to would-be rescuers. This statement is misleading. The term “rescuers” doesn’t refer to fire department personnel responding to the incident—but don’t ever fool yourself into thinking that one of our members couldn’t be killed at these types of incidents.
The 60 percent statistic represents untrained workers at the scene and bystanders trying to help. Many of these people wind up dead along the person trapped in the vessel.

Case in Point
In June of this year, I responded to your classic confined-space incident that tragically ended with three people dead. A father and son with a loyal worker were using a vacuum truck to remove water from a 30'-deep manhole used as a catch-basin for water run-off at a garbage recycling plant. They made the mistake of not monitoring the space, and as the son was working directly over the entrance to the space, he was overcome by fumes containing hydrogen sulphide gas. As a result, the son fell into the vessel.

Without regard for his own safety, the father grabbed a ladder, lowered it into the space and entered the space to assist his son. The worker assisting the father and son saw both of them fall unconscious immediately and proceeded to retrieve a utility rope from their truck. He started down the ladder, making the mistake of not tying the rope around him. It was determined the worker was overcome by the fumes and rendered unconscious about halfway down the ladder.

At this time, a call was made to 911. First-arriving units, having no entry training, gathered information and set up a high point with their apparatus for the incoming specially trained personnel. Needless to say, by the time rescuers were able to pull the three men out, all had expired. The level of the hydrogen sulphide within the space had become lethal after about 5 minutes.

Think this could never happen to one of us? Think again. This is why incident commanders must ensure that members are disciplined and don’t operate out of their scope of training. In the incident above, the first-arriving unit had no confined-space training, therefore the commanding officer made sure they waited for rescue personnel who were properly trained. But even if you do have proper training, the risk-versus-benefit analysis, along with training levels and equipment at the scene, must be considered when operating at these incidents.

What Do You Do?
If you’re the first-arriving officer, and your personnel aren’t trained in confined-space rescue, you must first gather as much information as possible. Try to locate a competent person and ask them a series of questions, such as how many people are in the vessel or hole? This will determine how many trained personnel and equipment you’ll need.

Then ask what the vessel was used for and what were the workers doing at the time of the accident? This will assist the unit assigned to lock-out/tag out procedures. Performing lock-out/tag out procedures isolates some of the hazards present in the space, and it stops the flow of products/materials/gases into the space prior to fire department entry. Simple procedures such as flipping an electrical or emergency shut-off switch may be enough to control the space. Remember: Members equipped with radios should remain at these locations for the duration of the incident to ensure the products won’t be turned back on and create additional problems.

Since 80 percent of confined-space deaths are caused by hazardous atmospheres, the use of monitoring devices is imperative to determine the hazard that caused the problem in the first place. But even if the hazard is confirmed, untrained members should never enter the space.

All the above information should be relayed to incoming special units through the dispatcher prior to their arrival. Information gathered concerning the atmosphere will assist the special units when they arrive on scene. At the very least, knowing what they’re dealing with will help minimize some of the risk.

Basics to Remember
Some basic points to remember, train on and strictly adhere to when confronted with a confined-space incident:
• Never enter a confined space unless your level of training allows you to.
• Treat all confined spaces as permit-required confined spaces. Permit-required confined spaces have stringent laws governing them and by using this as a guideline it forces members to operate in a safer manner.
• Determine what the workers were doing when the incident occurred and the hazards associated with the space.
• Ensure an ALS response to treat the victims when they’re removed from the space.
• If there are no trained units on the scene or none of the required equipment, you must be disciplined enough to await their arrival.
• Departments with no trained personnel or equipment should ensure mutual-aid agreements to ensure a proper response.

A Final Note
This is just a short article with a few tidbits that may save your life or the life of a brother or sister. Confined-space incidents are complex and dangerous, and members should be extra cautious. The above information should be discussed and drilled on to keep members sharp and to keep them alive.

Chief Fred LaFemina is a 24-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), presently chief of Rescue Operations. He has been with Special Operations for more than 20 years and is the task force leader for New York’s Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue team. He is also the operations chief on the USAR IST White Team. LaFemina has written many articles on fire operations and technical rescue and lectures throughout the country.

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