Confined space attendants serve as lifelines to safety for confined space entrants. That’s makes the attendant’s job a crucial responsibility—one that only well-trained, reliable, and highly motivated employees can handle.
Confined space attendants’ primary responsibility is the safety of the entrants. That means attendants must:
- Be knowledgeable about all the potential hazards of the confined space
- Be competent to detect the effects of exposure to confined space hazards
- Remain vigilant at the entry point and monitor activities both inside and outside the space
- Stay in continuous contact with all entrants
- Be able to perform nonentry rescue and summon the rescue team
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Keeping Track of Entrants
Attendants must continuously observe entrants without being distracted for a second. It’s a job that requires total attention and complete concentration.
It’s the attendant’s job to maintain an accurate count of entrants, logging the names of entrants and the time each one enters and exits the space. The attendant’s log should also contain the date of the work, time started, location of the space, entry permit number, name of attendant, starting and ending time, and the name of the relief attendant.
Of course, in addition to keeping track of what goes on in the space, the attendant also needs to keep an eye on what’s going on outside the space and watch for emergencies such as fires or chemical spills that could require entrants to evacuate.
Communicating with Entrants
Maintaining continuous communication with entrants is another very important aspect of the attendant’s job. Attendants should always know what each entrant is doing. Attendants should also talk to entrants and hear their responses, listening for possible effects of exposure to confined space hazards, such as slurred speech, giddy response, or no response at all.
For small spaces in which the work being done is not noisy, voice communication is probably adequate. For larger spaces, radio or walkie-talkie communication is necessary. For noisy spaces, communication equipment should feature a light or vibration feature so that entrants know the attendant is trying to communicate with them.
If communication fails, the entrant must immediately evacuate the space. An emergency signal such as a horn, flashing light, or two pulls on the entrant’s retrieval line should be used in the event communication equipment fails.
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Monitoring the Space
Most confined space atmospheres must be evaluated for potential hazards before authorized entrants are allowed to enter the space. Spaces must also be monitored at various intervals while the space is occupied. Monitoring equipment tests for oxygen content, combustibility or flammability, and toxic atmospheres.
If attendants are responsible for monitoring, they must be thoroughly trained to operate the equipment properly and evaluate results accurately. Even if another employee does the monitoring, the attendant should be involved in the process and made aware of any changing conditions.
Attendants must also monitor ventilation equipment to make sure it continues to operate properly. And attendants should be certain that chemical vapors and vehicle exhaust are kept well away from the intake of ventilation equipment.
Tomorrow, we’ll talk about three other key attendant responsibilities, including keeping unauthorized personnel out of the space, evacuating entrants in an emergency, and nonentry rescue procedures.
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