Safe or Sorry? Which Will Your Confined Spaces Entrants Be?

OSHA’s permit-required confined spaces standard for general industry (29 CFR 1910.146) requires you to train entrants so that they can effectively:

• Identify hazards that may be faced during entry, including information about the symptoms and consequences of hazardous exposures.

• Use required equipment to test, monitor, and ventilate the space; communicate with others working within and outside the space; and protect themselves from exposure to dangers within the space (for example, by using PPE such as respirators and harnesses attached to lifelines).
• Communicate effectively with the attendant outside the space as necessary to enable the attendant to monitor entrant status and to alert entrants of the need to evacuate the space.
• Alert attendants whenever entrants:
  • Recognize any warning sign or symptom of exposure to a dangerous situation; or
  • Detect a hazardous condition for which evacuation may be required.
• Exit from the permit space as quickly as possible whenever:
  • An order to evacuate is given by the attendant or the entry supervisor;
  • The entrant recognizes any warning sign or symptom of exposure to a dangerous situation;
  • The entrant detects a hazardous condition that requires evacuation; or
  • An evacuation alarm is activated.

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Need confined space training materials? You’ll find them at BLR’s Employee Training Center. Try a demo of the Employee Training Center at no cost or obligation. Get details here.

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When to Train, When to Retrain

According to paragraph (g) of the standard, you must train entrants before they’re first assigned entry duties and whenever:

• There’s a change in their assigned duties;
• There’s a change in permit space operations that presents a hazard about which an entrant has not previously been trained; or
• You have reason to believe that deviations from the required permit space entry procedures are occurring or that there are inadequacies in an entrant’s knowledge or use of these procedures.

Your training program must establish the entrant’s proficiency in the duties required by the standard, and you must certify that the required training has been accomplished. The certification must include the employee’s name, the signatures or initials of the trainers, and the dates of training.

 

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Unlimited training—one low cost. Demo the new Employee Training Center. There’s no cost or obligation.Give it a try!

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Have We Got the Training Program for You!

The Employee Training Center has the ideal training presentation on confined spaces safety for entrants. The audio PowerPoint® training course, Permit Required Confined Spaces—Entrant, includes a trainer’s guide, detailed speaker’s notes, interactive exercises, and a quiz to make sure your workers get the message. The audio feature allows entrants to train individually or in a group—your choice.

And this confined spaces safety course is just one of more than 45 safety training courses available in the Employee Training Center. These are all motivational, actionable programs—for both supervisors and employees—in such key areas as hazard communication, back safety, general workplace safety, bloodborne pathogens, OSHA requirements, and many more. And, what’s more, we add new programs continually.

Just as important, the Employee Training Center automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. And when the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So, when you want to see who has or hasn’t yet trained on any subject, or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available to you, your boss, an inspector—even a plaintiff’s attorney.

The Employee Training Center also includes a similar selection of HR courses—you decide whether you want just the safety courses or both the safety and HR modules.

And from the standpoint of your accounting office (an important standpoint in these tight times), you always know exactly what the training will cost, no matter how many programs you use or how many times you use them. There’s just one low annual fee for unlimited training, calculated by the size of your workforce. Budget once and you’re done!

We urge you to sign up for a no-obligation demo by visiting the Employee Training Center. Or, feel free to call our customer service people toll-free at 866-696-4827.

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