OSHA Confined Space Training: Resources

Yesterday’s Advisor began a discussion of the multiple hazards of working in confined spaces.

In a space often little bigger than the worker’s body inside it, dangerous gases or combustible dust can collect, or oxygen may drop below levels needed to sustain life.

There may be heat, electrical, or mechanical hazards. The walls or stored materials can collapse, engulfing the worker. And no matter what happens, the only way out is often through a hatch so small the worker had to struggle to get in. It’s no wonder some 20 die and many others are injured each year in this dark and dangerous work.

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OSHA’s confined spaces training regulations are among the most rigorous the agency has. Meet them more easily and effectively with BLR’s multiformat on CD—Total Training Resource: Confined Space Entry. Try it at no cost or risk. Click for details.

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It’s no wonder OSHA requires a permit to enter any confined space deemed to present a health or safety hazard.

That permit recognizes that hazards have been identified by management, that appropriate protective, communication, and rescue gear has been provided, and that the workers involved have been trained in their various roles—entrant, attendant, entry supervisor, and rescue team.

Some of the training responsibilities include:

Recognition of the unique hazards presented by each entry situation.

Understanding of the signs of trouble, such as medical symptoms of poisoning or oxygen deprivation.

Learning of each member’s role in the process. The attendant, for example, must never leave his or her post (even calling a trained substitute if a break is needed), to keep count of all entrants, and to remain in constant communication with them.

Training in use of specialized equipment, such as a retrieval harness or a multiple-gas meter. This device measures both oxygen content and presence and concentration of dangerous gases. It must be used in a specific manner, checking oxygen first.

Knowledge of the rescue process, as 60 percent of confined spaces deaths occur among untrained rescuers succumbing to the same hazard that killed those they sought to save.

A Total Confined Spaces Training Program

Training in confined space work is available from multiple sources, ranging from simple pamphlets to specialized consultants who provide hands-on training in simulated entries and rescues. A good middle ground is provided by BLR’s Total Training Resource: Confined Space Entry … a multimodal training tool with separate modules for both entrants and attendants, and additional guidance for entry supervisors and rescue team members.

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You can try BLR’s Total Training Resource: Confined Space Entry at no cost or risk. Click for more information.

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Computer-Based-Training. This 77-slide program trains in all aspects of confined space work interactively. Trainees are asked on almost every slide to answer quiz questions, rearrange answers, drag and drop, even use a lifeline to remove an injured worker from a belowground vault. (They learn that, even with two rescuers pulling, a 150 lb. victim can be lifted barely a foot. However, by using a simple tripod, the same victim can be safely removed from an 8-foot hole.) More important, the CBT module is completely self-contained, including integrated tests that let the user complete the program only when learning is achieved.

Two PowerPoint® sessions, one for entrants, one for attendants. Each spells out the duties that come with each role. And each is customizable with your organization’s specific situations and policies.

Separate sets of exercises, handouts, and quizzes for entrants and attendants.

A complete management section, with two sets of trainer’s notes, a trainer’s checklist, administrative guidelines for confined space compliance, the complete 29 CFR 1910.146 regulations in easy-to-read type, and a plain-English explanation and analysis of the reg.

Total Training Resource: Confined Space Entry is available for a full month’s no-cost, no risk evaluation at your facility. We encourage you to try it with some of your most resistant learners. It will be a work and time saver. It could be a lifesaver. Click here and we’ll set things up.