Confined Space Working

What Exactly is Confined Space Working

Working in confined spaces isn’t everyone’s favourite topic but it’s one that needs to be aired from time to time (please forgive the poor pun).

When confined spaces are mentioned, most people imagine a space that is perhaps difficult to access or where, once you are in, it is difficult to manoeuvre. Such places may indeed be confined spaces in the sense of health and safety, but not necessarily so. The reverse may be true that a large roomy area could be designated as a confined space if certain types of risk are present.

The definition of “Confined Space” is more concerned with the level of risk to someone who is working there than its location or physical dimensions. A couple of examples may help to clarify:

A large environmentally controlled room such as is used to house computer equipment, may be designated as a confined space if there is the possibility of asphyxiation due to flooding with an inert gas to extinguish a fire.
On the other hand, a workman may need to squirm into the narrow space beneath a suspended floor but this would not be considered a confined space if there were no identifiable risks to health and safety.

A confined space, therefore, is one in which there is a reasonably foreseeable risk to someone by virtue of working there, or to quote the definition from the Confined Space Regulations:

"Confined Space means any place, including any chamber, tank, vat, silo, pit, trench, pipe, sewer, flue, well or other similar space in which, by virtue of its enclosed nature, there arises a reasonably foreseeable specified risk”.

It is worth noting that although this definition refers to an “enclosed space”, this does not mean that the space must be totally enclosed. Such examples as a “pit”, a “trench” and a “well” are included, all of which might be open to the sky.

What Are Your Responsibilities?

These examples demonstrate that people may be exposed to the risks of confined space working without ever realising it. Employers, however, have a duty to be aware and should have conducted risk assessments and put appropriate precautions in place.

Very briefly, those precautions should include:

Ensuring there is no practical alternative for completing the work other than for a person to enter the confined space.
Persons entering, leaving and working in the space must do so in accordance with a System of Work that is designed to render the work free of risk as far as is reasonably practicable
Emergency arrangements must be in place to rescue and, if necessary, resuscitate workers who find themselves in difficulty. Such arrangements should not in themselves expose others to risk.

In practical terms, the precautions might take the form of training for those who are to carry out the work, equipment to monitor air quality, rescue and resuscitation equipment etc.

Tackling Complacency

One of the difficulties faced by employers who have the welfare of their workers at heart is that of complacency. The better the safety precautions, the less likely it is that something will go wrong and that can lead to the assumption that nothing ever will go wrong – a recipe for tempting fate if ever there was one.

Complacency can result in unrealistic ideas about one’s own invulnerability. It can lead to potentially dangerous shortcuts and being less rigorous about vital checks. In fact, the lack of accidents in the past can become a contributory factor to accidents in the future.

So what can be done to counter the problem of complacency? An actual accident is an effective stimulus but not one to be welcomed.

The alternative is a regular programme of training and exercises that is backed up by an enforcer who is ‘paranoid’ about safety. It is essential that every employee is fully conversant with the safety equipment – not only how to switch it on and off but they must also be completely familiar with the alarm signals from monitoring equipment, for example. Films or videos with visual shock tactics may also be used to drive home the horror of what could happen if proper precautions are ignored.

Equipment that may never have been used in anger must still be well maintained and thoroughly tested on a routine basis.

Procedures need to be tested to ensure they continue to operate as intended, even when changes have occurred to the environment in which they are designed to operate. Testing exercises should be as realistic as possible in the same way that we have regular fire drills.

“Learning the hard way” is not an option. Success should not be measured by how well the organisation responds to a real disaster. Instead, it should be measured by the less exciting statistic of having no incidents to report – ever!

Have you identified risks associated with confined space working in your organisation? If not, then now is the time to assess the risks and introduce appropriate precautions before you are faced with the consequences of a serious accident. EDP have specialists who are able to guide you on exactly what is required.

Contact EDP HS&E Consultants for all your health, safety and environment needs. We can check your current arrangements and advise you about any changes or improvements you need to make.

To discuss your requirements, without any obligation on your part, please gives us a call on 01744 766000 or complete the Enquiry Form on our website.

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