When you see people working at heights, the risks they're taking are obvious. You can easily picture them falling, and imagining the aftermath of that fall can send chills down your spine.
The same can't be said of confined spaces.
Many of the risks associated with confined space entry aren't immediately obvious. That doesn't make them any less real, however. Just like people working at heights, anyone entering a confined space must take serious precautions, and failing to do so can have tragic outcomes.
Employers will take a number of precautions to keep workers safe in confined spaces. They will stock up on respirators, implement a confined space rescue plan, and enroll employees in training programs for confined space entry.
All these control methods are undoubtedly useful. However, the most effective control method of all tends to be the one that gets overlooked.
The ultimate goal should not be to prepare workers to enter into confined spaces. The goal should be to eliminate the need to enter confined spaces altogether. Or, barring that, eliminating some of the hazards workers might encounter in them.
(Find out How to Safely Rescue Someone from a Confined Space)
We Must Respect the Hierarchy of Hazard Controls
When it comes to the prevention of on-the-job hazards, the process usually includes the following steps:
- Job completion
- Writing the appropriate safe work procedures and safe work instructions
- Updating policy and procedure as needed
- Then banging workers over the head with the paperwork until they understand and conform
This model ignores the most important part of hazard control: the Hierarchy of Controls.
The Hierarchy of Controls model is taught in every safety course and reinforced in every onboarding session. But how many workers, managers, and OHS/WHS professionals really concentrate on the higher level controls, especially elimination? From my observations and speaking to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of trainees, managers, and supervisors, it rarely happens. Most often, the focus is on engineering controls, administrative controls, and PPE.
It is, after all, far easier for an OHS/WHS individual or manager in an office and write procedures or wander around a site and find workers doing the wrong thing when they fail to comply with Admin and PPE requirements, which are the lowest controls.
Always Aim to Eliminate Hazards
Ask yourself, "how many hazards have I eliminated today?" Write it up on a white board or in weekly reports.
Consider the following:
- Could that confined space be opened up so it has sufficient ventilation, access, and egress? For example, some boat yards are cutting the sides out of boats to allow better access for workers and rescue personnel. They are, in fact, eliminating confined spaces in many cases.
- Rotable spares allow workers to carry out repairs in a workshop with the chute fully open at both ends, rather than doing them in situ in a chute or tank.
- Can components be pre-assembled and brought into the area, rather than being assembled in the confined space?
- Can the workflow be streamlined so workers spend less time in the confined space?
- Can inspections in confined space be done using a drone, rather than sending someone in?
Eliminating confined space work can seem daunting, but it's worth doing. If we don't try, we will never know what we can achieve.
For all things Confined Space, check out our Confined Space Knowledge Center.