A confined space poses a real hazard to those entering it and even those around it. Before you allow anyone into your confined spaces, you need to have an emergency plan in place to prevent the loss of human life on your premises.
Consider the rescue scenarios
While they may share elements, no two confined space rescue plans are exactly the same. That’s because these sites often have unique elements. With that in mind, you need to assess your unique space for rescues. Determine whether a worker could exit without any help, and if there is an issue, whether your site attendant would be able to assist a worker without entering the space themselves. If you find your site requires a trained rescue team, this must be built into your plan.
Estimate response and rescue times in confined space in Toronto
If you determine workers in your confined space may need a rescue team in any of your emergency scenarios, you will have to select a team. Here, you need to consider the length of time a potential team would need to respond to your emergency and rescue your worker. An example formula for this is:
Prep + Assessment + Contact + Reaction Times = Response Time
Every second counts when it comes to a confined space rescue. You should aim to get your confined space in Toronto rescue response time as low as possible. This will give anyone who needs to be rescued from your space the best chance possible of avoiding serious injury or death.
Select your team
You have two options for your team: you can have workers on site trained for confined space rescues or you can hire an experienced confined space rescue provider. If you decide to have an internal team, those workers must be fully trained by a confined space rescue service, and they will need ongoing training, too. Ongoing training is how rescuers stay on top of new guidelines, equipment or rescue methods and keep their knowledge fresh. You do not want to find out that some of your team members no longer fully remember their training when you have an emergency.
Get everyone on board
Everyone in your business must know what your confined space rescue plan is, even if you plan to use an outside team. All workers must know what steps to take if there is a confined space rescue emergency so that there are no delays. You can, for example, hold a meeting to explain the plan to everyone at your location. Then, periodically, you should have another meeting reviewing the plan so everyone has that knowledge in their minds. If you have to make changes to your plan, be sure to communicate those changes to everyone in your workplace immediately.
Having a confined space in Toronto is a serious responsibility. In order to protect your workers and your business, you must know the space, have an emergency plan in place and have a trained rescue team at the ready. If you feel any area of your confined space protocols and procedures is lacking, contact an experienced confined space rescue provider for help.