There is need for every employer to offer training to all his or her employees who are required to work in spaces that are confined in order for them to acquire skills, knowledge as well as have an understanding on how to perform their duties in a safe way. Before an employee is assigned to the duties, he or she must be given the necessary training in order to keep him or her better suited in the working environment.
A confined space is one that is has limited access and it may be dangerous to work in. Such an area include the interior of a storage tank where workers may enter in order for them to perform some maintenance works. When workers are working in a space that is confined, they are at risk of suffocation by gases that are unbreathable that may be present but they are not visible. Also there can be submersion in liquids if there is free flowing granular solids like the grain bins. When the workers get some training about the confined spaces, then it triggers an employee to have some more adequate knowledge about how to avoid these kinds of risks. This should also be done before a worker is assigned to some changes in the duties that he or she performing. In case there is change in the permit space where the operations are taking place, then there is need of having some worker training.
The training should also include a way of establishing more employee proficiency in the confined space that include confined space entry procedure as well as the task being performed in the particular space. The confined space training outlines the protocols and skills for one to stay safe in the space. This also include tag-out and lockout precautions for any connecting piping, forced ventilation, predetermined rescue plan as well as testing if the air inside the confined space is breathable.
One of the main dangers that is in the confined space is atmospheric hazards that affects the air quality. Before the workers gain access to the confined space, there must some testing of the atmospheric conditions and it must be monitored while the workers are going on with the duties that they are doing. The presence of oxygen may be affected by other harmful and toxic gases as well as flammable materials. The training for working in the confined space should let the employees to know that the oxygen concentration is considered safe when it is between 19.5% to about 23.5% of the overall total atmosphere.
Fatalities and injuries in the confined space is usually frequent and it involves successive fatalities when there are would-be rescuers to succumb the problem. Since these fatalities may become more fatal as the rescuers can also get entrapped in the space. There is need for training the rescuers of the danger involved in order for them to be safe and avoid a catastrophe. Thus, there is need to control the way people involve in the rescue plan.