There should never be another fatality within a confined space. Technologically and intellectually we have it within our capacity to prevent fatal accidents in confined spaces from ever occurring. This paper makes the case for licensing and certifying confined spaces entry workers and their managers on the basis of proven ability to use all the necessary safety equipment to the required standard of competence and to execute a confined space entry using all the proper precautionary methods. It is not argued that this alone will save the life of every confined spaces worker but the authors would strongly submit that it is the linchpin of any confined spaces entry management system.
The paper is based on experience gained from the operation of a licensing and certification program for confined space entry workers in Ireland over a number of years. At the time a program has started to train, assess and approve CSPs in the US to deliver a similar program to confined spaces entry workers during 2000.
The Irish statutory training agency (FAS) and Grupa Traenala Naisiunta na Seirbhisi Uisce (Water Service National Training Group) are in the process of setting up a pilot program to test the efficacy of a similar approach.
Investigating a confined spaces incident in Brazil, engineer Francisco Kulcsar Neto found that the company, a metallurgical plant outside Sao Paulo, had no knowledge of the hazards workers faced in confined spaces. In Ireland, during a safety compliance audit it was discovered that while the organization was fully cognizant of the hazards associated with confined spaces, workers, on the ground, were not so aware.
These are but two examples that illustrate the awareness deficiency in respect of confined space safety. Many similar examples can be used to illustrate that where companies and employees have a poor awareness of confined space hazards competence in confined space safety fails, and when it fails it fails with tragic consequences (McAleenan & McAleenan 1998 (a)). Furthermore, many fatalities involve personnel attempting to rescue colleagues who had collapsed or had gotten into difficulties, illustrating the fact that unplanned rescue attempts by untrained personnel add to the tragedy.
This paper will examine the consequences of accidents in the US and explore the need for a more sophisticated methodology to ensure that training adds to the competence of workers and companies.
Building a comprehensive picture of confined space accidents involves abstracting information from a range of sources and placing them in a context which makes sense of the figures and highlights the failings that give rise to the incidents in the first place.
Work-related unintentional fatalities in the US, have fluctuated between 5,000 (1996), 5,150 (1997) and 5,100 (1998), whilst disabling injuries1 have risen from 3.8 million in 1997 to 3.9 million in 1998 (Hoskins 1998, 1999)2. OSHA statistics for all work related deaths show a higher figure of 6,218 fatalities in USA private industries in 1997 (6,112 for 1996).
