Tips To Keep In Mind When Making A Confined Space Rescue Plan
Whether you work in the mining industry or in any kind of building featuring closed-off or tight spaces, like an industrial plant, the safety of your employees is of course always at the front of your mind. While you likely have safeguards in place in order to prevent accidents from occurring, a responsible business owner will also have an emergency plan ready to go in the event that something does go wrong. If your business features one or more confined spaces, it's important to have a confined space rescue plan at the ready, just in case you should ever need it. Here are some tips to keep in mind when formulating such a plan.
Never Make It Up As You Go
When it comes to confined space rescue, it is critical that you have a plan in place that is ready to be executed before even one person is given entry or access to the space. Allowing someone into the space without a plan for rescue could be seen as negligence if something does end up going wrong.
Use Standby or a Buddy System to Maintain a Watchful Eye
Most people who work in confined spaces will have safety mechanisms in place to help them get out quickly if something goes sideways. This commonly includes setting up a buddy system, where one person stands outside the confined area and is attached to the worker going inside by a safety line. In a worst-case scenario, the worker outside could try to retract the line in order to assist the employee stuck inside with getting out.
Confined Space Rescue Will Likely Require Specialist Help
When someone becomes trapped inside a confined space, it can be very difficult to reach them using normal rescue methods. In other words, the local fire department might not have the right tools to get the job done, or at least not right away. Reach out now to a local firm that provides confined space rescue services, and you'll likely be able to figure out who or which company in your area you would need to call in addition to the authorities in order to respond quickly to a confined space emergency.
Hopefully, the day will never come when you need to reach out to a local expert in confined space rescue about an incident at your work site. But a smart business owner will contact such a company to help put in place proper safety measures now in order to prevent that day from ever happening.
