Confined Spaces Course: Awareness Training

Regulation 1(2) of the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 defines a confined space as any place, including any chamber, tank, vat, silo, pit, trench, pipe, sewer, flue, well or other similar space, in which, by virtue of its enclosed nature, there arises a reasonably foreseeable specified risk. The specified risks are serious injury from fire or explosion; loss of consciousness from an increase in body temperature; loss of consciousness or asphyxiation from gas, fume, vapour or lack of oxygen; drowning from a rising liquid; and asphyxiation or entrapment by a free flowing solid. A confined space is not necessarily small, enclosed on all sides or hard to get out of.

Electricians meet places that might be confined spaces: cable chambers, joint bays and manholes, ducts and trenches, risers and floor voids, plant rooms, server rooms with reduced-oxygen fire protection, tanks, and lofts and crawl spaces. None of them is a confined space by default, and none can be ignored. Each time you go to one of these places to carry out inspection and testing or installation work, check whether it is substantially enclosed and whether a specified risk is present or reasonably foreseeable, including one your own work could bring in.

The key question is not "is this space small?" but "is there a specified risk here because the space is enclosed?" HSE guidance says a place can become a confined space while work such as welding uses up oxygen, and stop being one once the risk is removed and the atmosphere is tested as safe. It also says ceiling voids, lofts and some cellars are not confined spaces unless they are enclosed and have a specified risk; if they are only cramped, you assess the other risks instead.

HSE says a number of people are killed or seriously injured in confined spaces each year in the UK. The danger comes from the enclosed space combined with what was in it, what gets in from outside, and what the work brings in.

Too little oxygen gives no warning. The ACOP in L101 gives normal air as 20.9% oxygen and says any difference from normal should be investigated. A relatively small fall can impair mental ability, and below 16% can lead to unconsciousness and death. An atmosphere with no oxygen can cause loss of consciousness in a matter of seconds, even when only a person's head is inside. Oxygen is used up by rust inside closed steel vessels, by welding and grinding and by biological processes, and pushed out by inert gases such as nitrogen or argon. Too much oxygen is dangerous too: it makes materials burn far more fiercely, and oxygen must never be used to freshen the air.

Toxic gas, fume and vapour can come from previous contents, sludge that is disturbed, adjoining plant, sewers and manholes, contaminated ground, and exhaust from engines, including generators used to light the space. HSE says petrol-fuelled engines should never be used in a confined space. Rooms holding gas cylinders or fire suppression agent, which you may meet when working on fire alarm systems and suppression systems, can be confined spaces too if the gas could build up.

Flammable atmospheres can come from residues, leaks from adjoining plant that has not been isolated, airborne dust, or oxygen leaking from welding equipment. The ACOP says testing should check oxygen first, then flammable gases, then toxic gases, with the testing and any continuous monitoring set by a competent person. Liquids, free flowing solids and heat are hazards too: drowning can happen in a small depth of liquid.

In the app

Atmospheric hazard scenarios in your training

The Elec-Mate confined spaces course includes scenarios such as a low reading at a joint bay and a generator at the edge of a chamber, where you decide what the safe system needs.

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The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 have nine regulations. They apply to work subject to the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, apart from ship-board work by a ship's crew, below ground in a mine and diving projects. Under regulation 3, every employer must ensure compliance for work done by their employees, and every self-employed person must comply in respect of their own work. HSE's Approved Code of Practice, L101 (third edition, 2014), sits alongside them. Three duties do most of the work.

Regulation 4(1): avoid entry. No person at work shall enter a confined space to carry out work for any purpose unless it is not reasonably practicable to achieve that purpose without such entry. The ACOP says the dutyholder must consider in every situation how the work could be done without going in. HSE's examples include testing and sampling from outside with long probes, cleaning from outside, and remote inspection with cameras, but only where that gives the same results and safeguards as entry would.

Regulation 4(2): a safe system of work. So far as is reasonably practicable, no person at work shall enter, work in or (other than in an emergency) leave a confined space except under a system of work which, for the relevant specified risks, renders the work safe and without risks to health. The risk assessment itself comes from regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, carried out by someone competent. The ACOP says the safe system should be in writing and lists the elements to consider, such as supervision, competence, communications, testing the atmosphere, ventilation, isolation, lighting and rescue. A permit to work, where used, is an extension of that system, not a replacement for it.

Regulation 5: emergency arrangements. No person at work shall enter or work in a confined space unless suitable and sufficient arrangements for rescue have been prepared, for any emergency whether or not it arises from a specified risk. Regulation 5(2) says the arrangements must reduce, so far as is reasonably practicable, the risks to the rescuers, and provide resuscitation equipment where resuscitation is a likely need. Regulation 5(3) says they must be put into operation immediately when needed. HSE says relying on the emergency services alone will not be enough. The first aid course covers first aid more widely; the confined space rescue plan itself has to be in place before anyone goes in.

The ACOP has a special legal status: if you do not follow it, you need to show you complied with the law in some other way. You can record the time you spend on this awareness course in your CPD portfolio as study time. It is not a qualification to enter a confined space.

A safe system of work for confined space entry brings together the precautions that make the work safe and let people be rescued if something goes wrong. The ACOP gives priority to removing the source of danger before deciding what precautions entry needs, and says a safe system is only ever as good as its implementation.

Testing the atmosphere. The ACOP says the atmosphere should be tested before entry where it might be contaminated or unsafe, or where there is any doubt, by a competent person who can interpret the results, from outside with a probe where possible. Test oxygen first, then flammable gases, then toxic gases. Monitors should be calibrated at least to the manufacturer's recommendations or a schedule set by the risk assessment. Gases do not always sink or rise as expected, so check for pockets. L101 gives normal air as 20.9% oxygen and says any difference from normal should be investigated.

Ventilation, isolation and equipment. Mechanical ventilation may be needed, drawing fresh air from a clean point, and oxygen must never be used to sweeten the air. Retesting on re-entry, or continuous monitoring, may be needed as the competent person decides. Unless the risk assessment allows power to stay on for the task or for vital services, it should be disconnected and the isolation checked. Low-voltage lamps protect against electrocution but are not in themselves safer in a flammable atmosphere, where equipment certified for explosive atmospheres is needed.

Someone in attendance. The ACOP requires an adequate communication system, including a way to summon help. HSE guidance says entry should normally only be permitted with at least one other person in attendance, inside or outside the space, trained and equipped to start the emergency procedures. The safe system and rescue plan decide exactly who stays outside and what they do.

The manual handling course covers the additional challenges of handling heavy equipment in restricted spaces where normal lifting postures may not be achievable.

Rescue arrangements must be prepared before anyone enters or works in a confined space. The ACOP says you should not rely on the public emergency services, and lists what the arrangements should cover: rescue and resuscitation equipment, raising the alarm, safeguarding the rescuers, fire safety, control of plant, first aid, the public emergency services and training.

Equipment. Where a harness and line are used, the ACOP says the free end of the line should be secured, in most cases outside the entry, so it can be used in the rescue, and the harness worn so the wearer can be drawn through the opening. Lifting equipment is needed because even a strong person is unlikely to be able to lift an unconscious person on their own using only a rope. Equipment used to lift people must be thoroughly examined at least every 6 months, or under an examination scheme.

Rescuers. HSE says rescuers need to be properly trained, fit for the task, ready at hand and able to use the equipment provided, and protected against the cause of the emergency. Where resuscitation is a likely consequence, people must be trained in it and the equipment provided. Filter respirators should never be used where oxygen may be lacking; breathing apparatus is needed.

The rule every electrician must understand is: never go into a confined space after a collapsed colleague unless you are trained, protected and part of the rescue plan. The ACOP says ill-conceived attempts to save others are a major cause of death and injury in confined spaces, and that you should not enter without making sure you will not also be affected. Raise the alarm and put the rescue plan into action instead.

In the app

Emergency scenarios in your training

Work through scenarios from the lessons, such as the jointer who went quiet and the joint bay with only a phone number for a rescue plan.

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