We also understand the safety of your employees is your top priority and is key to the success of your company. QualSafe offers confined space training courses that prepare your employees for the potential hazards they may experience while on the job.  Our team uses a combination of high quality presentations and practical, field specific instruction to educate your team about the risks they may encounter.

OSHA uses the term “permit-required confined space” (permit space) to describe a confined space that has one or more of the following characteristics: contains or has the potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere; contains material that has the potential to engulf an entrant; has walls that converge inward or floors that slope downward and taper into a smaller area which could trap or asphyxiate an entrant; or contains any other recognized safety or health hazard (such as unguarded machinery, exposed live wires, or heat stress).

Our confined space training curriculums focus heavily on the hazards associated with confined space entry, as well as the roles and responsibilities of each member of the confined space entry crew.  Our curriculums specifically address the roles and responsibilities of:

• Attendant – an individual stationed outside one or more permit spaces who monitors the authorized entrants and who performs all attendant’s duties assigned in the employer’s permit space program.

• Authorized Entrant – an employee who is authorized by the employer to enter the space.

• Entry Supervisor – the person (such as the employer, foreman, or crew chief) responsible for determining if acceptable entry conditions are present at a permit space where entry is planned, for authorizing entry and overseeing entry operations, and for terminating entry as required by this section.

• Competent Person –  to identify all confined spaces, including permit-required confined spaces- An OSHA “competent person” is defined as “one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them” [29 CFR 1926.32(f)].

Our confined space training courses also address air monitoring, ventilation, retrieval, rescue, blanking and blinding, double block and bleed, lock out / tag out, and other topics as appropriate.

Knowing exactly what to do and what not to do are absolutely critical, and often are the difference in life and death.  During a 5 year period (2005 – 2009), there were 481 fatalities related to confined space entry.  Approximately 60% of these fatalities occurred within the rescue crew.  So, the problem is serious, and the need for extensive training prior to performing confined space entry operations is imperative.

QualSafe is committed to doing our part to lower these statistics.  Do you think your team could benefit from confined space training?  Call us today to learn more about our confined space training courses.