Confined Space Entry and Emergency Response

About the Authors This book was written by the staff of the Workplace Safety Training Program as a part of the Center for Labor Education and Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The program is committed to advancing the health and safety of workers and emergency responders. D. ALAN VEASEY is Director of the Workplace Safety Training Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a firefighter/EMT and a certified confined space and rope rescue technician. His specialty training areas are chemical safety, hazardous materials emergency response, and confined space entry and rescue. LISA CRAFT MCCORMICK is the former curriculum coordinator for the Workplace Safety Training Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is a confined space and rope rescue technician. Her speciality training areas include hazardous materials chemistry, hazardous materials emergency response, and confined space entry and rescue. BARBARA M. HILYER was the former director of the Workplace Safety Training Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She was a leading authority on training techniques for effective safety and health training. Her specialty training areas included toxicology, hazard and risk assessment, and training methods. KENNETH W. OLDFIELD is the Industrial Hygiene Services Manager at the Workplace Safety Training Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a certified industrial hygienist. His specialty training areas include computer applications, hazardous materials air monitoring, personal protective equipment, and respirator facepiece fit-testing. SAM HANSEN is an instructor at the Workplace Safety Training Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He holds the rank of Battalion Chief in the fire service and is a certified confined space and rope rescue technician. His specialty training areas include hazardous materials emergency response, confined space entry and rescue, and incident management systems. THEODORE H. KRAYER is the Training Manager at the Workplace Safety Training Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a firefighter/EMT and a certified confined space and rope rescue technician. His specialty training areas include hazardous materials emergency response, confined space entry and rescue, and incident management.

Preface xvii

Acknowledgements xxi

Part I Basic Confined Space

Chapter 1. Introduction to Confined Spaces 3

Chapter 2. Regulatory and Administrative Aspects of confined Space Entry and Rescue 11

Chapter 3. Identifying Confined Space Hazards 29

Chapter 4. Air Monitoring in Confined Spaces 55

Chapter 5. The Entry Permit 79

Part II Protective Measures

Chapter 6. Controlling Confined Space Hazards 91

Chapter 7. Respiration Protection 119

Chapter 8. Chemical Protective Clothing 147

Chapter 9. Personal Safety Equipment 163

Chapter 10. Safe Use of Personal Protective Equipment 179

Part III Equipment and Entry

Chapter 11. Ropes, Webbing, Harnesses and Hardware 191

Chapter 12. Tying Knots 247

Chapter 13. Rigging and Using Basic Systems for Confined Space Operations 265

Chapter 14. Making Entry Safely 323

Part IV Rescue

Chapter 15. Overview of Confined Space Rescue 343

Chapter 16. Rescue Team Organization and Management 363

Chapter 17. Rigging and Using Rescue Systems 375

Chapter 18. Packaging and Transferring Patients for Confined Space Rescue 413

Appendix I. Permit-Required Confined Space Decision Flowchart 459

Appendix II. Examples of Permit-Required Confined Space Programs 461

Appendix III. Rescue Team or Rescue Service Evaluation Criteria 467

References 471

Index 473