Do I need a rescue team for my staff working inside a confined space?

Where to start:

This question pops up quite a lot with companies who begin to work in confined spaces and are not 100% sure of the requirements of the Confined Space Regulations 1997. To get further guidance you should also read the associated Accepted Code Of Practice (ACOP) L101 both of these documents can be found on the HSE website with the ACOP being available as a PDF download.

(See regulation 5- p34)

Note: If you authorise, arrange or undertake work in confined spaces it is your responsibility to know and work within the HSE regulations in line with the accepted code of practice. A prosecution will not accept not knowing or misinterpretation as a credible defence.

In short, you may not rely on the statutory emergency services to form your rescue plan, you must have your own rescue arrangements in place and these arrangements must be:

• Suitable- To cover known and probable risks (including non-confined space risks such as working at height or medical emergencies)

• Sufficient- Enough personnel, equipment and expertise to carry out the emergency plan

• Immediate- Any rescue effort should be able to put into immediate effect, IE all equipment is pre-prepared, checked, certified and ready for instantaneous deployment.

There are of course certain circumstances where emergency services will become involved such as ongoing emergency care, but this should be an augmentation of your plan and not form part of the primary element.

So how do I decide if I need an external rescue team?

To make this decision, ask yourself the following:

• Do we have the policies and SOP’s in place to support rescue activities?

• Are we insured to do it? (check with your underwriters)

• Are the staff suitably supervised equipped, qualified and competent to conduct rescues?

• Do we have sufficient suitably trained staff to deploy with the sole task of forming the rescue team?

• How do we monitor and record staff competence?

• How do we resilience test our rescue plans and how is it recorded?

• What is our resilience plan if a member of the rescue team is sick? 

(lost workday = dissatisfied clients)

There are some rescue scenario’s that are relatively straight forward, however a rescue doesn't end when they arrive at the entry point, medical response is an ongoing responsibility of the rescue effort.

If you are in doubt, seek advice.

At ResQsupport it is not in our best interests, nor good business practice to sell our services to clients that do not require it. We will always offer you honest, compliant advice to keep you and your teams safe on site.

What should I look for when hiring a rescue team?

• Professionalism - you can check a company’s professional standing by a few different methods:

  • Membership of compliance sites- Constructionline, Achillies etc

  • ISO standards

  • Membership of trade associations- Confined Space Rescue Trade Association (CSRTA.org)

  • References or referrals- ask to speak to their other clients

  • Examples and case studies of similar work completed

• Insurance – check they have robust and suitable insurance in place

• Policies- Ask about their policies if they don't hold ISO standards

• Supervision and personnel- check staff qualifications and experience

• Equipment- Ask about the equipment they intend to use, is it hired or owned?

• Risk Assessment and Method Statements- are they good quality and inline with guidance set out with ACOP L101

• Records- You should receive a summary record of your task (daily report) which should include a minimum of:

  • Access and Egress – Names and timings

  • Monitoring – Pre-entry and periodic gas readings with timings

  • Alarms - Any alarms triggered, and action taken

  • STEL and TWA’s – Any Short Term Exposure Limits or Time Weighted Averages that staff are exposed to (including their specific names and exposures)

  • Verification of permit- a picture of the permit should be included on the report to demonstrate it was in place and checked

  • Evaluation of the task shift- Was the environment stable? High CO readings? What can we do to improve things for tomorrows shift or next similar task?

• ICO registration- are they registered with the ICO for data protection and management?

• Resilience- what happens if they are late or someone goes sick on their team?

The obvious part omitted from this that you may consider when hiring these services is of course Cost. However, as many of us recognise cheap isn’t always good, and expensive doesn't always mean quality. Do your due diligence and replace the work cost with value for money. 

The effectiveness of a rescue team isn’t often verified as thankfully; emergencies are not an everyday occurrence in our industry. The time to find out cheap = not effective is not after an incident that brings moral, legal, financial and reputational damage with it.

Please, do your research, ask questions, ask for references and hire responsibly.

The Confined Space Rescue Trade Association (CSRTA.org) is a dedicated trade association that can offer great advice and make sure you are safe and compliant. They can suggest rescue teams to support you that have agreed to work to their standards and are trusted in our industry. Obviously, ResQsupport is one of those companies, but you may have guessed that already ☺