Posted By Ken Lucas Your personal view is I feel the correct position to take. I was notified a couple of years ago now of an inadequately trained person who unfortunately didn't survive after working in a confined space - the company was held responsible etc, etc. Regards Ken

Posted By Stuart Nagle I do not necesarilly agree with the training of the scaffolders in this case. The CS Regs state that that the first option must be not to enter the space and to find an alternative means for doing the work. If this is not possible, then the space must be made safe to work in. I would suggest that there are methods of doing this that would allow the scaffolders to do their work in relative safety, with the proviso that they receive on-site training prior to works, there is a written safe system of work and permit to work for the task, and they are suitably supervised throughout the task by a confined space trained, competent and experienced person. The safe system of work should identify fully the emergency procedures in the event of an incident/accident etc, and the procedures for evacuating the space and the methods to be employed should be fully explained to, and the scaffolders trained (as part of their training on-site) in these procedures. It is, I would suggest, not reasonably practicable to expect everyone at work in such a situation to 'competent' (as defined by the MHSW Regs) for confined spaces working in such scenarios. I would however suggest that the above method is reasonably practicable provided that the on-site training is detailed (in writing) and provided by a 'competent' person. The training should cover the salient points of the CS regs (as described in the regs) and the role,duties and specific tasks to be undertaken. Hope this is of some assistance. If you ned any further info, come back to me. Stuart Nagle (former Authorising Engineer on MoD sites for confined spaces)