Posted By STEVE Can anyone help me with a problem I belong on a Safety Committee and over the last few months I have been asking for a better form of communication for Watchmen on confined spaces. At the moment all that is provided is a whistle and torch and the watchman told to find where the nearest Emergency Telephone is. I know from experience that some of the Confined Spaces are at least 5mins away at a run. 1= Is there a distance of how far a phone should be? 2= Should the watchman ever leave the C/Space even in a Emergency? 3= What is the law on regards of communication for watchmen I know for a fact that this system is poor, yet I dont seem to be able to get anything done. I believe it is a cost thing,what are the costs of radios? I have to get my facts right as I am a contractor on a Clients site and I know I am treading on peoples toes,but to give a answer of "tell the watchman to go to the nearest phone" concerns me greatly Also this comment was not logged on the minutes from the meeting. Any help would be most welcome Steve.

Posted By Bernard Angus David's advice is paramount. Conduct a risk assessment first. On completion of this you will be able to consider your next moves. There are many questions to ask here. What is happening in the confined spaces ? Where are they and what are the means of access/egress ? What is in,or has been in the space ? What other hazards are there which are inevitibly compounded by being in a confined sapce ? How many people are working in these spaces and how long does it take to evacuate ? Sorry this is a long list, but it is important that you consider all of these things. In my view I would never accept anyone having to run for 5mins to reach an emergency telephone to call for assistance. Those 'watchers' really should be equipped with radios or mobiles, so providing them with discreet communication liks to assistance. Have you seen the H & S Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 ? These will help. Sounds like your employer ought to be more pro-active about his/her responsibilities in this regard.

Posted By Stuart Nagle Steve. The essence of the requirements under the confined spaces regulations 1997 is two-fold. 1) An emergency plan must be prepared before any entry is undertaken that considers all aspects of an emeregcy situation and how entrants are to be rescued. (where entry is unavoidable) 2) Summoning effective help quickly in an emergency (which must cover all potential emergency situations, not just reasonably foreseeable specified risks). neither of these precursors appears to be met by the current situation, your risk assessment nd emergency plan must surely identify the time factor as 'too-long' Apart from trips, slips and falls where a person is injured, the other most common risk is being overcome by gas, fume, vapour or the lack of oxygen. In all these instances being able to act quickly is vital, but in particular when the latter occurs it is absolutely vital. the longer a person is exposed to such risks, even getting them out of the space may not prevent their death !! In addition, where you are to rely on the support of the emergency services in an emergency for planned work, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires prior liasion with them to establish practical measures of the response. Risk assessment may help, but if the employer is not listening this is not likely to change the situation. Mobiles are fine but can be limited in range and are prone to being unusable on occasions. Radios are fine, but all links in the communications systems, including those who take the call (if it comes) must be included in the knowledge loop and know what to do - immediately !! The alternative is to state that you are not prepared to commit to entry of the space as you belive that the emergency and rescue procedures are inadequate. Under the cirumstances I think they would be hard pushed to argue with that !! Hope this helps... Stuart Nagle