Posted By Bill Dark I'm tying to get an idea of common practice for entry into confined spaces e.g. sewer or large wet well, where the person entering has to be unclipped from the winch to reach the work area and therefore a 2 man BA support crew is required for rescue. Is it common practise to have a top man in addition to the BA team?, or do some people use one of the BA team as topman?. Do you always have two men in a BA team?. I know what we do, but i'm interested in how others view this

Posted By Bill Dark Martin I agree, but i get some resistance when i say we need one topman and two BA men on the surface, and then one person (or more)in the chamber. In other words three on top to support one below. Bill

Posted By Martin Gray Bill You do not have to have the 2 on the rescue team hanging around just in case something goes wrong, their kit must be laid out and ready before anyone enters the confined space, but they can then be doing other work in the near vicinity. My own experience with police search teams is that I cannot get more officers released than is necessary for the search, so therefore the rescue team will be working in close proximity but will be contactable at all time by the topman. They are also fully briefed on where the officers are going and the conditions they are entering. The HSE have highlighted the problems with the topman and others getting involved in rescues and the consequences of their actions. Many training videos also emphasis this for the organisation. It only takes one unplanned incident to have a major effect on the company and the industry. Could they afford the consequences?

Posted By Stuart Nagle Rescue arrangements in respect of confined spaces entry should be proportionate to the risks, through risk assessment, as stated above. Dedicated rescue teams are not normally provided on site unless risks are high of a person becoming incapacitated. I use this term as practice should be to normalise the atmosphere in a confined space prior to entry. Whilst I appreciate this is not always possible, self rescue is the normal means of emergency exit from a confined space where atmosphere risks remain, and continuous atmosphere monitoring should be carried out, not just at the point of entry, but at all places of work within the space - in the breathing zone of entrants. Most companies would not/cannot entertain the costs of having too many personell on site for routine entries, even when entrants are going to leave the immidaite vicinity of the entance chamber, and 'intermediate' men is the normal course of deployment to maintain communications and safety etc. The other important point is rescue equipment. Employers cannot rely on the emergency service turning up fully equipped for a confined spaces rescue, and employers should ensure that the necessary equipment and expertise to use it is available on-site. A top-man, as mentioned above is a dedicated role and accidents in the past have all too often resulted from top-men entering a space to try and effect a rescue, others often follow after, and hence the cause of the 'multiple fatality' incidents we read about in the media. For most works in sewers, 3 man gangs are usually employed - 1 or 2 in and 1 on top (low risk). for higher risk works and entering spaces where the atmosphere cannot be normalised or where other hazards exist, more stringent safety and rescue arrangements need to be in place and capable of being implemented immediately if an incident occurs. response times from rescue team/fire and rescue are also crucial in such circumstances, and prior arrangements need to be made if the fire and rescue service are to act as rescuers. They also have to respond to other 'emergencies' and simply dialling 999 may result in the nearest fire and rescue personnel being engaged in other 'rescue' work and available services having to travel much further to the incident site. It should also be remembered that NO ONE should enter a space if the work can done from outside the space, and this also includes looking at the design, operation and function of plant, tools and equipment (e.g. flow meters, valves, surveys etc) that are required under the Regulations to be designed and/or altered as necessary so as to prevent the need for entry in the first place. Finally, if anyone is act as a member of a rescue team, they should be specifically trained to do so and have undertaken regular exercises in effecting rescue from confined spaces. Stuart