Safe, Efficient, Profitable: A Worker Safety Podcast
Joe and Jen Allen of Allen Safety LLC take their combined 40+ years of worker safety, OSHA, EPA, production, sanitation, and engineering experience in Manufacturing Plants including Harvest Plants/Packers, Case Readies and Further Processing Plants, Food Production Plants, Feed Mills, Grain Elevators, Bakeries, Farms, Feed Lots, and Petro-Chemical and bring you their top methods for identifying risk, preventing injuries, conquering the workload, auditing, managing emergencies and catastrophic events, and working through OSHA citations. They're breaking down real safety opportunities, safety citations, and emergency situations from real locations, and discussing realistic solutions that can actually be implement based on their personal experiences spending 40+ weeks in the field every year since 2001. Joe and Jen are using all of that experience to provide a fresh outlook on worker safety by providing honest, (no sponsors here!) and straight forward, easy to understand safety coaching with actionable guidance to move your safety program forward in a way that provides tangible results.
Safe, Efficient, Profitable: A Worker Safety Podcast
#52: Writing Confined Space Assessments: Our Experts' Answers
Episode Summary:
In this week's enlightening episode, we embark on an in-depth exploration of confined space assessments—a critical yet often underestimated aspect of workplace safety. With years of hands-on experience and a wealth of expertise, we unravel the complexities surrounding assessments, shedding light on the essential components, nuanced considerations, and practical strategies necessary for ensuring the utmost safety in confined workspaces.
Key Points:
Demystifying Assessments: We kick off the discussion by debunking common misconceptions surrounding confined space assessments. Far from being mundane paperwork, assessments are indispensable tools for identifying potential hazards and devising effective risk management strategies tailored to each unique workspace.
Tailored Assessments: Recognizing the diverse nature of confined spaces, we emphasize the importance of customizing assessments to suit specific locations and conditions. From industrial plants to construction sites, each environment presents its own set of challenges, necessitating meticulous attention to detail in hazard identification and mitigation.
Holistic Hazard Identification: Central to any assessment is the comprehensive identification of hazards lurking within confined spaces. While it may be tempting to list every conceivable risk, we advocate for a pragmatic approach focused on real, site-specific hazards that pose genuine threats to worker safety.
Strategic Elimination and Control: Armed with a thorough understanding of identified hazards, we delve into the development of elimination and control measures. From engineering controls to administrative protocols, we explore strategies aimed at minimizing risks and ensuring a safe working environment.
Strategic Gear Selection: Procuring appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and entry gear is crucial for safeguarding workers against identified hazards. However, we caution against indiscriminate purchases, stressing the importance of aligning gear selections with assessment findings to optimize safety and minimize costs.
Rescue Readiness: In the event of emergencies, swift and effective rescue operations are paramount. We underscore the significance of developing comprehensive rescue plans, tailored to the unique challenges posed by confined spaces, and collaborating with external resources to ensure timely assistance.
Contractor Collaboration: Even when tasks are outsourced to contractors, the responsibility for ensuring safety rests with the host employer. We emphasize the importance of transparent communication and sharing assessment details with contractors to uphold safety standards and mitigate risks.
Conclusion:
Confined space assessments serve as the cornerstone of a robust safety framework, offering invaluable insights into potential hazards and guiding proactive risk mitigation efforts. By embracing the principles and strategies outlined in this episode, organizations can navigate the complexities of confined spaces with confidence, safeguarding the well-being of their workforce and fostering a culture of safety excellence. For a deeper dive into confined space safety, visit Allen Safety Coaching's website or tune in to our podcast episodes, available on various platforms.
Keywords:
Confined space assessments
Workplace safety
Hazard identification
Risk management
Control measures
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Rescue planning
Contractor collaboration
Site-specific assessments
Environmental factors
Engineering controls
Administrative protocols
Workplace safety
Occupational health and safety
Safety regulations
Hazard identification
Safety training
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Safety procedures
Risk assessment
Workplace accidents
Safety compliance
Emergency preparedness
Fall protection
Confined space sa
Find Space Assessments. What needs to be in them? I don't know. That's this week's episode. Here we go, here we go. All right, Find Space Assessments For everybody who needs to know. We do a lot of these a year and they're not the most exciting thing to do.
Speaker 2:So right off the bat. I think we just need to explain what an assessment is. So here we go.
Speaker 1:It is not fun always, it's not fun. What it is. You're taking a space and you're deciding all these things we're going to talk about. Is there a hazard? Is there a problem? How are we going to manage it, all that stuff? But you've got to take each one at your location and break it down individually, and that sometimes when you look and say that's going to take a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not a determination, it's not deciding. Is it a space or is it not? So that was last episode.
Speaker 1:So this one is. I've got to write some procedures, basically, yeah this is basically kind of the outline of.
Speaker 2:We've already decided it's a space. What do I got to do to make sure that my employees are safe if they're having to work in or around?
Speaker 1:or whatever. In that space I should be able to take the permit and reference the assessment and fill out the permit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I should be able to lay them side by side.
Speaker 1:So if there's information on your permit.
Speaker 2:That isn't captured in your assessment. Right off the bat, we got to beef up our assessments. They don't have enough data in them, so that's a first indication.
Speaker 1:All right. So one of the things we do is we do a lot of these. So we actually have an internal process that Jen built for us and it's basically we can do it on my phone to speed them up because they do take so long.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is one of those things where they can't be boilerplate, but it's so tempting to make them boilerplate I know when you have so many other procedures and assessments that you have to do during the year Because of the volume. Yeah, it's just so easy to copy-paste, copy-paste, copy-paste.
Speaker 1:And that goes into the first one right here. The very first one is they can't be boilerplated and they can't, on every one of them, all be the same, because then basically they're more to play. Even though you're site-specific, they're not.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the first thing you're going to want to do is you take a space and you want to list out every hazard with that space, but, like Joe said, you can't list them all because you're wanting to cover your behind and you're not really sure and you can't have air and that's it if there's 15 other things that we need to consider. So neither one are helpful.
Speaker 1:You're not evaluating the space for all the things that could happen in the next 10 years. You're evaluating normal life function of that space 24 hours and if something's anomaly then you address anomaly, but this is how to normally get an entry.
Speaker 2:Yes, so you want to make it site and equipment and space specific. You've got to be very detailed on these. Like I said, if I list everything that is an option as a hazard, how am I going to do step two?
Speaker 1:And the next thing is, if you have seven of them that are the same, you can write one assessment for the seven, but they have to be identical. They've got to be identical, and what I mean by identical is everything identical Hazards are identical Stuff inside the space is identical size opening is pretty rare we get to do that well, I'll give you an example condensers right we may have a lot of condensers, but different somebody may have happened to put a flat ladder in front of a entry space or somebody put piping catwalk right here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I put the smallest catwalk ever on this one, and there's rails.
Speaker 1:Now the entry point's way up there. I've got to climb up there Still a condenser.
Speaker 2:So it's the same unit, but what you've got to know is that the entry and rescue portion for some of these things, even though it's the same piece of equipment or the same style, it could be completely different hazards for my entrant and my rescuer.
Speaker 1:So you've got to capture that. Going to a condenser this way is different than going 20 feet up in the air.
Speaker 2:And then going down.
Speaker 1:Yes, All right, so that's what we got. So that's the first one. You've got to have the real issues.
Speaker 2:Real hazards.
Speaker 1:Real hazards, real spaces.
Speaker 2:Yep, site-specific. All right, next one we've got to find Elimination and control Everything, and that's why you don't want to list everything in the world which could be. Your elimination or controls aren't real, then if you just listed everything, that's not even relevant.
Speaker 1:Like a few months ago we were at a plant and they brought all the manure from the animals over and all of a sudden it set off the meters. Yep Well, I would have never had that in the original. That's why you have to make sure it's the whole time of what can affect the space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what can affect?
Speaker 1:the space as a hazard. How do you manage it? We had to manage it by not even doing the entry that day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what's happening around the space. I had a mixer entry and there was no CO2 pipe to that mixer, but there was CO2 in the room.
Speaker 1:Well, you get dry ice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was setting off my meter and I was like we can't do this because we're over the levels.
Speaker 1:you guys, we can't even go in and do over the meter before you even do the bull air entry.
Speaker 2:Yep. So when you're talking about elimination, control it could be identifying hazards that you know if you've got a truck that's going to park right outside your hole in the ground that you're going in, you may not be able to go.
Speaker 1:that, that's the elimination control.
Speaker 2:Identifying that as a hazard, because it's the whole 24 cycle of how that moves, but also when you eliminate it. It could just be we can't do the entry during these times.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:The next one. Well, just first disclaimer.
Speaker 1:Again.
Speaker 2:Joe and I write thousands of these a year and review thousands of these a year, because we review every assessment.
Speaker 1:our employees do. Yeah, you need to know that. Every assessment for 23 years that has left our company reviewed and that A packing house has about 300 to 400 spaces. So we write them all the time, them all. These are just our opinions on what we saw based on that, based on that environment. So so I gotta get some ppe gotta get some ppe.
Speaker 1:I need to be listing some entry equipment and I want to emphasize don't go and buy equipment and gear before you do your assessments don't let the sales people tell you to buy all this you need it when you may not need it because your assessment says maybe not.
Speaker 2:So you want to first figure out what spaces are we breaking the plane or entering in. Do your assessment and then, based on what you're entering or breaking the plane on and what that assessment says for your elimination and controls, that's how you decide your gear.
Speaker 1:You get a 400 space and only enter 20. So, you only buy the gear for the 20.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's how you manage your cost, because that's one of the barriers that we hear a lot is the cost. Don't buy it for everything that you have on property Because there could be some things we never enter and other spaces we may contract out. So only for what you're doing, don't buy gear. First Figure out what PPE and entry equipment you need which help kind of support your elimination and control mainly the control piece and then that's how you decide what you're going to buy and then couldn't I just get out of the PPE if I just reclassify everything?
Speaker 2:Well, you could. But the problem with reclassification is this is what's, I think, misinterpreted the most is when I go and I do decide my elimination or controls, those are temporary, so a control doesn't ever work, because that's contemporary, I've got to. In order to reclassify, I have to permanently eliminate it, and so when I'm going into a space, that's a temporary elimination, potentially, or that's a temporary control.
Speaker 1:It's not permanent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a point in time that could at any moment have a problem, potentially, and so that's why just deciding an elimination or control, that's not just like oh well, I can reclassify the space Now that's part of the step?
Speaker 1:Probably not.
Speaker 2:There's a good chance that you may not. Otherwise, why do we even have permits and why don't we even do this? Don't get caught up in that.
Speaker 1:That's the point, cause people do Yep. Now I've got my limited control, I've got all my hazards. I think I'm pretty much done.
Speaker 2:Well, the last thing that I would really encourage you to have on your assessments would be rescue plans.
Speaker 1:Entry or non-entry, because that's the part no one puts on their procedures.
Speaker 2:No, they don't, Everybody has everything else.
Speaker 1:They were good to go and that's why I bring it up, because that we said in other episodes, the idea is to get out of there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Employee goes home the same way they came to us, so we don't want to cause harm.
Speaker 1:If they have a medical event, we still have to get them out of there somehow.
Speaker 2:Yep. So we want to write what the rescue plan is, because that may start the conversation of do we need to work with our technical rescue from the fire department side? Can they do this? Can they support us? Can they be on site? Do I need a higher?
Speaker 1:contractor Going in a tank right here three feet in inspect something. Pretty good, I could probably get somebody out. Yeah, you send me 15 feet up on a tower somewhere in the entrance that way.
Speaker 2:That's going to change your rescue plan Absolutely and you need to be aware of what that's going to realistically. What can you realistically do?
Speaker 1:Not the tripod on the top of the round tank.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's not realistic. I don't understand it, because people write that no rails or anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the tank with no rails, with a hole on top, we're going to try it. How? Not the way it is currently, which means, could you say, we're just not even going to go in Absolutely. Could that be part of the assessment? That could be part of the assessment.
Speaker 2:That could be part of the assessment. Part of it is just deciding this is a non-entry space. That could be part of it. Say, you know we're going to assess and by some random chance we have to go in or hire a contractor. At least we have a blueprint of here's all the things we have to, somehow navigate through and meet in order to make entry into that space. Because even if we contract something out, we still, as the host employer, have to provide them a list of the hazards and elimination and controls Correct.
Speaker 1:Because they don't know. They don't know the space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's our stuff, it's our equipment. So we have to provide them that we can't just say, well, we don't go in, it's a contract problem, we don't need an assessment.
Speaker 1:That doesn't work either, because there's places that we write assessments just for that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they don'tachingcom. You can hop on there. We have an entire confined space module that's going to walk you through baby steps from program through what you should have in your assessment. We show our assessment form and how we complete that. We show you some completed assessments on what those should look like on the end and then we also walk through. You know how would you navigate through the training and all that Absolutely. We've also got 18 other modules on there, over 100 episodes. It's awesome.
Speaker 1:And then we've got some other episodes we do.
Speaker 2:So you can reference episodes 12 and 13. Those are on podcasts. So Apple Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasts. If you want to download it and listen to it offline, download it and listen to it offline. Otherwise, you can find those on YouTube also.
Speaker 2:Awesome, all right. Well, if you'd like to contact us, you can reach out through social media. You can follow us on all the social medias. We're on all of them At Allen Safety LLC is our handle for everything. Connect with me and Joe on LinkedIn Jen Allen, joe Allen. And other than that, I think that's all we've got for today, thank you. Thank you for listening to Safe, efficient, profitable a worker safety podcast. If you're looking for more in-depth discussions or step-by-step solutions on all of the different safety and regulatory topics, please visit us at wwwallensafetycoachingcom for web-based virtual coaching and training, or at wwwallensafetycom to book our team for onsite services training sessions to order merchandise to learn more about our team and what services. Thank you so much for your support. Thank you.
