Do I Need Confined Space Training?

17 Dec 2019 Workplace Safety

If you are wondering “do I need confined space training?“, the professional team from United Scaffold Supply can help you assess the workspace to determine whether or not confined space training is a requirement. In the event that you do need confined space training, our team can also help train you and your employees to ensure that everyone is properly prepared for all kinds of working conditions.

When Should You Get Confined Space Training?

Since entering and working in confined spaces is considered a hazardous activity, workers must undergo effective training to help protect them from these hazards. It is important to ensure that all training to completed in accordance with provincial and local requirements and that all additional site-specific rules and regulations are also being incorporated into an effective training plan.

Employer Responsibilities

Once an employer has determined that there are permit-required confined spaces on the jobsite and whether or not workers will be allowed to enter these spaces, an effective training plan will need to be put in place. Employers will need to ensure that all workers are trained at an awareness level about confined spaces.

Awareness-level training will be used to address:

• The company’s policy and confined space program for limiting access to confined spaces.
• Recognizing confined space warning and identification signs.
• Changes in use or configuration of spaces that could reclassify them as permit-required spaces.
• Procedures for addressing employees of other companies who may need to enter and work in the confined space.

Additional Training Elements

In most cases, employers who have established the need for a confined space program and employee training will also include additional requirements into the training program for more effective and site-specific training. While regulatory training requirements can address items in a general way, a company-specific plan can help thoroughly address the hazards employees may encounter during confined space entries.

Regulatory requirements for training address:

• Training employees before they are assigned to duties involving permit-required confined spaces.
• Changes in confined space duties.
• How to handle changes in confined space operations that present hazards the employee is not trained for.
• How to handle deviations from the established confined space entry program and inadequacies in employee knowledge or performance.

Additional training requirements may also be added to the regulatory requirements, such as the need for annual or biannual training or setting appropriate timelines for an employees’ exposure to confined space operations.

If you would like to learn more information answering the question “do I need confined space training?”, or if you are interested in our safety training services, please contact United Scaffold Supply at 1-866-820-6341 or by filling out a contact form on our website.