Confined Space Rescue
Sutro provide dedicated, highly trained and experience confined space rescue teams to ensure that your people get home safely.
For both medium and high risk confined spaces, our City and Guilds certified teams and robust company procedures ensures we meet both HSE recommendations and Confined Space Regulations 1997.
Sutro provides confined space services to a wide range of sectors including power generation, mining, sewage and shipbuilding.
Our services are tailored to your specific confined space environment, the duration of entry, its location, the number of confined space operatives and the tasks/risks involved.
We assess, prepare and monitor all types of industrial confined spaces to allow you to carry out your work safely and effectively. Assessing your project needs at an early stage and provide and maintain your workforce with all necessary safety equipment.
We ensure that your people get home safely to their families at the end of the day.
What is a confined space?
The Health and Safety Executive defines a confined space as a place that is substantially enclosed (not always entirely), and where serious injury can occur from dangerous substances or conditions within the space or nearby (e.g. lack of oxygen)’. In the context of confined space rescue, they are enclosed spaces where workers need access to make repairs, carry out maintenance or inspections. Examples of confined spaces include:
- Silos
- Drainage systems
- Freight containers
- Ship holds
- Storage tanks
- Cold storage rooms
- Ducts and pipeline
What is confined space rescue?
Working in confined environments carry health and safety risks to workers caused by lack of air, excess water, risks of fire and the presence of dangerous gases. The nature of these spaces means that entry or exit is limited.
Serious injury or even death can occur as a result of working in confined spaces as well as to people who attempt to carry out rescues without the proper training. In fact, 60% of deaths that happen within confined spaces are of people attempting to rescue others.
Confined space rescue teams are trained using techniques and equipment specifically designed for rescuing workers trapped in confined spaces.
How can employers reduce the risks of confined spaces?
If possible, entry to confined spaces should be avoided if work can be completed from the outside. If entry is necessary, many of the dangers presented by confined environments can be avoided by employers implementing the following procedures:
- Ensure that the air in the confined spaces is tested to ensure that the correct oxygen levels are present and that any hazardous gases have been identified. Space can be tested prior to entry with air monitoring equipment using a long probe.
- Effective ventilation should be in place to ensure that workers can breathe safely. Natural or mechanical ventilation will allow fresh air to be drawn into the working environment.
- Where sufficient ventilation is not available, protective respiratory equipment must be provided to avoid inhalation of poisonous gases.
- A confined space rescue plan should be in place. The people working in the confined space must be aware of the escape procedures in the event of an emergency. This includes ensuring that they can communicate with people outside the confined area. People responsible for rescue must have access to lifting equipment and breathing apparatus.
- Anyone working in confined spaces must have appropriate training to make them aware of the risks involved, how to identify dangers and how to respond to them.
What is a confined space rescue plan?
If things go wrong in a confined space only fully trained and equipped specialist personnel should attempt a rescue. For any employers that require workers to operate in confined spaces, it is a legal requirement to have an emergency rescue plan in place. The approved code of practice is set out in the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997. These mean that:
- The rescue plan needs to be suitable for the working environment and sufficient to ensure the safety of workers.
- Personnel should only enter a confined space once the emergency procedures have been put in place.
- Necessary equipment must be available for the resuscitation of trapped workers.
How can Sutro help?
Sutro can help with planning and implementing the safety requirements set out in the Confined Space Safety Regulations 1997. We can support you in creating effective Risk Assessment Methods Statements (RAMS) and ensure that any work that you carry out in confined spaces is planned, supervised and has all of the necessary equipment to ensure your team works safely.
We have operating centres in Cardiff and Newport in South Wales, Corston in South West England and Gdańsk in Poland. This enables Sutro to operate drone inspection services for our clients throughout the UK and Europe we can quickly mobilise our ISO certified team of inspection engineers for the most complex confined space rescue projects.
Contact us to arrange a site survey, specific to
your maintenance requirements.
Find out how our access solutions can offer you cost efficiency whilst ensuring quality and safety.
0800 069 9395
Frazer Building
126 Bute Street
Cardiff
CF10 5LE