The United States Department of State has in place a variety of regulations to promote safe operational procedures for all occupations. The United States Department of Labor contains the Occupational Safety and Health Administration wing, which is responsible for inspection, regulation and penalization of various industries operating in the U.S. A number of training schools offer various training courses on different aspects of occupational safety and health, and environmental management. All of this falls under the wide net of OSHA, and compliance with all regulation is a must for organizations operating in various fields. Standard procedures for confined space operations fall under OSHA and a variety of confined space training courses are offered at the Center for Safety and Environmental Management, Inc. Over one and a half million workers in the United States enter confined space environments each year. Engulfment, electric shocks, asphyxiation, falls and heat stress can result in serious irreparable injuries and even death for employees working in a confined space environment.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has estimated that 85 percent of such accidents can be prevented if proper safety precautions at job sites are initiated. Hence, the OSHA Confined Space Standard has been initiated, introducing uniform requirements to ensure that hazards of working in confined spaces are evaluated, safety procedures implemented, and that the proper hazard information is transmitted to all individuals working in such settings. The Center for Safety and Environmental Management, Inc. has been set up by Safety and Environmental professionals with over 30 years of experience, and is affiliated with a State University in Pennsylvania. The trainings it provides span over OSHA, MSHA, DOT and EPA industry regulations in the U.S.
Three confined space trainings are available under the OSHA head (the largest number of training courses provided by the Center for Safety and Environmental Management, Inc. are for OSHA regulations). Confined space trainings at the Center for Safety and Environmental Management, Inc. include Confined Space Entry, Confined Space Rescue and Emergency Services, and Confined Space Permits. Training for confined space entry at the Center for Safety and Environmental Management, Inc. has been designed to make organizations’ employees aware of the hazards associated with confined space entry as well as education on means to control such hazards. This course goes over definitions, hazard identification techniques, hazard control, safety equipment, familiarization with entry permits and team responsibility sharing for confined space entries.
The confined space rescue and emergency services training course by CSEM has been designed to make rescue personnel aware of the hazards associated with confined space emergencies and rescue operations. In the first part of the course, a summary of confined space standards is given. The second part of the course goes into details on rescue operation requirements, rescue techniques and hands-on evaluations. The third confined space course offered at CSEM provides basic familiarity with the OSHA Confined Space Standard, and the importance of the requirement of permits to conduct such operations. All in all, the Center for Safety and Environmental Management, Inc. enables organizations that work in industries where working in confined spaces is part of the job, in passing OSHA audits and avoid the large penalties associated with non-compliance. Training workers is beneficial for these organizations in another sense as well – more informed workers help improve productivity and increase loss avoidance, resulting in safe (and hence, smooth) operations.