Confined Space Medium-Risk Training

• Legislation and regulations
The legal framework for confined space work, including the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997, duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the requirements of ACoP L101.

• Definition and specified risks
How a confined space is defined under the Regulations, the five specified risks and how to determine whether conditions in a space meet the threshold for medium-risk classification.

• Duties under the Regulations
What the Regulations require of employers and employees, including the primary duty to avoid entry where reasonably practicable and the steps that must be taken when entry cannot be avoided.

• Risk assessment and hazard identification
How to identify and assess hazards specific to medium-risk confined spaces - including those introduced by multiple entrants, traversing and the realistic presence of specified risks - and select appropriate control measures.

• Atmospheric hazards and gases
How hazardous atmospheres develop in medium-risk environments, including the gases and vapours most likely to be encountered, and why continuous monitoring is essential when a specified risk is realistically foreseeable.

• Gas detection
The principles behind atmospheric monitoring, how to operate gas detectors correctly and how to interpret readings to make safe decisions about entry and continued work.

• Safe systems of work and permits to work
How to implement a safe system of work based on the risk assessment, when a permit to work is required and how it is managed, issued and cancelled throughout the operation.

• Roles and responsibilities
The duties of entrants, the top man and anyone else involved in a medium-risk confined space operation, including how responsibilities are managed when multiple entrants are working simultaneously.

• Communication procedures
How to maintain reliable communication between entrants and the entry controller during traversing and other complex movements within the space, and what to do when communication is lost or conditions change.

• Fall protection and entry equipment
How to inspect and use tripods, winches and fall arrest equipment for safe entry, exit and movement within medium-risk confined spaces.

• Escape breathing apparatus
How to inspect, don and use personal escape breathing apparatus correctly, including when its use is required and how to respond if it is needed during an emergency evacuation.

• Assessment
Observed practical exercises and a short-answer question paper, evaluated by the course instructor.

Course combining classroom theory with practical exercises. Delegates apply hazard identification, safe system implementation, equipment inspection, escape breathing apparatus use and emergency procedures through scenario-based exercises assessed by the course instructor.

Operatives and site workers who enter and carry out work in medium-risk confined spaces, including spaces where a specified risk is realistically foreseeable, traversing is required, or escape breathing apparatus must be carried.

Delegates should have a general understanding of confined space work and should have completed low-risk confined space training prior to attending.