Rescue Blog Archives | Page 2 of 2

As illustrated in a Chemical Safety Board video, methyl ethyl ketone ignites deep in a penstock killing several workers.

Confined Space Rescue: Justifying your Team.

Aug 4, 2015

When you are asked the question: Is it worth having a rescue team? Common sense dictates that most employees should be able to respond appropriately to an incipient fire. Alarms and extinguishers have saved countless billions in damages and few would argue against spending money to ensure a safe and effective response in the few moments after a fire has started. Like structural fires, confined space emergencies are the result of a chain of events and if this chain can be broken early, lives can be saved.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: Confined Space, confined space rescue, OSHA compliance, rescue, rescue team, Rope Rescue

Confined Space Train the Trainer UPDATED!

June 2, 2015

For the last five or so years we have enjoyed considerable success with Version 3 of our Confined Space Entrant, Attendant, and Entry Supervisor curriculum. Nonetheless, we are excited to release Version 4.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog, Safety Blog

Tagged as: Confined Space, confined space construction, confined space entry, confined space permits, confined space regulations, construction confined space, OSHA compliance, OSHA Safety

Confined Space and Industrial Rescue: How and How Much?

Mar 3, 2015

Does your facility require a rescue team? What OSHA standards require some kind of emergency response procedures? If your facility needs some level of emergency response, how do you develop these capabilities? What types of procedures, equipment, and training is needed? Or should it be out sourced?

Categorized under: Rescue Blog, Safety Blog

Tagged as: Confined Space, confined space regulations, OSHA standards

How Capable Does My Confined Space Rescue Team Need To Be?

Jan 27, 2015

We are often asked how much training or equipment a confined space team really needs, and while we’d like to be able to respond with a simple answer, the answer is really not simple. The problem may be the use of the term ‘rescue team’ and what this term connotes; specifically a crack squad of former fire fighters who never encountered a hole they didn’t want to jump into or a tower they wouldn’t climb. But if we drill into the intent of the regulations we can see that OSHA does not require everyone who enters a confined space to be backed up by a rescue team, they simply require you to have a means of rescue. So how much rescue capability is enough at your location?

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: Confined Space, confined space entry, confined space regulations, confined space rescue

Suspension Trauma: Cause and Effects

Jan 19, 2015

When you are hanging in a harness the leg straps cut off this return flow. Blood pools in the legs where the tissues scrub out all the oxygen and load it up with metabolic waste products. With this reduction of blood circulating in the body, the heart compensates by speeding up the heart rate to maintain blood flow to the brain. How long does this process take? It depends on many factors.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog, Safety Blog

Tagged as: confined space rescue, Fall Protection, rescue, technical rescue

Questions to Answer When Developing a Rescue Team

Oct 7, 2014

Developing a rescue team is simple: recruit team members, purchase equipment, and hire someone to provide training. Easy enough. The real challenge is maintaining that capability over time. People leave the team, equipment ‘disappears’ and skills degrade. Having been involved in the development and maintenance of hundreds of rescue teams, we have learned that successful, long-lasting teams are built on a firm foundation. And firm foundations begin by asking and answering these five questions.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: confined space rescue, rescue team, Rope Rescue, technical rescue

What’s the “Footprint” of a Rescue Tripod?

Jul 7, 2014

Can you define rescue tripod “footprint” if a student or fellow team member asked you? The footprint of a rescue tripod is exactly what it implies. Begin with something familiar: your footprint.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: confined space rescue, Rope Rescue, technical rescue

What is Technical Rescue?

Apr 17, 2014

Technical rescue is a transportation problem that needs to be solved quickly. The team needs to move someone (who is injured or otherwise incapacitated) from a hazardous or inaccessible location to a place of safety.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: rescue, Rope Rescue, technical rescue

Extracting a patient using a Sked board.

Sign of a Competent Rescue Technician: Attention to Detail!

Jan 30, 2014

Any profession that can impact life and safety and that requires interactions with other life safety professionals (i.e., nurses, paramedics, EMTs, and physicians) requires skills, knowledge, and a commitment to that trade. This is also true of rescue technicians. These abilities don’t accrue overnight; they require years of dedicated study and participation rescue drills and skills exercises.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: confined space rescue, Rope Rescue, tower rescue

Rescue From IDLH Spaces: Always Required?

Apr 9, 2013

The requirement to provide a means of rescue when workers enter permit-required confined spaces is well known aspect of the OSHA regulations. But employers, who are rarely rescue experts, often do not know how these teams should be equipped and trained.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: Confined Space, confined space entry, OSHA regulations, rescue, rescue team

Standby Rescuers Entering the Confined Space?

Oct 9, 2012

Should rescuers enter a non-IDLH confined space to observe conditions during the entry?

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: Confined Space, confined space permits, confined space regulations, OSHA standards

Fall Arrest Rescue Anchor Capacity

Jul 23, 2012

What is the required capacity for an anchor point used solely for rescue (retrieval) as opposed to fall arrest or fall restraint? It seems like a simple question, and there should be a fairly simple answer. But once you start digging, you discover that the question can be fairly complicated.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: Fall Protection, fall protection training, OSHA standards, Rope Rescue

Oregon OSHA’s new confined space standards.

Nov 7, 2011

Recently OROSHA released the text of of proposed changes to the confined space standards rules. Their goal is to bring construction under the same standards as general industry. The proposed rules can be found here:

http://www.orosha.org/pdf/notices/proposed2011/propchgs_conf_sp.pdf

Categorized under: Rescue Blog, Safety Blog

Tagged as: D2000, OSHA regulations, OSHA Safety, Recent Projects

Wind Turbine Safety Standards: Adequate or Not?

Aug 15, 2011

Last Sunday while skimming the business section of our local newspaper (Eugene’s Register Guard), I came across an article on training wind turbine workers so that they can avoid accidents and injuries. A key point in the article was the problem with existing wind turbine safety standards.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog, Safety Blog

Tagged as: D2000, OSHA regulations, tower rescue

Partial Confined Space Entry

Jul 8, 2011

One area of concern for many employers relates to the safety requirements needed when an employee reaches into a permit-required confined space to perform a low-hazard job task such as steam cleaning or collecting a sample. Has the employee made a confined space entry? Is a permit needed? What exactly are the requirements?

Categorized under: Rescue Blog, Safety Blog

Tagged as: confined space entry, confined space permits, partial entry

Belay

Sep 1, 2009

When it comes to rope rescue, one issue that seems to arise frequently involves the use of conditional versus unconditional belays. Just to review, a belay is a safety line that will catch the rescuer or patient if the mainline fails. An unconditional belay will catch the load without any action being taken by the person operating the belay (the belayer). A conditional belay requires the belayer to take some action (e.g., pull, wrap, or tighten the belay rope) to catch the load.

Categorized under: Rescue Blog

Tagged as: D2000, Frank Maldonado, Rope Rescue

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