Ash Mayor, specialist trainer within 3M’s Safety Training team for the Personal Safety Division in Australia and New Zealand joins host Mark Reggers one last time as they continue their confined space journey. In this episode they cover confined space emergency preparedness requirements and considerations.

Having identified a confined space and measures to work safely within the space, are you prepared should an accident occur and rescue procedures need to be initiated? Confined spaces are found on numerous job sites and every year many workers are injured or killed while performing their daily work activities in confined spaces. In the event of an emergency time is critical, are you prepared for a confined space emergency?

Guest Bio:

Ash Mayor (pictured left) is a Training Specialist with 3M’s Safety Training Team. He has a broad range of hands on experience gained over the past 23 years in performing confined space entry, management, rescue and maintenance tasks in a spectrum of confined space applications. Ash has a background in the Royal Australian Navy with a marine engineering trade, he joined 3M Australia & New Zealand via the Capital Safety acquisition in 2015.

Ash has instructed across several industries over this time and has a wealth of experience from working as a boilermaker on maintenance crews, to planning, supervising and managing confined space work on major shutdowns, supervising maintenance crews and contractors, and developing SOPS, SWMS and undertaking incident investigations and root cause analysis.

Ash is responsible for operating 3M’s mobile road show throughout Australia, conducting workshops and seminars on the latest information and products for height safety, confined space and industrial & technical rescue. He also delivers training for the Oil & Gas, Wind Energy, Transportation, Construction, Mining, Resources and Urban Utilities sectors.

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In this episode, Mark & Ash discuss the following:

• What do work places and PCBUs need to know when it comes to emergency preparedness in confined spaces?
• How complex and detailed does a confined space rescue procedure need to be?
• Can my rescue plan be call 000?
• Is a rescue procedure part of the confined space entry permit?
• Do workers need specific emergency response training?
• Do those working in a confined space need to be rehearsed? If so, how many times?
• Where can workplaces go to get more detailed information on confined space emergency procedures?

Bad things can happen inside of confined spaces, they have limited openings for entry and exit which complicates rescue/retrieval and other emergency response services that need to be initiated from outside of the confined space. A person conducting a business or undertaking must establish first aid and rescue procedures to follow in a confined space emergency and ensure they are practiced regularly to guarantee that they are efficient and effective when required. Are you prepared? Tune in and find out what you and/or your workers need to know to prepare for a confined space emergency.

Additional Resources:

• Podcast Transcript
• Safe Work Australia – Confined Spaces
• SafeWork NSW – Confined Spaces
• QLD Workplace Health & Safety – Confined Spaces
• WorkSafe Victoria – Confined Spaces
• SafeWork ACT – Confined Spaces
• SafeWork SA – Confined Spaces
• WorkSafe NT – Confined Spaces Code of Practice
• WorkSafe WA – Confined Spaces
• SafeWork Tasmania
• Comcare – Confined Spaces
• WorkSafe NZ – Confined Spaces
• Australian Standard 2865 – Confined Spaces
• 3M Confined Space Plan and Prepare

Contact a 3M Safety Specialist at scienceofsafetyanz@mmm.com for more information.