Educating OHS students about confined spaces

Protector Alsafe and Victoria University (VU) collaborated to provide an opportunity for a group of Diploma of OHS students to have a ‘hands-on’ approach in the investigation of a mock confined space incident.

Thirteen VU students were undertaking the ‘Participate in the Investigation of Incidents’ unit that teaches the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to participate in the planning, conduct and reporting of investigations of incidents that have resulted in, or have a potential to result in, injury or damage.

The VU sessional teacher Les Cameron found that the students were keen to gain some real ‘hands-on’ experience to help them in the ‘real world’ as they work towards being OHS practitioners or managers in the workplace. So a concept was put to the VU course director Steve Hammond and Protector Alsafe’s management at the Geelong and Altona branches for the students to participate in a mock confined space incident.

Cameron expands: “This mock incident was very important for the students, as it was a major part of overall competency for this unit and involved students during all phases.”

The mock incident was based on a real incident that Cameron attended many years ago involving the local fire brigade, Victoria Police, ambulance and members of Melbourne Water’s Rescue & Special Operations Group to rescue a spray painter who was overcome by solvents during spray painting.

The mock incident was set in a confined space entry point accessed by a spray painter, with two other employees outside the confined space.

The incident was played out at the Protector Alsafe Training Centre in Altona where a dedicated confined space simulator was set up for training, so it was ideal for conducting a mock confined space incident, as well as facilitating a classroom environment.

The students were split into two groups to ensure everyone was involved. They were each given specific company roles to play and were then involved in the investigation.

The roles included General Manager, Site Manager, OHS Representative, OHS/Q&E Manager, Confined Space Leading Hand, First Aider, Confined Space Assistant and Yard Foreman.

The mock incident involved one ‘employee’ spray painting the interior of the confined space with a solvent-based paint and two other ‘employees’ supervising and carrying out assorted other duties. The ‘employees’ were allegedly trained to enter confined spaces. Hazard identification, risk assessment and atmospheric testing were done before the confined space entry. A permit was obtained and an exhaust fan was used. The spray painter was wearing a slightly damaged air-wash hood with air supplied from an air compressor.

After a period of time, the spray painter did not respond to calls from the supervising ‘employees’ and was deemed to be unconscious. Emergency services arrived and after several hours the spray painter was rescued from the confined space, treated by ‘ambulance officers’ and taken to hospital in a serious condition.

Following the mock incident, the students were required to undertake an incident investigation to identify the contributing factors and preventative measures, with assistance from the management and staff of Protector Alsafe, and provide a report at the end of the night.

The investigation included many important ‘hands-on’ skills including:

• Make safe and secure and notify all relevant parties;
• Organising team and seeking expert advice;
• Overcoming investigative barriers and obtaining statements;
• Collecting vital information including procedures, manuals, service records and training records; and
• Organising photos, timeline of events and management response.

The students’ participation in the incident and subsequent investigation found many faults with the work and management systems that contributed to this mock incident.

The students found that the exhaust fan extracted solvent fumes and drew them into the compressor’s air supply. The spray painter was overcome by the fumes and reduced oxygen levels from the air supplied by the compressor to his damaged air supply hood.

Many copies of Confined Space Compliance Code and a copy of AS 2865 were produced by the students to good effect to identify what went wrong and how the actual spray painting operation should have been conducted.