Rescue of employees

According to 29 CFR 1926.502(d)(20), when personal fall arrest systems are used, you must provide for prompt rescue of employees in the event of a fall, or you must assure that employees are able to rescue themselves. The term, prompt rescue, is not defined in the standard, but an OSHA interpretation explains that rescue must be performed quickly, in time to prevent serious injury to the employee. An agency bulletin adds that researchers have found that suspension in a fall arrest device can lead to unconsciousness, followed by death, in less than 30 minutes. 

To reduce the risks, OSHA says that when personal fall arrest systems are used, yoru employer must provide for prompt rescue of employees in the event of a fall or assure that employees are able to rescue themselves. 

The employer shall provide for prompt rescue of employees in the event of a fall or... 

Immediate action taken for the protection or rescue of employees. 

Unauthorized or unexpected entry of employees, contractors, employees of service organizations (such as postal and utilities), or other visitors, and the activities of these persons, could cause process upsets, could aggravate the consequences of hazardous incidents, and could interfere with emergency or rescue activities. A procedure should be established to control the entry and document the exit of persons from areas in which hazardous materials are handled. 

Methods, systems, and procedures for ensuring the occupational health of employees Emergency response including controls, personnel evacuation, escape, and rescue Incident investigation and reporting, corrective and follow-up action The method of performance review and audit including review in the light of external... 

A permits committee was formed and met regularly to draft critical safety permits. New hot work, confined space, general permit to work, and excavation permits were written, approved, and introduced. A special squad of employees was formed into an at-height rescue team able to rescue someone suspended from a safety harness at height, and they were trained and equipped. A special three-story scaffold was erected as a permanent training structure for the team. This team was formed as a result of anployees concerns when working at heights. 

B) Appropriate retrieval equipment for removing the employee(s) who enter(s) these hazardous atmospheres where retrieval equipment would contribute to the rescue of the employee(s) and would not increase the overall risk resulting from entry or... 

The employer must ensure that employees that will be in or near a Permit-Required Confined Space (PRCS), for example employees who have duties specified by the applicable sections of this standard (entiy supervisors, attendants, authorized entrants, and rescue-service employees) acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for the safe performance of these duties. This training must result in an understanding of the hazards in the PRCS and the methods used to isolate, control, or in other ways protect employees from these hazards. 

The purpose of this memorandum is to reiterate OSHA s citation policy regarding employers whose employees perform or attempt to perform rescues of individuals in life-threatening danger. If an employer has met his or her responsibilities as outlined in the attached memorandum, that employer shall not be cited for an employee s voluntary heroic actions. 

Part 4 - Employment (sections 32 to 37) covers employment by fire and rescue authorities, including the creation of negotiating bodies to determine the terms and conditions of employees, and pension schemes. 

Part 6 - Supplementary (sections 44 to 54 and Schedules 1 and 2) details the powers of fire and rescue authority employees to undertake rescue work and investigations, as well as a number of consequential provisions and repeals, including the abolition of the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council. 

Our company uses its own employees to perform rescue services in the event of a permit space emergency. This group of employees has been trained, at a minimum, to ... 

Take a head count after the evacuation. The names and last known locations of employees not accounted for should be determined and given to the EOC. Confusion in the assembly areas can lead to unnecessaiy and dangerous search and rescue operations. 

Employees stated that they had received confined space training and were prepared to perform confined space rescue, but they had not rehearsed rescue procedures. In addition, the confined space entry permit form for both contractors did not ask for all required information. For example, the form did not require documentation of the duration for the permit, the intended communications procedures for entry operations, or documentation of hot work performed during confined space entry operations. Completed permits did not contain documentation of hot work performed during confined space entry operations, even though hot work had been performed during such operations at least twice during the project. 

Similarly, the Site B contractor s SSAHP provided corporate policy and procedures for permit-required confined space entry but lacked the site-specific detail necessary to describe the application of the corporate policy to procedures at the site. For example, the SSAHP did not identify specific components of the thermal treatment unit that presented confined space hazards, nor did it describe the specific circumstances or procedures that would require employee entry into these areas. In addition, the plan stated that the contractor would maintain an onsite employee confined space rescue team, but did not identify the members of this team. The SSAHP for Site F also contained a generic confined space entry program but did not identify the specific location of confined space hazards present at the site. 

Employees in the difference plants were initially able to call supervisors and report what was going on, and then call 911 for an emergency in progress. However, if you wanted to escape from the cloud of chlorine gas, you were pretty on your own. No significant rescue efforts were attempted in the hot zone for hours since law enforcement officers set... 

---