Public Power - September 2008 - (Page 50)

SAFETY energized cable failed, reclosed twice, and killed all three workers in the vault. “The crew foreman had sent the ground man, who should have been standing outside the vault, down to the donut shop to get donuts and coffee,” said Swan. Every utility, at some time or another, is probably going to have to rescue someone from a confined space. It is a natural instinct for people outside of the space to want to enter the space immediately to rescue co-workers. “Often, these people have worked together for years,” said Swan. “They are friends, and their families do things together. The first thing they want to do is get their buddies out of the vault. The hardest thing to do is remember to follow proper rescue procedures.” Two-thirds of all confined space fatalities occur among would-be rescuers, according to Is It Safe to Enter a Confined Space?, a 72-page document published by California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. In fact, for every worker who dies in a confined space, two more people attempting to rescue that worker end up dying. California DOSH makes several recommendations for staying safe: • Make sure workers have the right personal protective equipment (gloves, hardhats, goggles, footwear). • Monitor the air. • Ventilate the space (pumping fresh air in to dilute any contaminants and gasses). • Have a rescue plan in place. • Have the appropriate rescue equipment available, such as a tripod and lifeline. • Inspect the equipment on a regular basis and make repairs or replacements as necessary. Most problems in confined spaces are due to atmospheric conditions, such as sewer gas or lack of oxygen, said Swan. “Some gases may not be particularly toxic, but since they are heavier than air, they replace the oxygen in the enclosed or confined space.” “Even with training, if a coworker is unable to communicate with the worker in the confined space, he or she is likely to just automatically go in after the worker, and he or she will also likely become a victim,” said David Dow, president of Memphis, Tennessee-based TrenchSafety and Supply, Inc. “When the second worker sees the first worker passed out, it may not occur to that person that the first worker passed out for a reason. There are very few second chances.” The best solution is to follow OSHA requirements, which means testing the environment with the appropriate equipment each time before entering a confined space. “Test for oxygen levels, test for toxic gases, and test for flammable gases,” said Swan. Then ventilate the space if any of these are present. “It is also a good idea to ventilate anyway, just for a comfort level,” he said. It is important to test and ventilate all spaces, continuously, not just when toxins are found, said Dow. However, successful rescue operations need to begin before an actual rescue needs to occur—when the vault or confined space is designed and installed, said Swan. It is important to be sure that the space openings are large enough, not just for workers entering the space to do regular work, but for fully outfitted rescuers, in case they ever need to enter. “If you have a resPUBLIC POWER Woodrow Wills, line technician for the Orlando Utilities Commission, participates in the utility’s confined space rescue training. Photo courtesy of Orlando Utilities Commission Staying Safe in Small Places By William Atkinson Aboutgallonsyears ago,poured two hundreds of of water down a hill in Colorado inundating an electric line crew working in the vault below. The crew began work at about 8 a.m. “Around 10 a.m., the fire department decided to flush and flow test the fire hydrants at the top of the hill,” said Mark Swan, a principal engineer with MDS Consulting in Colorado Springs and a former engineer for Colorado Springs Utilities. “Neither crew knew about the other. The water was knee-deep before the three utility workers were able to get out.” A number of years before, in southern California, a passer-by noticed smoke and saw an abandoned utility truck. Earlier, there had been a cable failure and a line crew had located the vault. “When they entered, they thought they had de-energized the other cable run in that vault, but they hadn’t,” said Swan. The RESOURCES: For OSHA’s guide to working in confined spaces, go to: www.osha.gov/SLTC/confinedsp aces/index.html Is It Safe to Enter a Confined Space?: www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/dosh_pu blications/ConfSpa.pdf 50 SEPTEMBER 2008 http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/confinedspaces/index.html http://www.dir.ca.gov/DOSH/dosh_publications/ConfSpa.pdf

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - September 2008

Public Power - September 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions What’s Good About RTOs? Capturing Coal’s Carbon Carbon Safety Valves Greater Glass, Greater Savings Getting Customers to Embrace Compact Fluorescent Lights LEEDing Green Kansas City Shows How to Build Green For Governing Boards Safety Community Broadband Hometown Connections Parting Shot

Public Power - September 2008

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