In water safety and lifesaving class at the local pool or the Scout camp, they teach you something disturbing.
If you see someone drowning but are not equipped or qualified to make a rescue, don’t try. First reach out to the person with a pole. Or throw a rope or life ring. Or row out in a boat. Only as a last resort should you swim to the person’s aid, and then only if you are adequately trained in rescue methods.
If you are unprepared, but try anyway, a wise old Scoutmaster said, “All you’ve done is create a double drowning.”
Now, think about that. A friend of yours is in water over his or her head. You have nothing to reach or throw. There’s no boat nearby. You aren’t a trained rescuer. The hardest thing in the world would be just to stand and watch it happen.
Double jeopardy
Now imagine being on the job when a co-worker collapses inside a manhole or other confined space. You know there must be a toxic gas in there. But you have no respirator or other equipment.
The hardest thing in the world would be to leave your co-worker down there. But, absent any safe way of attempting a rescue, you really have no other choice. Of course, it would have been better to prevent the incident by following safe entry procedures and using all the prescribed equipment. But at the time of the event, that’s hindsight.
For the moment, there is only a harsh reality: The National Institute for Occu-pational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has reported that about 60 percent of fatalities in confined spaces involve would-be rescuers. That’s a shocking statistic.
Cases in point
Consider these examples reported by NIOSH:
A 20-year-old construction worker died while trying to refuel a pump used to remove wastewater from a large sewer line under construction. The pump was 3,000 feet from where the worker had entered the line. The worker was overcome by carbon monoxide. A co-worker who had also entered the sewer escaped, but a 28-year-old state inspector entered from another point along the line and died in a rescue attempt.
A 21-year-old worker died inside a wastewater holding tank while attempting to clean and repair a drain line. The worker collapsed and fell face down into six inches of water. A second 21-year-old worker attempted a rescue and was also overcome and collapsed. The first worker died at the scene; the second died two weeks later. The cause of death was asphyxiation by methane gas.
A 43-year-old father died while trying to rescue his son from a tank used to store spent acids from a metal pickling process. The tank was out of service so that sludge could be removed from the bottom. The son collapsed in the tank. The father attempted a rescue and also collapsed. The son was revived, but the father died.
A 54-year-old worker died inside the floating cover of a sewage digester while trying to restart a propane heater being used to warm the outside of the cover before it was painted. Workers had wired the safety valve open so that the flow of propane would be constant, even if the flame went out. The heater was near an opening in the cover. The man’s attempt to restart the heater caused an explosion that vented through the opening. The worker crawled away from the heater into an area that was oxygen deficient and died. A co-worker attempted a rescue and also died.
Disturbing pattern
The pattern seems clear. Most likely, if the workers in these examples had followed proper confined-space entry procedures, they wouldn’t have been overcome, and no one would have had to try rescuing them. That’s the most critical thing to learn.
The other lesson, much more difficult, is that you can’t rescue someone unless you yourself are properly prepared. Perhaps that’s a way of saying: Friends don’t let friends enter confined spaces unprotected. Because friends don’t want to watch helplessly as their friends die. Here is some advice from NIOSH:
• Treat all confined spaces as hazardous.
• Test the atmosphere before entry and continuously monitor it afterward.
• Never trust your senses to determine if the air in a confined space is safe.
• Make sure an attendant is present immediately outside the space; make sure an emergency retrieval or rescue method is available.
• Make sure the person entering the space and the attendant can communicate.
• Exit the space immediately if an unsafe condition develops.
• Use proper personal protective equipment.
And finally: Never enter a confined space to attempt an emergency rescue unless you have been trained in safe confined-space entry and rescue procedures and have the proper tools and personal protective equipment.
Safety First offers advice on providing safe workplaces and protecting employees from job-related injuries and illnesses. Cleaner welcomes contributions from contractors, municipalities, government regulators, or vendors serving our industries. To offer your idea, call us at 800/257-7222, or e-mail to editor@cleaner.com.
