Confined Space Arrogance, Ignorance or both?

I once delivered a Confined Space Awareness session for a company who's core business was 'tank and vessel cleaning' and doing my due diligence checks before the date I understood that the company had a reputation to the unknowing of years worth of experience and a well versed team of 'skilled and experienced personnel' from which to draw from to get the job done. No job would be turned away and they had the experts to support your business needs.

I turned up early to prepare the meeting room and presentation and as members of the team turned up the atmosphere was immediately conducive to what was planned to be discussed and presented. People were chatty and engaging and appeared keen to have a fresh perspective or learning on what they do "day in day out". One thing that stood out very quickly to me were the two very young faced guys who were not so keen to come and introduce themselves...I did not have to wait too long before they were introduced by the Managing Director as 'the new apprentices' and he bolstered their paying attention to the trainer as we are always learning and it was important to their competence development (loved what I was hearing). There was one other common point raised by several of those I had just met and each said that "you may find 'Bob' (name changed) a bit difficult"...no more and no less at this stage just that. The kick-off time came and went because we had to wait for one guy...frustration grew within the MD, HSE Manager and Operations Manager as one chair remained vacant and then eventually a very casual faced guy walked passed the window at the end of the room and made it obvious from his set stare toward me that it was not going to be as easy as I had hoped.

No apology for his lateness...no rush to get seated...just an oozing of arrogance and attempts at banter with a few of the team as he eventually met his chair...thankfully I can start now...no such luck (who was I kidding). "You won't be able to teach me nothing mate...I have been doing this for too long now, you ain't gonna teach me anything". Management looked disappointed, angry, frustrated and embarrassed so I pushed on...maybe it was the fact that I had unwittingly presented myself as a target by wearing a jacket and tie which did not readily suit his workshop environment?

Opportunity Knocks - I have found over the years that the best way to deal with this type of situation is to allow 'whomever the one is' to dig their own grave so I kept it professional and started running through the course slides despite his constant 'chuntering' every few seconds.

As soon as I referenced 'the need for Isolation LOTO' it was as if a bomb had gone off and 'my friend' started to laugh while pointing at one of the very red faced younger guys in the front row saying "tell him kid", "tell him what happened to us on the boat". The young guy looked back for some sort of assurance to be met with an approval nod...time for a bit of exploring I thought. Committal - And so it fell forth...the young chap and 'Bob' were down at the quayside cleaning out a vessel fuel tank, 'Bob' was inside while the younger chap did the running back and forth at his bequest...mainly grabbing the buckets and dumping the spent content that was being passed to him from inside. That was until 'Bob' asked for another tool that he wanted to use inside the tank..."we forgot to bring it" replied the apprentice 'Standby Man/runner/dogs body'...decision immediately made by the far experienced supervisor was..."go back to the yard and get the sack off the shelf...it's in there". (Side Bar) I have learned not to always focus on the 'talkers' in meetings and watch the audience for expressions and signs of understanding etc. The reason I raise this is because I noted an uncomfortable change of the management team as the young man recalled that almost fateful day. Continuing the recollection...off the apprentice went back to the yard where he gathered the sack (still unknowing of its contents) and returned some while later to find 'Bob' exhaustedly pulling himself from the tank opening and covered in fuel...he assisted to pull him clear!

At this point the whole Management team stood up and stormed out of the room ranting amongst themselves...the departure had everyone immediately talking in whispers.

The layout of the workshop was such that an internal metal staircase led from the ground floor to the management office spaces which had been developed above on a mezzanine floor level so heavy noisy footsteps were heard as the managers got to another office...followed by a fierce slam of the door then heightened discussions commenced but appeared muffled to us in the room below. At no time did the expression change of the man named 'Bob', who was clearly oblivious to anyone's anxieties or reasons for possible concern.

As time went on and voices above grew louder I felt it important to attempt to bring some calm to what had just been disclosed and proceeded upstairs to prompt the managers back to the meeting. As I knocked on the office door an instant silence fell over the management team and all looked at me as I entered saying "gents, its important that such disclosures are being made by your team as their behaviors and practices can now be addressed appropriately"...what came out next still baffles me as much now as it did then (almost 20 years ago)...

Disclosure - "You don't understand" said the MD, "this is bloody serious and illegal behavior, and has left us very exposed, he could have been killed"! Once again I indicated it better that the truth was being expressed permitting focused attention going forward but my words did not seem to be calming the situation...suddenly I realised why as the HSE Manager further confided that the "apprentice doesn't have a bloody drivers license"!!!

Facts - The Sequence Of Events Leading Up To - As 'Bob' was in the tank (alone), and with the apprentice somewhere between the quay side and the workshop, the watch keepers changed out on the Bridge of the vessel and the oncoming discipline observed that the fuel tanks were not equalised. Without checking the Permit To Work / Notice Board, the on-signer operated the non-isolated valves remotely and fuel was passed from the fuller tank to the empty one while 'Bob' was inside.

Outcome - We eventually went back to the meeting room and I picked up where I had left earlier...'Bob' had a short time-out with the management team.

As expected across the session, we did cover the importance of undertaking Confined Space operations in a structured and logical manner and with the inclusion of procedural processes to mitigate what had been so 'matter of factly' discussed earlier. For myself, and everyone involved in the session the day was actually an enormous success...despite maybe one feeling a little 'sheepish' from lunchtime onwards.

I personally try never to make assumptions...if I did I may also find myself caught out similarly to my mate Bob and that is just never going to happen. What we will hopefully never experience in our lifetimes is a situation where the outcome had been more severe and the young guy had not seen Bob clambering out of the tank opening and had ventured in because there was no response to calls and a woefully poor level of understanding of the dangers within that space.

Unfortunately, we still see and hear of far too many deaths and 'close calls' related to Confined Space working these days. In the UK alone we have an extensive range of purposefully designed equipment to help us undertake multiple tasks and in a variety of differing locations safely...legislation standards and expectations are strict on ensuring we Risk Assess, have and apply specific procedures and competency levels for those involved and so much more but we still see loss of life.

While we continue to need 'people' to undertake access of Confined Spaces we have obligations to maintain exacting standards of vigilance and verification to mitigate bad practices and behaviors becoming the 'norm'.

Lets all hopefully learn from 'my mate Bob' and the apprentices near miss day out. 'safety is never a compromise'