Whether you’re a relatively new or a well-established Technical Search and Rescue (TSAR) organization, following an established Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment process is a great way to ensure you’re prepared for the “Big One."

The “Big One” is that incident where you’re called upon to deliver on the organizational investment of having a TSAR capability. A great deal of organizational time, money, and effort is invested in developing, maintaining, and deploying a Rescue Team. Plant Administrators, Fire Chiefs, and elected officials (private board members or public officials) want to see a return on that investment when their rescue service is called into action to save a life.  

The purpose of this article is to assist the Rescue Team Leader (RTL) and aspiring RTL (because we should always be developing our replacement) in establishing a Rescue Team, developing a new TSAR capability, or ensuring an established Rescue Team is adequately prepared for the “Big One."

Firstly, if there is a potential for a TSAR incident to occur within your jurisdiction, NFPA 1670 requires the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) to address a number of “General Requirements” found in Chapter 4. The review and completion of these requirements are usually a function of the Rescue Team Leader along with key management personnel who authorize, budget, schedule, and equip the Rescue Team.

The format of Chapter 4 is useful for all Rescue Teams, whether newly formed or long established. It is an excellent tool for ensuring some of the foundational aspects of preparedness and organizational structure are (or have been) properly established.  Most “senior rescuers” (not those on Medicare but those that have the respect, time, and experience that makes them leaders in technical rescue) will tell you that the TSAR incident potential, including their hazards and risks, change as industrial processes are updated, installed, or eliminated. 

Key to all emergency response success is planning and preparation. However, incident preparation should be driven by the types of emergency incidents that have a potential for occurring within a given jurisdiction. This is the starting point for determining rescue capabilities, SOP/SOG’s, staffing, training, and equipment. 

The Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment is one method for assessing incident potential. NFPA defines:

•  Hazard Identification - The process of identifying situations or conditions that have the potential to cause injury to people, damage to property, or damage to the environment. 

•  Risk Assessment - An assessment of the likelihood, vulnerability, and magnitude of incidents that could result from the exposure to hazards. 

This process identifies the possibility of conducting TSAR operations within a jurisdiction by evaluating environmental, physical, social, and cultural factors that influence the scope, frequency and magnitude of a potential TSAR incident. It also addresses the impact the incident has on the AHJ to respond and conduct operations while minimizing threats to rescuers (NPFA 1670, 4.2.1 and 4.2.2). The standard lists a number of scientific methodologies in its annex but in the spirit of keeping it, we’ll approach this process using a Preliminary Checklist. (See Sample Checklist.)

Once completed, the checklist may have entries that require further analysis, identify a need to develop or expand a capability, or require entering into an agreement with an external resource. 

This checklist is for day-to-day incident responses under predictable jurisdictional response conditions and should not be used for disaster scenarios where large scale regional and federal resources will be required to mitigate the incident. These scenarios should be addressed through Emergency Response Plans. 

Most fire departments and other emergency response organizations want to maintain a response capability that match potential incidents in order to be operationally effective, provide for rescuer safety, and have positive incident outcomes.  

A Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment is an excellent way to evaluate your organization’s preparedness level for technical rescue incidents based the potential for one to occur; it also aids in the development of specific capability. 

In response to the death of a 23-year-old construction worker in a trenching incident in Anchorage, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development is highlighting the importance of training workers on safe trench work and excavations.

State regulations require employers to ensure workers are trained to recognize and avoid hazards related to any trench work or excavations in which the depth of the site is at least 4 feet. Employers also must make sure workers adequately enter and exit trenches, in addition to taking proper measures for shoring and sloping protection.

An Anchorage Fire Department search-and-rescue team, police and medics responded to the incident shortly after 1 p.m. on June 16, 2015.

The construction worker had been working on a sewer pipe in a trench that measured roughly 7 feet deep by 15 feet across when it collapsed and buried him. His co-workers tried to extricate him and did get him out of the trench, but his injuries were just too severe. The 23-year-old victim died at the scene.

OSHA has launched an investigation into the workplace accident according to a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Sources: National Safety Council Newsletter (nsc.org) and Alaska Dispatch News (adn.com).

Despite progress made over the past several decades in reducing the number of occupational deaths, an average of 12 workers are still killed on the job every day, Mary Vogel, executive director with the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, said during the press conference.

The National COSH recently reported that broader use of hazard prevention strategies and threats of stiffer consequences for workplace safety violations will help reduce the number of annual worker deaths, a group of safety advocates stated during an April 23 press conference in Longmeadow, MA.

Criminal prosecution of employers for workplace violations is extremely rare. Vogel said that although increasing prosecutions would not eliminate all workplace fatalities, the strategy should be used "when appropriate."

Hazard prevention strategies based on the Hierarchy of Controls are another effective method for ending workplace deaths, according to Peter Dooley, senior consultant with National COSH. During the press conference, Dooley listed several recent workplace fatalities he claims could have been prevented with such strategies.

National COSH also announced the release of its annual report, "Not an Accident: Preventable Deaths, 2015." The report includes case studies of recent worker deaths, prevention strategies and National COSH's policy platform.

It was released in advance of Workers Memorial Day, which will take place April 28. On that day, National COSH plans to release a database detailing the circumstances of 1,500 worker deaths.

Article Source – National Safety Council News Alert

When a student returns to one of our classes after a few years, we’ll often hear, “Wow, things sure have changed! There are a lot of new techniques and equipment since the last time I attended.” So, why do we change our courses on a regular basis? If it worked back then, why change it?

The answer is simple really… if there’s a better way or safer way to do something, we'll take the opportunity to incorporate it into our programs.

When deciding what techniques or equipment may be candidates, we typically look at three primary objectives: 

1.  Does it perform a function that is needed in order to accomplish the type of rescue that is being addressed?

2.  Does it perform in a safe, or even a safer manner, than previous equipment or techniques?

Once these requirements are met, we'll ask... 

READER QUESTION:
One of our readers recently asked about rescue requirements in excavations. We did some searching and found an interesting Letter of Interpretation (LOI) from OSHA that explains when rescue provisions are required during trenching operations.  

ROCO TECH PANEL ANSWER:
The following is from OSHA LOI in regards to this answer. In regard to whether emergency rescue equipment is required at every trenching job site located near or passing by a gas station, refinery, gas line, sewer main, etc., please be advised by the following:

Emergency rescue equipment is required to be readily available where a competent person determines, based on the conditions at each job site, that hazardous atmospheric conditions exist or may reasonably be expected to develop during work in an excavation. In regard to whether a contractor can rely on a local rescue squad instead of providing the rescue equipment, please be advised that many emergency situations associated with the hazards involved with hazardous atmospheres in trenches would normally require an immediate response within a few minutes or even seconds. A rescue squad would be unable to provide the necessary response and therefore could not be used to comply with 1926.651(g)(2).

As more and more industrial sites realize that just about every day, somewhere on their property, there is an open trench. Trench collapses cause dozens of fatalities and hundreds of injuries each year. Obviously, this creates concerns, especially for the rescue personnel who may be called to the scene during an emergency.

We’ve been getting questions from clients that have effective rescue teams for medical, hazmat, fire, confined space and rope but are realizing that they are lacking if a trench collapse occurs on their site. “Who will do the rescue?” is a question often asked. There is concern by supervisors, who have been given the responsibility for signing trench permits, but have not had adequate training in trench and excavations. Many are not “competent persons” as referenced in OSHA1926.651-652.

After looking at the dozen of questions in the referenced LOI, it should raise a few more:

1. Are the people you have signing off that a trench is constructed properly and safe for entry, trained to know what to look for and have the authority to act (competent person), or are they assuming that the contractor is “doing the right thing”?
2. Who will be called if a trench emergency should occur?
3. Are their local resources that have the training and equipment to respond, or are you an island unto yourself when it comes to trench rescue? 

The link to the referenced LOI is shown below – and the questions are still very relevant : https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=20597

Additional Resources:

OSHA Technical Manual

OSHA Trenching and Excavation Safety

Trench Safety Poster – An Unprotected Trench Is An Early Grave