Confined Spaces
Is a vertical SRL with Emergency Rescue sufficient for ingress and egress of a manhole if the hole is not big enough for a ladder to be put in the hole?
We have a sewer line that is inspected monthly, that is approx. 11 feet deep. The hole is wide enough for a person to fit down, with the addition of a ladder, a person would not fit to climb down. Historically, we have utilized the SRL with emergency rescue to lower the entrant into the sewer hole, allowed them to work, and then hoist them up when they are done.
Is this okay?
Comments (5)
Absolutely! It's a great (and commonly used) form of non-entry rescue! As long as you are able to retrieve them in the event they become incapacitated for any reason, then that works.
Just make sure you're SRL is rated for emergency retrieval (which it sounds like your's is since you mentioned it), but just bringing it up because not all SRLs are rated for that purpose.
Thank you, Drew,
We were not sure if utilizing the tripod along with the winch (when not an emergency) was sufficient to allow the individual access to the site and then utilize it to retrieve them once they were finished with their work.
Given the type of confined space, if this method was not allowed, we were not sure, how else we would gain access to it to inspect.