Confined Spaces

What Is A Confined Space?

A confined space is a space which is substantially enclosed, and where serious injury can occur from hazardous substances or conditions within the space. Confined spaces can be both below or above ground, and can be found in almost any workplace. Though, it’s important to know that a confined space, despite its name, may not necessarily be small. Some examples of the confined spaces that we have worked in include silos, vats, hoppers, utility vaults, tanks, sewers, pipes, access shafts, truck or rail tank cars, boilers, manholes, manure pits and storage bins.  We have also worked in ditches and trenches where access has been limited.

Here at Elliott Environmental Drainage, we offer a great confined space service and if you would like to find out more about our service, feel free to get in touch today!

Why Do You Need Us To Work In Confined Space?

Working in confined spaces can potentially be dangerous and requires specialists, though here at Elliott Drainage we are experienced in working in confined space. To those who are not experienced, working in a confined space can bring the risk of serious injury. This can be due to hazardous substances or conditions within the space or nearby.

Some of the hazards faced from working in confined space include:

• Poor air quality. In the confined space there may be an insufficient amount of oxygen for the worker to breathe properly. The atmosphere they are working in may also contain a poisonous substance that could make the worker ill or even cause the worker to lose consciousness. Often, natural ventilation alone will not be sufficient to maintain breathable quality air.

• Fire. Flammable liquids and gases can promote ignition, causing fire and explosions. Also, the by-products of the work taking happening, such as dust and residue, can be flammable.

• Process-related hazards such as residual chemicals, release of contents of a supply line.
• Noise
• Safety hazards such as moving parts of equipment, structural hazards, entanglement, slips and falls.
• Radiation.
• Temperature extremes including atmosphere and surface.
• Shifting or collapse of bulk material
• Barrier failure resulting in a flood or release of free-flowing solid
• Uncontrolled energy including electrical shock
• Visibility
• Biological hazards

When you choose us to do the job, you’re choosing a company with experience and the right qualifications to do it right. Each and every one of our operatives are completely confined space trained, so they know the exact risks of working in a confined space and how to avoid them.

Before any of the confined space work starts, we will also prepare thorough formal risk assessments and method statements, completely specific to your site to devise an exact safe system of work. This will consider the task being performed, the working environment and the working materials.

Why Choose Elliott Drainage?

Here at Elliott Drainage, we are completely committed to providing our customers with the best service we possibly can. We are more than proud to have achieved a variety of competency certifications such as iSO 9001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001. This means you can rest assured that when you choose us to work in a confined space, we will achieve the results you want to see.

We also consistently upgrade and update the technology on our fleet of trucks and lorries so they are completely equipped to offer our services 24 hours 7 days a week 365 days of the year across the London and Kent area. We also offer an emergency call out service.

Get in touch with a member of Elliott Drainage team today to discuss how we can help you with work in confined spaces.