Confined space entry

[Medic999]

I work on a power station as a medic. I understand there is quite alot of talk about confined spaces and the dangers attached to it. I have to say that when I took onboard the role I thought I was just going to be treating injuries that came from standard injuries that you would fined in contruction.

However, a few weeks ago we had a guy who had took ill in a GT enclosure, (part of the mechanism that makes it work) and I found out that not only did I have the right equipment on site to deal with the illness but it took us a long time to get him out of the enclosure. The Ambulance took ages to get there and I have to say I was well out of my depth.

It got me thinking about the reason for the discussions for a rescue team. is there any legislation I can look at to take to my bosses to see if they would place in their buget funds for the next outage.

[bsting]

Hi there Medic999.

I had a similar difficulty a few years ago.

We called the services of Rescue & Emergency Medical Services (REMS) Theese guys are great. I will warn you they aare not cheep but very cost effective in relation to what they offer.

They provided a fully kitted up rescue team with Qualified Paramedics. I thought we didn't need to go that far at first but when they had treated their 82nd patient onsite we realised, actually to have first aiders there who would have just sent 60% of these to hospital it was well worth it.

They also have another arm which does a whole host of Health and Safety provision. CDM, facilities management, Screening, and training programmes.

I think they cost approx 2% of the whole outage cost  but saved us a fortune in lost time incidents.

If you are serious in getting a health & safety package. call these guys and at least speak to them. They are as you can imagine busy guys to the educated and informed industry.

Book early.

I will be asking for shares in this company soon. LOL

[Mr T]

Most people dont understand the difficulties of delivering medical care in these places, there is a reason why specialist teams such REMS and people like the NHS HART teams spend a lot of time and money on developing teams equipment etc.

 I would really suggest that people wtih medical qualifications who think they can make a bit of money doing this sort of work think long and hard about the places and situations that you might find yourself in.

Most "medics" are not paramedics and are unable to administer drugs like pain relief which are essential in getting a patient comfortable if your gonna have to extricate them.

I dont mean to sound like im having a go but the title "medic" does worry me a little after all who or what is a medic, i have known a good number of people go round calling themselves "medics" with informal qualifications no  registrations etc. Technical rescue is a very exciting enviroment to work in that is full of challenges and is a growing specialty people who want to work in it need to be properly trained and equipped or you could be putting yourself and your patients at risk. 

[Medic999]

Wow. That was a little bit of a kicking thanks!

I do however understand your concerns. I have done a little more than the standard 4-5 day EMT course. But you are right. It seems with some of the areas contractors get themselves into. It may well need the services of a paramedic. 

[Stubbsie]

This is an interesting subject and discussion forum indeed, I agree with what Mr T speaks about.