Leading safety supplier Arco has injected significant investment into its confined spaces offering, delivering training, consultancy and advice, site services, and equipment hire to a wide range of industries and business sizes across the UK.
Dave Cox from Arco says: “Confined spaces undeniably pose a wide variety of potential hazards to workers required to enter them. Our holistic offering has been developed to ensure that workers are familiar with the specific risks their job role entails and ultimately, for those entering confined spaces, we want them to go home safely to their families at the end of the day.”
Following the recent acquisitions of Total Access Ltd and Confined Space Training Support (CSTS) Arco has now been able to expand its offering significantly. CSTS is a specialist confined space, training and support services provider. For those working at height in confined spaces, highly experienced instructors at Total Access can simulate realistic working environments.
Arco can provide consultancy on a wide range of subjects including policy and procedure writing and implementation, risk assessments, safe systems of work, emergency procedures and the production of confined space registers
The company’s expert team of consultants can also give advice on current best practice, including the Water UK NC’s (National Classifications) and the City and Guilds 6150 competency standards. The team provide contractor supervision and auditing, advise on emergency planning and crisis management and help to educate businesses on procedure for entry, equipment selection, confined space management and standing operating procedures.
Arco employ experienced and qualified surveyors, engineers, search and rescue teams and project managers with proven IOSH and NEBOSH Health & Safety accreditations.
The team’s services include:
- NEBOSH/IOSH Accredited Project Management
- Remote CCTV Examination
- General Inspections
- Principal Inspections
- Special Inspections
- IRATA Rope Access
- Working at Height Rescue
- Confined Space techniques including high risk, escape Breathing Apparatus, search and rescue
- Structural Examiners Competency – STE 04
- EUSR Water Hygiene
- EUSR Substations
Helping businesses mitigate risk, or removing them from the risk entirely, Dave Cox from Arco said: “Our highly skilled team can even do the job for you, or accompany your contractors into a confined space to support their work and ensure their safety.”
A vital element of Arco’s training proposition equips workers with the knowledge to identify a confined space in the first place. Defined by the Confined Space Regulations 1997 as primarily a space that is substantially, but not always entirely, enclosed, confined spaces pose a range of safety risks to workers. From compromised air quality and skin exposure to chemicals, to reduced visibility and extreme noise and temperatures, each confined space environment is different, requiring bespoke training dependent on industry.
Whether a business operates in the energy, telecommunications, petro-chemical, oil & gas, food or construction sector, Arco offers a broad range of training, both accredited and non-accredited and will create bespoke sessions tailored to a client’s need.
To help train those exposed to the risks associated with working in a confined space, Arco also offers comprehensive, practical and accredited training using its Arco Mobile Confined Space Training Unit. The training unit enables both theoretical and practical training in confined space entry and exit; face fit testing and breathing apparatus training to take place at any location, enabling a rapid set up, minimal disruption and cost saving benefits. Arco prides itself in linking an experienced confined space industry consultant with each client to understand their needs and develop bespoke internal layouts for the units to provide an accurate representation of the potential confined spaces that their workers would experience as part of their working environment.
Arco is able to deliver training in a way which is most convenient to their customers, With eight specialist training facilities spanning the country, semi-relocatable units which can be used at a client’s site and a fully customisable mobile training unit, Arco is able to ensure that workers are equipped to deal with the specific risks associated with their line of work and able to operate safely in those confined spaces.
Arco’s Confined Space Training Units are completely mobile and can travel to the doorstep of any business. The unit can simulate different industrial confined space scenarios in a safe environment, enabling trainees to be immersed in a highly realistic learning experience, including variable light levels, noise programmes and smoke, plus configurable space over two floors. Real-time monitoring and videoing also allows for continual monitoring of activity, live instruction from the trainer and observer learning outside the tunnels system. It is this realism that allows the trainee to fully prepare for confined space situations with wind turbines so that they can approach it confidently when the situation does arise.
To help identify them, Arco has published a Guide to Confined Space Training, Consultancy, Site Services and Equipment. This includes advice and guidance for those managing confined spaces and also those who will work in confined spaces.
For more information on Arco’s Confined Spaces services, please visit www.arco.co.uk/confined.