The competent person for confined spaces in construction environments is responsible for identifying and evaluating the hazards associated with all confined spaces at the site. The competent person typically serves as the confined space entry supervisor too, overseeing entry operations to ensure that all necessary precautions are taken to protect workers. Therefore, it is critical that employers ensure adequate confined space training for the competent person at construction sites.
CFR 1926 Subpart AA of the OSHA construction standards sets forth the requirements for confined space entry operations in construction environments. In that standard, the competent person and the entry supervisor technically have distinct but complementary duties to fulfill during confined space entry operations. As such, confined space training for the competent person and the entry supervisor are typically covered in one training course.
When serving these dual roles, the competent person for confined spaces at construction sites must be trained in the following:
- How to Identify Confined Spaces: The competent person must be able to identify every confined space at the site so they can determine which ones meet the criteria for a permit-required confined space, or if any are to be classified as a non-permit confined space instead.
- How to Evaluate the Hazards Associated with Each Confined Space: The competent person must assess the risks and potential hazards associated with each confined space. And during permit-required confined space entry operations at construction sites, this includes monitoring atmospheric conditions, including testing for toxic gases or flammable vapors, assessing potential physical hazards, and identifying any potential hazards that may arise from work activities.
- How to Implement a Permit-required Confined Space Entry Program: Based on the hazards identified, the competent person must implement each phase of the employer’s written confined space entry program, including the completion of a confined space entry permit. This includes all procedures for entry and rescue, as well as the selection of personal protective equipment (PPE). The competent person for confined space entry operations must also continuously monitor entry operations to ensure that they are being conducted safely, and that workers are following established entry procedures.
Confined Space Competent Person Certification
All training for the designated competent person and entry supervisor for confined space entry operations at construction site must be certified by the employer, per OSHA regulations, as does all training provided for the other workers involved in confined space entry operations. And the confined space training certification records must be available for inspection by an OSHA compliance officer during compliance inspections.
On Site Training Class for Confined Space Competent Person
Have a professional confined space trainer conduct an on-site competent person for confined space training class for a group of eight (8) or more employees at your site. This class, which also covers training required to serve as the entry supervisor, is typically conducted in one full day. The trainer can incorporate the employers written confined space training program into the class, when available (if not, we provide a generic template for use), as well as the employers confined space entry equipment, such as air monitors or rescue tripod.
Training for each student is certified on a course sign in sheet, plus each student receives a personalized certificate meeting OSHA requirements for training / certification for the competent person and entry supervisor for confined spaces in construction.
Online Confined Space Competent Person Training Course
We also offer a comprehensive online entry competent person for confined spaces training course based on the OSHA construction requirements for the competent person and entry supervisors, available for students needing their training certification ASAP. The main advantages of taking the online competent person for confined spaces training course are 1) there is no need to have a large group, as each student registers for their own course; 2) once registered, the student can log in and out of their course whenever they wish, training as time allows; and, 3) the course is very inexpensive, costing just $189 (discounts are automatically applied with purchase of 5 or more courses).
This 8-hour confined space training course for the competent person and entry supervisor is broken into several training modules that reflect the same information covered in our onsite classes. Each module ends with a quiz consisting of a few multiple choice or true/false questions about what was just covered, and students get three attempts to pass the quizzes; if they fail to the module is repeated and the student can take the quiz again. The final exam for the course is set up the same way. Upon successful completion of their course, the student (or their employer) can log in and print the student’s personalized certification of confined space training for the competent person / entry supervisor.
The course takes approximately 8 hours to complete, and the tuition is just $189.