Permit-Required Confined Space Entry – Entry Supervisor
A permit-required confined space entry team must fill three roles: entrant, attendant, and entry supervisor.
The entry supervisor plays a critical role in permit-required confined space entry.
The entry supervisor is responsible for the safety of the entry team and determining if acceptable entry conditions are present at a permit space where entry is planned.
The entry supervisor is responsible for authorizing entry, overseeing entry operations, and terminating entry.
An entry supervisor may serve as an attendant or as an authorized entrant, as long as he or she trained and equipped for each role he or she fills.
This may differ from your company’s requirements. Always follow your company’s permit-required confined-space entry requirements.
Contact your supervisor if you have questions specific to your company’s program.
Like authorized entrants and attendants, each entry supervisor must know the hazards faced during entry, including information on the mode, signs, or symptoms and consequences of exposure.
Entry supervisors also are responsible for:
Checking to ensure that all required entries and testing are documented on the permit.
Ensuring that all equipment and procedures specified by the permit are in place prior to signing or endorsing the permit and allowing entry to begin.
Terminating the permit when entry operations covered by the permit are completed, or when a condition that is not allowed under the permit arises in or near the space.
Verifying that rescue services are available and the means to summon them are operable.
Removing unauthorized individuals who enter or attempt to enter the permit space during entry operations.
Determining that the entry operations remain consistent with the terms of the entry permit and that acceptable entry conditions are maintained whenever responsibility for a permit space entry operation is transferred.
