Cleveland Fire Department Battalion No. 2 and the Whirlpool Corporation safety team pose for a photo prior to a confined rescue training exercise in the plant on Benton Pike
Rescue training at Whirlpool Corporation on Benton Pike staged April 30, as a confined space drill was just as much about building relationships between plant personnel, Cleveland Fire Department and Bradley County Emergency Medical Service.
The scenario for CFD Battalion 2 was that an employee tasked with cleaning a wastewater tank was lowered 20 feet by coworkers from a catwalk. For an unknown reason, the employee became unresponsive at the bottom of the tank. Coworkers immediately requested assistance through 9-1-1. All appropriate confined space entry permits were completed and available to responders. All valves and switches were tagged out of service to prevent discharging wastewater into the tank or turning on an agitator.
Whirlpool Safety, Health and Security Leader Tim Edwards said this is the first of what he hopes will become an annual event, though in reality, Whirlpool employees would never enter the tank.
From his perspective, “I thought the drill went very well. We found out some of our own needs.”
One need was as simple as marking the many outside doors so first responders can easily identify the nearest entry to the incident.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of the drill,” Mr. Edwards said. “It is my understanding that this is a rare opportunity for the fire department to practice training in a real confined space. Coming here and seeing an actual process where a confined space rescue could occur is a real value to them.”
In addition, inviting the fire department to train at the plant also makes employees feel more at ease. “They feel more comfortable knowing that the fire department has specialized training for these types of situations and the equipment to safely perform any type of rescue as opposed to Whirlpool investing a lot of time and money in something we may not have the expertise in doing,” he said.
While Mr. Edwards was pleased with the outcome of the drill, he said the highest priority is placed on preventing such a scenario from happening in the first place, “whether it is a Whirlpool employee or an outside contractor.”
According to OSHA statistics, 75 percent of deaths in a confined space are the rescuers, Mr. Edwards said. “It’s the person going into a confined space to rescue somebody else and they get overcome by a hazardous atmosphere. That’s why it is important to never go into a confined space unless you can be rescued by someone from the outside.”
Cleveland Fire Chief Ron Harrison said department personnel entered a new situation that caused deviation from routine procedures, “but that’s just reality. You walk from one environment to the next and the situation changes. They overcame that in an adequate timeline. All of our operations are hurry-up operations. Some of them are not quick and this was not a quick operation. I’m very proud of them.”
He said a lesson learned was that the rescuers should have entered the tank with 60-minute oxygen bottles instead of 30-minute bottles. “It wasn’t an issue but it cut us closer than what our margin of safety typically is.”
The drill was the first occasion for BCEMS emergency medical technician Joe Blackburn to be inside the 1 million square foot manufacturing plant on Benton Pike. He said the drill allowed ambulance crews the opportunity to learn what equipment is needed.
“What caused the problem in the first place? Did he have a heart attack? Did he have a stroke? All of that information helps us determine where and how the patient is transported,” Mr. Blackburn said. Even though BCEMS and CFD have a good working relationship, “You can’t get enough training. The more training you get, the better you’re going to be in any situation.”
Battalions 1 and 3 will also have their turn to train at Whirlpool.