Duties of Authorized Attendant

An authorized attendant has similar duties to an entrant but in a slightly different context. Please note that employers may assign additional duties to attendants, such as atmospheric monitoring or handing tools to the entrant. What follows are the minimum duties required by the standard:

• Understand all of the hazards that may be encountered by the entrant in this space, all warning signs and symptoms of exposure, and all behavioral effects these hazards might have on the entrant. For instance, if workers are entering an area that you know might contain carbon monoxide, you should respond quickly if an entrant mentions getting dizzy, nauseous, or breathless. If entrants experience any of these symptoms, they must evacuate the confined space immediately.
• Be aware of exactly who is in the confined space. Sometimes, you may have multiple entrants. You need to constantly keep a head count and keep track of who comes and goes.
• Stay immediately outside of the confined space at all times until either you are relieved by someone else, or the entrants have left the confined space.

To learn more about Confined Spaces visit our Construction Confined Spaces Online Training web page.