Andy Richford appointed to PASS Training

PASS Training has appointed experienced confined spaces and breathing apparatus specialist Andy Richford as business development manager.

With a track record extending to Toyota, Johnson Matthey, Sodexo FM, Rolls-Royce Berlin, Norfolk Council, Electricity North West, Severn Trent Water and many more, he plans to fulfil growing demand from utilities in North East England for safety training in confined spaces and breathing apparatus.

“PASS is already known for its electrical expertise both locally and nationally by people who use electrical test equipment, train and have their equipment calibrated with the company,” says Andy.

“Now, PASS has invested in the construction of a purpose-built City & Guilds (C&G) approved structure and begun holding specialist Confined Spaces training in the North East.

“This will benefit local utilities and facilities management professionals in commercial and industrial environments, including petrochemical, engineering and fabrication, local authorities, civil engineering and construction.”

Andy contends that training needs to concentrate not only on self-rescue procedures, but putting measures in place to avoid the need for any type of rescue or entry in the first place.

He has not only trained companies like Johnson Matthey, Rolls Royce Berlin and Toyota, but also helped them write their procedures for confined spaces, emergency plans, risk assessments and safe systems of work (SSOW).

Andy adds: “I challenge anybody to look at a confined space incident and tell me that the people knew what they were doing and had a system of work, and that they were all trained for it, because the law says that you should not go into a confined space if you’re not trained to go in one.

“The problem is that some companies do not even know they have confined spaces as specified by law, and specifically under the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997.

“In our immediate area of Teesside and the docks for example, there are operations involving chemical tank cleaning and legally the employers do not have to even call them confined spaces as long as they have a laid down procedure that identifies the hazards.”

PASS Training hosts public courses and bespoke events, as well as consultancy services, asset risk assessment, process risk assessment and method statement, safe systems of work, permits to work and emergency planning.

Andy concludes: “PASS Training has several specialist lecturers in place with utility backgrounds to conduct training in this crucial area of workplace health and safety.”

Every confined space could be designated with a risk level of low, medium and high. One-day awareness events can be delivered at customer locations, paving the way for more comprehensive training courses which may last up to three days, for example C&G 6150-53 for high risk confined spaces.

For further information visit PASS Ltd’s specialist Confined Spaces web page.