Calling 911 is NOT a rescue plan...
A quick background on ARS. ARS is a rescue training company in Indianapolis, IN. We are all career firefighters and 911 rescue personnel. Most of our team are also members of FEMA USAR task forces. Among our instructors we have hundreds of years of real-world experience with actual hands-on rescues and recoveries. ARS has trained rescuers in every major city and town in Indiana and several other major cities across the US. All of this is to say; we know fire departments and we know rescue. It is quite literally what we do.
In the last few years we’ve become more involved with the Indiana Health and Safety Expo and groups like CCS. By talking to others in the safety industry we have realized (and honestly have been shocked to learn) that many companies simply list 911 on their confined space entry permits. After all, it makes sense right? If something goes wrong, you call 911. The fire department is there to save lives. Pretty simple, right? Well, no, not simple at all. Our instructors work at 15 different career fire departments in Indiana and not a single one of them can support your confined space entry plan. Plain and simple, you’re violating the law by listing 911 as the plan. Now, can you write down “Call 911” and just roll the dice? Sure, but if that’s the case, why do a permit at all? You do the permit because it’s the law and you care about your personnel that you’re sending into a dangerous area. Which is also why you won’t just roll the dice. So, why can’t any fire department serve as your rescue team? Here are just the primary reasons:
1. The vast majority (no kidding, 99%) of the fire departments in Indiana are not trained or equipped to make a confined space rescue. Having a heart attack? Call us! Something on fire? We are there to put it out! Trapped in a car crash? Any department will cut you out in minutes and get you to the ER. But technical rescues, like confined space? Well, that’s what we refer to as a low-frequency, high-risk event. It’s very expensive to equip a team properly and very expensive to train and maintain personnel for those teams. In short, very few agencies can budget for that rare need. That’s also true for water rescue, trench collapse, building collapse, and hazardous materials. You may think calling 911 will get you that team in minutes but it can actually take hours in some areas, including areas with plenty of industrial spaces and entries.
2. Even if the local department is trained, they can’t be dedicated to your entry. The fire department is there to serve every resident and visitor on their response area at any time, day or night. While some responses may be delayed due to other calls, the department can’t legally or ethically reserve resources for any one customer at any time. For example, if the department said, “Engine Company 1 is only here to serve Mr. Jones and his residence,” that would create a bit of a problem for everyone else. The same is true if the Chief said “Sorry, we can’t take any calls between 10 and 3 today because ABC Industries might need us during that time.” Even if ABC Industries was a very generous supporter of the department or the local town, the taxpayers all have equal and unfettered access to emergency response. If the fire department was to hold even one truck out of service for a standby, it would be impossible to justify.
3. We take a lot of other calls, there’s no guarantee the team is even available. Let’s say the local department has a confined space team. You called them and told them you were making an entry today and the person you talked to said, “Cool, I’ll let the team know.” All set, right? Except, the ‘team’ is still covering all the other calls. 70% of our responses are for EMS and auto accidents. That means there’s a better than average chance that when your entrant collapses in the space, the team you're counting on is already serving Mrs. Smith down the street. Now, we’ll send the closest unit, probably no more than 5-10 minutes away, as well as an ambulance, but there’s a great possibility that the confined space team is scattered or on a call. This very thing has happened multiple times in the Indianapolis area. Event being resource rich, we can still be 20-30 minutes delayed on a technical rescue response if there’s a major incident already happening. And if your entrant collapsed, they don’t have any time to spare.
That’s just the three primary reasons that 911 is not a rescue plan. You need a dedicated crew ready to make entry. OSHA says the response needs to happen in a “reasonable time”. What is the definition of a reasonable time? Hold your breath and count. That’s your answer. If a person collapses, be it a medical emergency, oxygen deficiency, IDLH environment, or any other life-threatening reason, the person has 3-5 minutes without oxygen for any chance of survival.
The simple bottom line is this: if you have people in a confined space, you need rescuers on site and ready to respond immediately. That can be a rescue team you’ve hired to be on standby or rescue-trained personnel within your own team of workers. But it can not be “911”, not if you’re serious about safety.
One final note, we have heard of fire departments that offer to pay their personnel to do standby for a generous customer. While that’s a great relationship for the industrial partner, it actually puts the fire department (unknowingly) in a very dangerous legal position. Not only are government resources being allocated to private use but FLSA laws are very strict about how and when firefighters can be paid. In short, be very certain that everyone is clear on the legal challenges if this is the path taken.
Know that here are plenty of good companies that provide standby services and plenty that provide rescue training. Yes, ARS provides these services but who you use isn’t the concern. Knowing that you can’t use your local fire departments is the key takeaway. Please look through our other postings and feel free to reach out to us at any time with any questions. We’re firefighters and rescuers, our only focus is keeping others safe.