Guide
Confined space training levels: low, medium and high risk explained
Updated
Training levels exist because confined spaces are not one hazard. The level you buy should follow from the assessment of the spaces your people actually enter, not from what a brochure offers.
First, what counts as a confined space
Regulation 1(2) of the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 defines a confined space as "any place, including any chamber, tank, vat, silo, pit, trench, pipe, sewer, flue, well or other similar space in which, by virtue of its enclosed nature, there arises a reasonably foreseeable specified risk" (legislation.gov.uk). The specified risks listed in the same regulation are serious injury from fire or explosion, loss of consciousness from an increase in body temperature, loss of consciousness or asphyxiation from gas, fume, vapour or lack of oxygen, drowning from a rising liquid level, and asphyxiation or entrapment from a free flowing solid.
Two consequences follow. A space can be large and still be a confined space: HSE gives the example of a grain silo of hundreds of cubic metres. And a space is only a confined space if a specified risk is reasonably foreseeable, which is why the assessment has to come first.
How the levels are usually structured
The Regulations do not define training levels. In practice UK providers structure confined space training into tiers, commonly described as low, medium and high risk, with separate modules for rescue and for the person controlling entry from outside, often called the top man or entry controller. The tiers broadly track how the atmosphere is managed and how someone would be got out:
- Low risk entry
- Spaces that are simple to enter and leave, with a clear unobstructed route out, where the atmosphere is monitored and the primary control is not entering if conditions are wrong. Typically the shortest course and the least equipment.
- Medium risk entry
- Spaces where escape is less straightforward, and delegates are trained in the use of escape breathing apparatus and in the equipment used to get out or be recovered. Longer, more practical, more equipment.
- High risk entry
- Spaces requiring working breathing apparatus, extended entry, or entry where escape without assistance is not realistic. The longest and most equipment-intensive tier, usually with the lowest instructor-to-delegate ratio.
- Rescue and entry controller
- Separate content covering the arrangements required by regulation 5: who is watching, how the alarm is raised, and who physically performs the recovery. Frequently sold alongside entry training rather than inside it.
Tier names and their exact content are set by providers and awarding schemes, not by the Regulations, so "medium risk" from one provider is not automatically identical to "medium risk" from another. Compare the syllabus and the equipment list, not the label.
Choosing the level honestly
- Start with the spaces. List the actual spaces your people enter and the specified risks reasonably foreseeable in each. That list is the input to everything else.
- Test regulation 4(1) first. Entry is only permitted where it is not reasonably practicable to achieve the purpose without entering. Remote inspection, cameras, robotic cleaning or design changes remove the need for training altogether where they work.
- Match the entry method to the space, not the space to the course you already buy. If escape without assistance is not realistic, the level has to reflect that.
- Add rescue. Regulation 5 requires suitable and sufficient rescue arrangements to be prepared before entry. Decide whether that capability is in-house or contracted, then train accordingly.
- Write it down and give it to providers with your enquiry, so quotes answer your requirement instead of describing their catalogue. Send it out.
Where the detailed guidance lives
HSE's Approved Code of Practice and guidance for the Regulations is Safe work in confined spaces, series code L101, third edition, published December 2014, and it is available free (HSE). HSE describes it as explaining the definition of a confined space with examples, and helping you assess the risk of working within a particular confined space and put precautions in place. It includes a decision flowchart. If you are specifying training, read it before you read any provider's brochure.