Recent travelers along Rt. 50 near Twin Oaks may have been alarmed at seeing what at quick glance looked like an accident scene.

 

There is no need to worry though as it was a specific training exercise for some of the City’s employees and first responders.

 

“We’re putting on the annual confined space training,” Bridgeport’s Safety and Facilities Manager Shawn Newbrough said. “This confined space training is for public works, waste water treatment guys, a couple of Parks and Rec guys who go down into confined spaces and we actually have one person from The Bridge because we do have some confined spaces at the new Bridge Sports Complex.

 

“We do this training so when there is a situation, we don’t make it an accident. I think it is important to let the community know what type of training we are giving our people.”

 

Newbrough, who started at his position with the City in January, said it was eight hours of  hands-on training broken up into two days (Monday and Thursday). He said confined space applies to any pit or vault or big tank. Take waste water employees for example who have a lot of vaults they go down into that feature valves and underground equipment.

 

“There’s not many people who give this hands-on training,” Newbrough said. “Actually, Steve Gallo with the Bridgeport Fire Department, him and a couple of other fire fighters have a side business called Safety Educators and that’s who we sub-contracted to give this training.

 

“Safety Educators do this training for coal mines, for power plants. In the month of September, Steve will be in Texas, Wyoming, giving this training to a bunch of companies out west. He will fly back to Bridgeport and do his time for the week with the fire department then fly back out west and give the training.”

 

The turnout and participation for the training was fantastic according to Newbrough. He added that he thinks for the most part that the guys taking part in the training know being ready to handle a confined space situation is just part of their job.

 

“They get this training yearly whether it be just watching a video or looking at a power point presentation, he said. “But to do an actual hands-one training, eight-hour course is a lot more meaningful. I think they get a lot more out of it.”

 

The training includes plenty of measures that are applied before the actual entering of the confined space.

 

“You have checks and balances,” Newbrough said. “You have to monitor the air. You check the air quality in the confined space. You make sure the oxygen level is proper and there are no combustible gasses. You check for carbon monoxide. You check for hydrogen sulfide. At The Bridge, they would be checking for chlorine.

 

“It’s kind of situational. On our form, it’s a check list you go through to make sure that everyone has the right PPE on, that the ventilation is right. If along the road, is traffic detoured properly to keep everybody safe. Is there proper lighting? Are there fire extinguishers in place.

 

“Once you go through the checklist and verify that the air is safe, somebody can sign off and then they  can go down in the pit. While in the pit, they can monitor the air continuously the whole time they are down there and they have to document it the whole time they are down there, every 15 minutes what the readings are. If they see something go out of whack, they instantly start pulling out.”

 

Editor's Note: Submitted photos