📚 Guide by Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety — The Confined Space Awareness is an online workplace safety course delivered by Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety, Calgary’s Energy Safety Canada Authorized Training Provider. Self-paced, mobile-friendly, same-day certificate upon exam completion. Available across Canada.
🔗 Related Safety Mom courses & guides: Confined Space Entry Calgary · H2S Alive Calgary · Oil Sands Safety Certs · Instructor: Arliss Levine, CRSP, CHSC
COURSE OVERVIEW
Confined spaces are everywhere. They can be found in virtually every industry, but are also as unique as the individuals who enter them. Grain silos, sewers, cargo tanks, holds, engine rooms, storage lockers, crawl spaces, tunnels, access-ways, wells, cellars, culverts, vaults, trenches, even rooms within ordinary buildings are all types of confined spaces.
This course will focus on general safety principles and provide information that will increase your recognition of potential confined spaces, improve your knowledge of safe operations, and keep you and those around you safe. More specifically, we will take a look at the various pieces of equipment necessary for safe entry, exit, and all the work in between.
This CSA and OHS-Compliant Confined Space Awareness (General Industry, Construction, Maritime) course satisfies Canada’s requirements for the classroom portion of operator safety training.
COURSE TOPICS
- Equipment use and inspection
- Atmospheric testing
- Safe operations and entry duties
- Permits
- Common hazards
- Rescue procedures and roles
ONLINE COURSE DURATION
Approximately 2 hours
PASS MARK
Quizzes conducted throughout this course are designed to reinforce the information presented. A mark of 80% must be achieved in order to receive a certificate of completion. Participants are able to repeat the course twice if the pass mark is not achieved.
Upon completion, you will be provided with a checklist which can be used by your employer to administer the required practical observation.
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
Upon successful completion of this online course, a certificate of completion will be available to download and print.
COURSE PREVIEW
Additional Safety Knowledge
What Alberta OHS Defines as a Confined Space
Alberta OHS Code Part 5 defines a confined space as an enclosed or partially enclosed space that is not designed for continuous human occupancy, has limited or restricted entry, and could contain a hazardous atmosphere, engulfment hazard, entrapment hazard, or any other recognised serious safety or health hazard. Examples include storage tanks, sewers, silos, pipelines, boilers, vaults, tunnels, manholes, pits, and process vessels.
Atmospheric Testing Before Entry
Before any entry, a competent worker must test the atmosphere in this order: oxygen, flammability, then toxicity. Acceptable atmospheric parameters:
- Oxygen: 19.5–23.0% by volume. Below 19.5% is oxygen-deficient; above 23% is oxygen-enriched (fire risk).
- Flammable gas/vapour: less than 10% of the lower explosive limit (LEL).
- Toxic substances: below the applicable occupational exposure limit (H2S below 10 ppm, CO below 25 ppm in Alberta).
Continuous monitoring is required for the duration of the entry. Any change in reading requires immediate evacuation and re-assessment.
Entry Roles: Entrant, Attendant, Supervisor
Every confined space entry needs three defined roles. The entrant performs the work inside. The attendant stays outside, maintains constant visual or communication contact, monitors atmospheric readings, and initiates rescue — but never enters. The entry supervisor authorises the entry, verifies all controls are in place, and terminates the entry when conditions change. In Alberta, the attendant cannot leave the post while any worker is inside.
Confined Space Awareness — Rescue Planning
OSHA data shows more than 60% of confined space fatalities are would-be rescuers who entered without proper training or equipment. Non-entry rescue (retrieval systems, tripods, winches) must be planned wherever practical. If entry rescue is required, a trained rescue team with SCBA, communications, and defined rescue procedures must be on-site or immediately available before entry begins.
Content reviewed by Arliss Levine, CRSP, CHSC — lead safety instructor at Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety Calgary, an Energy Safety Canada Authorized Training Provider.
