📚 Guide by Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety — The Confined Space Entry Basics 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
This online Confined Space Entry course provides employees with the information they need to stay safe in Permit Spaces and helps employers stay in compliance with OSHA requirements… whether they are doing general industry or construction type work. OSHA’s May 2015 Confined Spaces in Construction regulation (CFR 29 1926 Subpart AA) includes specific requirements for construction activities in confined spaces, and clarifies many of the rules included in its Permit-Required Confined Spaces Standard for General Industry (29 CFR Part 1910.146). The Construction Standard can also apply to many employers not normally considered to be construction-type businesses. Topics covered in the program include reducing risk with a Permit Space Program; the entry permit; testing for hazardous atmospheres; attendants and evacuation; and more. Using a powerful combination of audio, full-motion video, text and colorful graphics, this course provides the most cost-effective safety and regulatory compliance training available today.
COURSE TOPICS
This online Confined Space Entry course covers the following topics:
- Reducing risk with a Permit Space Program
- The Entry Permit
- Testing for hazardous atmospheres
- Making a space as safe as possible
- A step-by-step approach to safe entry
- Attendants and evacuation
- And more
ONLINE COURSE DURATION
Approximately 45 minutes
PASS MARK
Testing conducted throughout this online course is designed to reinforce the information presented. A mark of 80% must be achieved in order to pass this course. The course is able to be taken three times in efforts to achieve the pass mark. Printable resources are available in the form of a comprehensive student manual. The manual is a valuable resource for future use and knowledge retention.
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
Upon successful completion of this online course, a certificate of completion will be available for download and printing.
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 Entry Basics — 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.
