An emergency response plan for industrial permit-required confined space entry is essential for employee safety and is legally required. However, maintaining a trained confined space rescue team is costly and technically challenging. Some employers turn to public fire departments to meet their emergency response requirements. The confined space emergency response practices of employers and fire departments have not been previously assessed. We present:
- federal data on the U.S. occurrence between 1992 and 2005 of confined space fatal incidents involving toxic and/or oxygen-deficient atmospheres;
- survey data from 21 large companies on permit-required confined space emergency response practices;
- data on fire department arrival times; and
- estimates by ten senior fire officers of fire department rescue times for confined space incidents.
