Checklist - Confined Space, Trench and Rope Rescue

This checklist audits three technical rescue programs: Confined Space Program (FSSMS-PRG-15) with Policy - Confined Space (FSSMS-POL-17), Trench and Structural Collapse Rescue Program (FSSMS-PRG-16) and Rope Rescue Program (FSSMS-PRG-17). It covers service levels and capacity, the department’s own confined spaces and planned entries, emergency rescue, designated rescue service agreements, gas detection, trench protective systems and shoring, the engineer and partner arrangements, collapse zones, rope systems and equipment, skill fade, learning, psychological safety and the three accountability loops. It is one of three sub-notes of audit category 14, Technical Rescue: Heights, Confined Space and Water (02 Audit Checklist Master Index), and rolls up with Checklist - Working at Heights and Fall Protection and Checklist - Water, Ice and Marine Operations.

A discipline the department does not provide above awareness is scored on items 1 to 4, the awareness training in items 17 and 19, and the learning items; the rest of its section is marked not applicable with the reason, and the auditor checks dispatch data for responses that contradict the declaration. Respiratory protection as a program is audited in Checklist - Respiratory Protection, and incident command in Checklist - Emergency Operations Safety.

Sampling follows 01 Audit Program section 8: every gas detector, retrieval device and shore; every permit from the last 12 months, or 30 if there are more; ten ropes and ten hardware items; for each active discipline, interviews with the team lead and two members and one observation of a drill, an evolution or a rigging check.

The CFAI column crosswalks each item to the 10th edition performance indicator it answers (CPSE, 2019); the 11th edition will be mapped when it applies.

1. Score D, I and E for each item 0 to 3, then derive the item score (01 Audit Program section 5).
2. Both-required evidence codes (D+I, D+O, O+I) need each type before I can exceed 1.
3. Weights C3, K2, S1; L items must score at least 2 or the category fails its legislated floor.
4. Category score = sum(weight x item score) / sum(weight x 3); the effectiveness index uses E. Report each discipline’s section on its own line as well as the total.
5. Record a finding, owner and due date for every item below 3; every major nonconformity (P1 (Imminent) or P2 (Serious) by risk) and minor nonconformity (P3 (Moderate)) goes to the Corrective Action Register within five working days, with the due dates its priority sets.

Loop test. Walk each program’s loop test (section 12 of each program) with its owner on a real event from the last year. If none exists, use this one: a member reports that a retrieval line in a station kit has no log and was last used in a training entry with no permit on file. The line should be quarantined that day; two items (the orphan line and the missing permit) should be in the register within five working days, rated P2 (Serious), with the rescue team lead as owner; the member should have an answer within 15 days; and within 30 days every kit should have been checked against its logs and every training entry in the year checked for a permit, with the change notice and the quarterly update showing the closure.

Answer from observation or interview only; record the evidence.

1. Watch the first minutes. At a no-notice confined space or trench drill, watch the first-arriving crew: who becomes the attendant or holds the lip, when the atmosphere is measured, and whether anyone moves toward the opening or onto the lip before monitoring and protection are in place. The programs are working when the crew holds the scene and names the attendant before anyone moves.
2. Pick a rope from a station kit and ask the member who last used it to walk through its history and the last system check before loading. The program is working when the log, the member’s account and the rope agree, and the member names who did the whistle test.
3. Ask three rescue team members separately, one of them a volunteer: “In the last year, have you stopped an entry, called people off a lip or stopped a load, or seen someone do it? What happened to that person? Did a concern you raised get an answer?” The programs are working when they describe a real stop, the thanks it got and an answered concern.

1. (Deputy chief or program manager) Show me the declarations and the measure that says you can staff them at 2 p.m. on a weekday.
2. (Rescue team lead) Show me the permit for the last training entry and the entry log beside it.
3. (Atmospheric tester) Bump this detector and tell me the action levels and the tubing delay.
4. (Attendant at a drill) What do you do if the entrant stops answering?
5. (Program manager) Show me the agreement with the last employer that named the department as its rescue service, and the drill in its space.
6. (Shoring custodian) Pick a shore: show me its last manufacturer test and this month’s inspection.
7. (Incident commander) Who is your on-call engineer, and when did dispatch last test the contact?
8. (Officer) Where was the collapse zone at the last defensive fire, and who held it?
9. (Rope team member) Show me the last pre-lower checklist and tell me who did the whistle test.
10. (Observe) A rigging evolution: anchors, belay, edge protection, tie-in at the edge, commands.
11. (Everyone) Who would you tell if you saw an unsafe entry, trench approach or rope system tomorrow, and what would happen?
12. (Everyone) What one thing about confined space, trench or rope rescue would you fix first?

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA]. (n.d.-c). Permit-required confined spaces (29 C.F.R. § 1910.146). U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.146

Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development [MLITSD]. (n.d.). Firefighter guidance notes (Section 21 Advisory Committee; individual notes revised to 2026). https://www.ontario.ca/document/firefighter-guidance-notes