Inspect a sewer by camera and plan a confined space entry

You are a network maintenance operator preparing to lead your first confined space entry.

Simulated workplaceIntermediate missionCAQA ClearFlow Water

What is going on

Work order WO-26-4428 covers a camera inspection of 300 metres of 150 millimetre vitrified clay sewer in Kialla township between manhole S-1102 and S-1106, where repeated blockages suggest root intrusion. The camera gets 110 metres from S-1102 before a root mass stops it. The Crew Leader has decided that the roots must be cut from the downstream manhole and that an entry to S-1104 will be needed to set the cutter and recover a stuck camera skid. The manhole is 3.2 metres deep on a road verge. Jordan Reyes wants you to prepare the entry permit as a draft for review, with every control specified, and to record the camera findings.

Jordan Reyes, Network Maintenance Crew Leader
Subject: Sewer camera inspection and possible entry at Kialla

Work order WO-26-4428 is a camera inspection of 300 metres of clay sewer in Kialla township where we suspect root intrusion. Start with the camera from manhole S-1102 and only plan an entry if the camera cannot get through. If entry is needed, I want you to prepare the Confined Space Entry Permit yourself under the Confined Space Entry Procedure, including the gas test plan, isolation of upstream flow, standby person and rescue plan, and put it in the Permit to Work Register as a draft for me to check before it is issued. Record the camera findings on the work order.

Your brief

Complete the camera inspection, record and code the defects found, decide whether entry can be avoided, and where it cannot, prepare a complete Confined Space Entry Permit with hazards, isolations, gas testing, ventilation, standby, rescue and communication controls as a draft in the Permit to Work Register for the Crew Leader to check.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

Read the Confined Space Entry Procedure and the confined space entry section of the Occupational Health and Safety Policy and list the conditions under which entry is permitted.
Record the camera inspection findings on work order WO-26-4428 with chainage, defect type, severity and the location where the camera stopped, using digital images as evidence.
Consider and document the options for clearing the roots and recovering the skid without entry, and state why entry to S-1104 is required.
Identify the hazards of S-1104 including atmosphere, flow, depth, traffic and weather, and describe the isolation of upstream flow with a plug at S-1103.
Specify the gas test plan: detector bump test, readings at three depths, the acceptable limits for oxygen, hydrogen sulfide and flammable gas, and the ventilation time before entry.
Complete the Confined Space Entry Permit form with entrants, standby person, retrieval equipment, communication method and a rescue plan that the standby person can carry out without entering.
Enter the permit in the Permit to Work Register at status Draft and write a note to the Crew Leader on what you want checked before it is issued.
Consult the control centre on traffic control and the timing of the flow isolation and record the arrangements on the permit.

My notes: what did I enjoy, and what surprised me?

What someone in this role would produce

Camera inspection record on the work order with coded defects
Entry avoidance assessment
Completed Confined Space Entry Permit at Draft in the register
Note to the Crew Leader listing the controls to be verified

Printing this is a record of what you explored. It is not a certificate or a qualification.