WEST VALLEY, N.Y. - EM and its cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project recently conducted training to safely rescue an injured person from a confined space.
CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley's (CHBWV) Pat Douglass and Steve Wedvik, who also serves as a West Valley Volunteer Hose Company assistant fire chief, held the training for employees at an onsite excavation work zone.
“This type of training is great," CHBWV’s Eric Fuller said. “Training that employs hands-on learning with real-life applications is better than being inside four walls."
The trainees learned to use tools and equipment for rescue, including, a trench box, harnesses, ladders, ropes, and pulleys.
Each employee entered the trench to rescue a life-sized mannequin in various scenarios.
“It’s not just enough to learn something new," Wedvik said. "It’s even more important to take what you’ve learned and be able to apply that learning to different challenges."
Employees trained inside a 30-foot-long, 3-foot-deep trench with a 6-foot-deep pit on one end. Workers had excavated the space to isolate utilities to remove an old Low-Level Liquid Waste Treatment Facility pad.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
