• An attendant’s primary duty is to monitor and protect the entrants.
• The authorized attendant of a permit space must understand what hazards the space poses and what to do if they arise.

Authorized attendants of permit-required confined spaces are required to know enough about each space to perform their duties successfully. These duties include:

• Knowing the hazards that may be faced during entry and the mode, signs, symptoms, and consequences of exposure to these hazards;
• Maintaining an accurate count of entrants and ensuring that they are accurately identified;
• Remaining outside the space during entry operations until relieved by another attendant;
  • NOTE: If the entry program allows it, attendants may enter a permit space to attempt a rescue if they have been trained and equipped for rescue operations and if they have been relieved by another attendant.
• Communicating with entrants to monitor their status and to alert them to evacuate the space if necessary;
• Monitoring activities inside and outside the space to determine whether entrants may safely remain there;
• Ordering entrants to evacuate the space immediately under any of the following conditions:
  • The attendant detects a prohibited condition,
  • The attendant notices the behavioral effects of hazard exposure in an entrant,
  • The attendant detects a situation outside the space that could endanger the entrants, or
  • The attendant cannot effectively and safely perform all the required duties.
• Summoning rescue and other emergency services as soon as it is determined that entrants may need assistance escaping;
• Warning unauthorized personnel to stay away from the permit space, or telling them to exit the permit space if they have already entered it;
• Alerting entrants and the entry supervisor if unauthorized persons enter the space;
• Performing non-entry rescues, if specified by the employer’s rescue procedure; and
• Performing no duties that might interfere with the attendant’s primary duty to monitor and protect entrants.