Back to Basics Below Ground: Confined Space Training for M&N Civil Engineering During the CIF Safety Campaign 2026. As part of the CIF Construction Safety Campaign 2026, Industry Training Services (ITS) delivered practical confined space training to M&N Civils team for PJ Hegarty & Sons at Dublin.
The sessions were led by ITS’s Brendan Crealey (Company Director). They brought this year’s campaign theme, Back to Basics, to one of construction’s highest-risk activities: entering and working in confined spaces.
What is the CIF Construction Safety Campaign?
The Construction Industry Federation’s annual safety campaign ran from 12 to 23 October 2026, covering the European Week for Safety and Health at Work. For a second year, the theme is Back to Basics.
The thinking is simple. Most incidents on site don’t happen because people set out to take risks. They happen when routine tasks become too familiar, hazards get overlooked or someone assumes a check has already been done. The campaign asks companies to step back, review how they manage safety and, above all, talk to their teams.
Why confined space safety starts with the basics
For a civil engineering contractor, confined spaces are part of everyday work: manholes, chambers, tanks, deep excavations, culverts and ducts. Because the work is routine, the danger is that it starts to feel routine too.
The hazards don’t change, though. Oxygen-deficient or toxic atmospheres, flammable gases, flooding and engulfment can all turn a familiar job into an emergency within minutes. And when something goes wrong in a confined space, untrained rescue attempts too often put a second person in danger.
That’s why confined space work in Ireland is covered by its own legislation, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Confined Spaces) Regulations 2001, and why getting the basics right before every single entry matters so much.
Practical confined space training across M&N sites
M&N Civils is a long-established groundworks and civil engineering contractor working on major projects across the greater Dublin area, from deep basement excavations to large data centre, commercial and residential developments.
Brendan’s sessions took training out of the classroom and onto the sites where the M&N Civils teams actually work. In line with the campaign theme, they focused on:
- Careful preparation: reviewing the job, the risk assessment and the permit before anyone goes near the entry point
- Understanding the controls: atmospheric testing, ventilation, isolation, the right equipment and a rescue plan in place before entry
- Clear communication: between the entrant, the top person and the wider site team, before, during and after entry
- Speaking up: asking questions, sharing experience and seeking guidance when something isn’t right
Practical, on-site training gives teams the chance to do exactly that. Operatives and supervisors could ask questions, compare experiences from different sites and revisit the safety measures that matter in their day-to-day work.
As M&N Civils put it in their own post about the sessions, familiarity with a task should never mean taking its risks for granted.
Thank you to M&N Civils Engineering and PJ Hegarty & Sons
A big thank you to M&N Civils Engineering for inviting us onto their sites, to PJ Hegarty & Sons for hosting, and to every operative and supervisor who took part with such commitment to looking after themselves and their colleagues.
It’s great to see contractors at every level of the supply chain getting behind the CIF campaign and putting real time into their people’s safety.
Confined space training from ITS
ITS delivers practical confined space training for construction, civil engineering, utilities and other high-risk sectors across Ireland. Our one-day [confined space safe entry, escape BA and self-rescue course] view Dublin Course runs at our Dublin centre, and we can bring training to your site with our mobile unit, tailored around the spaces your teams actually enter.
Planning confined space training or toolbox talks for your teams?
Get in touch:
- Dublin 10: 01 891 6105
- Portadown: 028 3839 8700
- Email: bookings@industrytrainingservices.com
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