Permit to Work: Risks, Precautions and Considerations

 

In industrial settings, the day-to-day operations and maintenance work have their own share of risks. Overlooking such dangers and not taking the necessary precautions in time may lead to major accidents, severe injuries and even death. In addition to maintenance staff, any worker around the area where such operational activities are taking place is also at risk. 

Safety work permit systems and electronic permit to work systems are important for mitigating the risk involved in all these activities. Keep reading to know the risks, permit types and procedures that are crucial for ensuring safety throughout the facility.

Risk Factors in Industrial Settings

While the specifics of the types of dangers experienced by the workforce can differ considerably by industry, some hazards are common in the heavy industry world. The most common risk comes from the machinery itself that may cause serious injuries if the stored energy is released inappropriately. Some industries like paper, chemical and oil have ATEX zones where combustible dust and debris, and flammable gases can create an explosive environment.

Electrical dangers are also quite common. People working with live cables are at risk of sustaining severe injuries. 

Similarly, there is risk associated with “hot work” that includes welding, burning, cutting, grinding and brazing, as well as activities that involve ignition. Hot work hazards include burns, welding fumes that one could inhale, welding arcs that are bad for the eyes, etc. In the absence of a safety work permit, the likelihood of an accident increases.

Some maintenance tasks involve opening the pipelines. People working on these open pipelines are always at risk of suffering injuries due to corrosive substances, flammable liquids, steam, hazardous gases, and any pressurized material travelling across these pipelines.

Manufacturing and heavy industries have extreme work environments. For instance, some maintenance tasks involve working in confined spaces, where a worker might sustain severe injuries. Specific dangers include toxic environments, lack of oxygen, excessive heat and oxygen enrichment. 

Besides, these industries also involve gigantic machinery like cranes that usually carry suspended loads. If the load dislodges or drops accidently, it may crush or kill people underneath. Other crane-specific dangers involve overload, collisions with people working close by and contact with overhead electrical equipment.

Common Types of Safety Work Permits

Work permits are issued for industrial activities that involve particular hazards such as the ones discussed above. Below are some of the safety work permits issued in industrial environments:

Mechanical Work

This is issued when the maintenance staff require handling machinery with significant amounts of stored energy. The team will segregate the equipment to lower the risks it poses to the operations staff involved in activities like flange isolation with plate and spades, valve isolation, implementation of lock-out-tag-out (LOTO) procedures, purging of pipelines and so on. 

Additional precautions may include labelled zones, anti-static clothing, spark-free tools and ATEX-rated electrical equipment. There may still be some remaining risks while carrying out maintenance tasks that are addressed in the risk assessment and safe working procedure.

Electrical Work

A common example of a task where an electrical work permit might be required is replacing a non-functional motor, where insulation failure has occurred due to humidity. The motor must be isolated from the power source to mitigate risk of an accident.

Together with the use of permits and PPE, LOTO is perhaps the most common precautionary measure for electrical work. Several locks can be used, particularly when multiple maintenance professionals are working on the segregated equipment. 

While these steps lower risk, the likelihood of residual risks is always there. So, electricians must check if "dead" circuits are isolated prior to working on them.

Confined Spaces

Only qualified personnel should be allowed to work in such areas via a proper permit-to-work system. When properly trained maintenance staff enters these areas, emergency procedures are in place with a rescue team on standby and managers monitoring the task closely. 

Hot Work

Hot work permits must be issued only to professionals with the relevant training and experience. Other general precautions include fume removal equipment, use of cordons and barriers, fire extinguishers and blankets, PPE, etc. Again, there will be some residual risk, but with an advanced permit to work software system, this can be reduced acceptably. 

Line Breaks

Line break permits are required for opening pipelines for general maintenance and cleaning. Precautions are exercised to mitigate risks associated with these lines that include strictly following safety checklists, flange isolations, purging of lines, LOTO procedures and proper placement of warning signs and barriers in the vicinity. 

Cranes

The permits for cranes and other similar machinery are issued when maintenance workers need to use them for specific purposes. Only those with relevant certifications are given such permits.

Other general precautions include training, lift plans, barriers, lift limits, a human guide for the crane driver, and close vigilance for accident-specific risks. Despite having these processes in place, a super-cautious approach is key.

Companies with a comprehensive and dependable electronic permit to work system in place can lower the hazards discussed above to acceptable levels. 

Requesting and Getting Work Permits

A work permit is a formal validation that the maintenance team receiving it, is fully prepared with respect to tools, experience and training to manage the hazards associated with the tasks at hand. 

 * Initiation: A work order is sent out to notify the maintenance team of a problem that needs their attention. A risk assessment will then take place together with a job plan, outlining the necessary steps, safety checklists and required tools.

 * Permit Request: A maintenance team member will fill out a request form, having details of the job, which is then submitted to the permit originator.

 * Approval: If maintenance is not interfering with other tasks, the maintenance staff can fill out a permit-to-work form that generally has more details specific to the maintenance task to be carried out than what was mentioned in the request form. The former should be approved by a relevant manager. Site safety managers, control room operators, and employees nearby should be warned beforehand.

 * Work: Maintenance is carried out, with all the necessary precautions.

 * Sign-Off or Renewal: Once maintenance is over, the work permit is signed off. If a task needs more time to complete, the work permit needs to be renewed until the task gets completed.

Streamlining Work Permits with an Electronic Permit System

With an e permit to work system, you can be rest assured that all workers engaging in high-risk activities obtain pertinent work permits in an extremely streamlined and efficient manner. This helps avoid pricey non-compliance penalties from regulators, reduce unnecessary downtime and decrease the possibility of accidents.