The Benefits of Permit to Work

THE BENEFITS OF PERMIT TO WORK

Hello there, this is Goke Akingbade (your Safety guide) , with another educative topic on workplace health and safety to consider. Today, we will be discussing about permit to work systems. You might have come across the term ”Permit to work” or PTW and wonder what it actually means.

WHAT IS PERMIT TO WORK? The truth of the matter is that some job tasks are potentially hazardous, so we need to adequately control such , thus it is imperative to implement a permit to work system. A permit to work is an organized process used in authorizing controlled work that have high risk potentials. It entails issuing an authorized document by a client who has assigned a contractor to perform a high risk non-routine job on their behalf.

This helps supervisors, managers to be able to identify what tasks require a permit to work, who will be assigned responsibility for a particular role and who can close a permit, and also the responsibilities of a contractor will also be stated. A permit to work document can be paper-based or digitized, and should essentially have the following: Adequate authorizations from assigned persons throughout the management of the permit. The roles and responsibilities for a particular task. Identified hazards that workers are exposed during the duration of the work. Accurate description of the the job stating a time-line, scope of work and clear instructions on how to perform the given task. A record to show the status of the work permit- whether closed, cancelled or re-issued. Some examples of high risk work that will require a permit to work document are: Hot work. Work at Height. Electrical installations. Work done in a confined space. Excavation. Building Demolition. Cold work. Working on or near an unguarded machinery. Any maintenance work involving potential exposure to asbestos. Any work identified through risk assessment. You will notice something that most of these jobs are done in construction. Note: It is not only construction related jobs that will require a permit to work system put in place. Any work that has inherent high risk activities requires a permit to work.

TYPES OF WORK PERMIT Let us now consider the types of permit to work document. Hot Work Permit: Any work that leads to production of sparks,flames or any other ignition source. Examples include welding,soldering, flammable gases and other heat inducing operations Work at Height Permit:Work done on elevated spaces (2m from the ground), be it ladders, scaffolds, mobile elevated working platform and other spaces that are off the ground requires the authorization of a work permit. Falls from height account for a high percentage in workplace accidents. The level of the height can also determine the severity of the injury asides the high likelihood of an injury being incurred. Energized Electrical Installations: Any work done near high tension line, low tension work, work performed near live electrical components de-energized of the equipment ought to be done so as to avoid an accident by electric shock. If maintenance needs to done on a pump , belt conveyor, the equipment should first be de-energized before commencement of the work. If it requires a personnel getting inside the equipment, then the Lockout Tagout procedure should be followed. Confined Space Entry permit: It is also called Vessel entry. Some workplaces have areas that are considered to be a Confined Space. It is considered to be the most critical work, so extra due diligence needs to be taken when issuing a confined space permit. Examples of Confined space work are: 1.Spark test in the reactor 2.Rubber lining inside the tank 3. Cleaning of reactor, tank and tower. e. Excavation work permit: This refers to digging a hole, removal of soil. This work permit is usually needed in a construction site. Excavation work permit is needed if certain work needed to perform below the ground level of depth more than 1.5m. If the depth is less than 1.5m, then barricading is compulsory so as to safeguard the person getting into the hole. This is where we will be stopping for now, so till I come your way again, this is Goke Akingbade(your Safety guide) signing off.