How the Permit Fits into Control of Work
The layers of control of work around a permit, and how to choose the right level of control for a task.
11 min
Activities: 0 of 2
One tool among several
Control of work is the whole set of arrangements an organisation uses to make sure work on its plant is planned, assessed, authorised, carried out and closed safely. The permit to work is the most visible part of it, but it is not the whole of it. A permit depends on good planning before it, on isolations and gas tests beside it, and on supervision and handback after it.
People who treat the permit as the entire system make a common mistake. They focus on the form and forget the work. A perfect form cannot protect a crew if the risk assessment behind it was weak or the isolation was never proved.
The layers of control of work
- 1
1
Work identification and planning
The job is defined: what, where, which equipment, which method, which people.
- 2
2
Risk assessment
Hazards are identified and controls chosen. For a task, this is often a job safety analysis (JSA), which breaks the job into steps and lists the hazards and controls for each.
- 3
3
Permit and certificates
The permit authorises the work under stated conditions. Certificates attached to it record specific controls, such as isolations and gas tests.
- 4
4
Briefing
The crew hears the hazards, controls and permit conditions, often in a toolbox talk at the worksite.
- 5
5
Execution and monitoring
The work is supervised and the permit conditions are checked in the field.
- 6
6
Handback and close-out
The plant is returned to the owner in a known, safe state, and lessons are recorded.
Matching the level of control to the task
Work covered by a written procedure and normal supervision, with no permit. Example: changing a filter on an office air unit.
Two workplace cases
Case 1: permits for everything. A plant required a permit even for cleaning windows. Each issuing authority had more than thirty live permits a day. Site visits stopped, and permits were signed in the control room. When a real hazard appeared, the system had no attention left for it.
Case 2: the missing layer. A contractor received a correct hot work permit, but nobody had prepared a task risk assessment. The permit did not mention that the work was under a pipe rack carrying a flammable liquid line with a weeping flange. The permit was valid on paper but blind to the real hazard.
A site wants to reduce the workload on its issuing authorities. Which change best keeps control of high-risk work?
Put the layers of control of work in order
- 1Execution and monitoring
- 2Briefing the crew
- 3Risk assessment
- 4Work identification and planning
- 5Handback and close-out
- 6Permit and certificates