Case Study: This Metallurgy Plant with its own hydro-electric Power Station required an electronic PTW system to help with communication – but all systems they saw were too complex, too expensive and too different from the paper systems they were used to. Pisys PTW delivered an easy-to-use, cost-effective and simple-to-implement solution.
The Challenge: High Standards and Costs
The company employs around 160 people, specifically trained for the various operations within the plant. They work to the most demanding Environmental, Quality and Health & Safety standards and hold registrations to ISO 14001:1996, ISO 9001:2000, OHSAS 18001:1999 and EMAS.
Permits were managed using paper pads, but this made communication across the large worksites difficult.
Most electronic PTW systems available on the market proved to be too expensive and too complex for their needs.
They needed a simple, cost-effective electronic system which would:
- improve visibility of permits across both the metallurgy plant and the power-station
- support the Permit surrender/re-issue process
- keep track of confined space entrants and continuous monitoring of the atmosphere (Note: this proved to be difficult to manage solely with an electronic system, and a combination of electronic and paper was adopted, as described below)
- handle Isolations as part of a single electronic system
When they saw Pisys PTW, the team were convinced that they had found a solution. The first question they asked was: ‘When can we have it?’
The Solution: Cost Effective PTW Software + Some Paper
The Pisys team took the company’s paper pads as the basis for a trial system – transferring questions and choosing a workflow that would be able to support the surrender/re- issue and handover processes.
For Confined Space and Atmosphere monitoring, a creative solution was required:
The company places much emphasis on the safety of Confined Space Entrants, keeping a close watch of people entering and leaving the space, and monitoring the atmosphere continuously.
To keep this system intact – even while the PTW system could not be accessed from all confined spaces – the company adopted a combination of electronic and paper-based management:
- Permits are created and issued electronically, and then printed out and taken to the work site.
- The Permit Printout has blank tables, which allow confined space entrants to handwrite their names and entry/leaving times.
- The form has a separate table for manually recording atmosphere test results.
- When a job is complete, the handwritten sections of the permit printout are scanned/photographed and attached as a record during permit close-out.
This process required fine-tuning during the software trial.
This customer also uses the Isolations Module, and a plot plan for the power plant and the metallurgy plant, which shows all permits as coloured dots in their work location.
They have 6 users on the system, and use it for Electrical, Confined Space, Hot Work and Working at Height, as well as Isolations.
The Result:
- Improved visibility of permits across both sites – with Plot Plans and the Electronic Permit Board
- Ease of implementation, as the permit workflow is based on their existing system
- A single system to keep track of Isolations and Permits
- The solution was cost-effective.
Find out more about Pisys PTW by visiting our Permit to Work page.