CASE STUDY
Pisys Help Speedier Permit To Work Approvals in Agritech
Summary
This agricultural technology company introduced Pisys Permit to Work software at one of their R&D Sites as part of an efficiency drive. They achieved a speedier approvals process, knowledge of where contractors were working within their site and a site-wide overview for all ongoing work on a plot plan.
Background
The client is a large agritech company, performing R&D at it’s UK site consisting of a vast research greenhouse, laboratories, office buildings and a 640-acre working farm.
The company has a long history in the UK, with sites dating back more than a century. Their capabilities lie in both Crop Protection solutions and Seeds, supporting a wider, industry-leading, global operation helping them to make a significant contribution to global farmers and the global food supply.
Challenge
The sheer size of the site presented its own challenges: the company’s Permit To Work process required three authorisation signatures on a paper permit before it can be issued. Often, permit creators did not know who to ask for their signature, and where to find them. This caused delays when contractors arrived to carry out work under a permit, and the permit was not ready to be issued.
A faster way to obtain authorisations in readiness for permit issue was needed.
Solution
Pisys transferred the company’s existing permit questions from their paper forms onto the PTW software. The existing approvals workflow was retained. It was important to keep a degree of flexibility in terms of the order in which the pre-issue approvals would happen. This kept the system simple and made training straightforward.
The switch to the electronic system went smoothly during a two-day Risk/Permit Training Workshop run by the Company’s own HSE team. Pisys supplied a software trainer for one of the days. Two weeks later, all paper permit to work pads were taken out of circulation and kept as a backup only.
Result
Nowadays, thanks to going digital with Pisys Permit To Work, personnel can view all permits requiring pre-issue authorisations and add their initials electronically from their PCs, tablets or mobile phones. Before the final permit issue to contractors, a worksite visit takes place .
PTW has not replaced vital worksite visits (and paper copies are still displayed there), but it has greatly reduced the time it takes from creation to issue of permits and improved the overall efficiency of the permit process.
In the Project office, there is now a new screen which displays a plot plan of the whole site, with coloured dots showing where the work is taking place. This means that HSE and project personnel can see where on the site people are working, and what contractors are on premise.
IMPROVED
Efficiency
FASTER
Processing
RAPID
Adoption
Testimonial
Pisys have been absolutely brilliant, so helpful, nothing was too much trouble for them
Pisys Permit to work system is fully customisable and supports compliance with HSE/ISO/OHSAS Standards
It can be adapted to support your existing Control of Work or HSE Management System and is compatible with HSE Guidance on Electronic Permit to Work Systems, as per HSG250 and because existing control of work systems can be transferred onto PTW, set-up & training times are kept to a minimum. Our Permit to Work system integrates with the Action Tracker and Task Risk Manager modules of the Pisys 360 Suite.