John Fairclough, UK Head of Health, Safety & Environment at Refresco, was responsible for helping the business move from its established paper permit process to a digital Permit to Work system. He described the key challenges.

With six busy manufacturing plants, there is significant interaction between production teams, engineers and contractors on a day-to-day basis.

Historically, this activity was coordinated using paper permits. Refresco had been considering how to improve the process for a number of years, with one of the main objectives being to provide much better visibility of work taking place across its sites — particularly high-risk activities.

Under the paper-based approach, understanding what work was taking place could involve contacting several people or locating the relevant physical permit. This made it more difficult for HSE managers, engineering managers and operational teams to obtain an immediate overview of live activities.

Refresco wanted to move to a digital system that would provide a consistent process while making permit information accessible to the people who needed it.

John was already familiar with Pisys from a previous role and identified Pisys Permit to Work as a suitable solution for moving Refresco from paper permits into a digital environment.

Implementation was approached as a wider change-management project rather than simply installing a new system.

Refresco developed a UK Permit to Work standard defining how permits should operate across all sites. Pisys PTW was then integrated into that procedure, with workflows, training materials and user sessions built around the new process. Time was spent with stakeholders at individual sites, sometimes on a one-to-one basis, to support adoption.

The rollout was completed in phases. Contractor permits were introduced first, followed by internal high-risk permits for Refresco’s own engineering teams.

Contractor adoption was particularly straightforward. The Pisys interface required relatively little change to the way contractors interacted with a permit: instead of reading and signing a paper document, they could review the permit electronically and continue to sign on and off the job.

For internal teams, Refresco took a deliberate approach to change management. Once the digital system was introduced, paper permits were removed so that Pisys became the single source of permit information. Early adopters quickly became advocates for the system, helping encourage wider adoption across the sites.

One of the biggest benefits has been visibility.

HSE managers, engineering managers, safety managers and production team leaders can now access the Pisys dashboard and see what is happening at a site in real time.

Where previously someone seeing a contractor at work might have needed to make several phone calls or locate a paper permit to establish what work was taking place, they can now access the system and immediately see the relevant permit, the activity being carried out and who is responsible for the job.

The system has also improved traceability and auditability. Supporting information such as contractor RAMS — risk assessments and method statements — can be attached directly to the permit, bringing the information required to understand and control a job together in one place.

John also highlights the importance of the implementation support provided by Pisys. During the first few months of the project, the Refresco and Pisys teams worked collaboratively to resolve issues and refine workflows as the system became embedded. Regular calls enabled questions or problems to be worked through quickly, helping the project overcome the inevitable hurdles associated with introducing a new system across multiple manufacturing sites.

For John, successful digitalisation is about more than the technology itself. Combining the software with clear procedures, training and stakeholder engagement has been central to achieving adoption across the business.

“When you roll out a digital system, you can’t just give the site the system and expect the adoption you want. You need to think about the whole process end to end.”