Step 3 of 5•18 minutes read
Hot Work Permit
A Permit to Work (PTW) is a part of the Safety Management System (SMS) that each ship is mandated to have by the International Safey Management (ISM) Code. A PTW helps formalise the safety-critical jobs on board, by enforcing safety routines and correct management of dangerous tasks. A PTW is required when the task is sufficiently hazardous and could impact in the safety of personnel working on the task or even in the vicinity.
For the permit system to be effective it must control all hazards and unsafe conditions. To achieve this, all of those working on the task must be informed of the risks, hazards, and control measures before commencing the work. The systems themselves must also be regularly reviewed to ensure that the latest advice and safety procedures, as well as the latest safety techniques and equipment are being utilised.
The Hot Work Permit should be issued immediately before the work is to be performed.
Planning and Preparations
A planned hot work is often an improvement action of something (e.g. building shelves inside a locker) or repairing of a component that could not, or did not need to be repaired at the time it broke down. Unplanned hot work often depends on a non-conformity within the process which has to be corrected immediately. Whatever the time span of the planning is, it has to be done correctly and according to any available procedures.
A hazard is a situation and/or source of energy that has the potential to cause harm to the health and safety of people, damage to the vessel and equipment, or have an environmental effect.
Be aware! Not all hazards can be detected by the senses. For example radiation or carbon monoxide.
It is not only important to identify the hazards which are directly connected to the hot work, but also the dynamic hazards that are affected by the environment and staff.
A hazard might be a rock balancing on the very end of a mountain crest. But is it a risk? The question is “to whom or what?” If there’s no one below the crest it is not a risk (it is still a hazard). If a person is climbing up on the rock he/she will become “the who” and there is a risk as well as a hazard. So a hazard is an actual capacity of an object to cause harm, whereas risk depends on the situation.
When all hazards and risks have been identified and all other relevant facts been collected, it is time to create a job safety analysis which will be used as a tool for the involved staff. When assessing hazards and risks, it shall be done by rough approximation and without lengthy discussion. Potentially high-risk hazards need more detailed assessment.
Control measures are used to control hazards and include actions that can be taken to reduce the potential of exposure to the hazard. The control measure could also be to remove the hazard or to reduce the likelihood of exposure to that hazard. A simple control measure would be the secure guarding of moving parts of machinery eliminating the potential for contact. When we look at control measures we often refer to a hierarchy of control measures.
Notification to Shore Management
It is becoming more common within all marine sectors that the shore management should be notified and give its approval prior to commencing a hot work on board the vessel. The notification should include details of the work to be performed, the location of the hot work and the procedure to be used. This requires company specific procedures that instruct the vessel crew on how to notify, if the hot work is taking place outside office hours, in order to get the approval without delaying the vessel’s activities.
ERIC Prevent Death (ERICPD)
When controlling hazards the following hierarchy should be used:
If you do not take the risk there will be no problem.
If doing the job, how can you reduce the exposure, frequency, or impact of the work?
If you cannot eliminate or reduce the risk, then separate yourself from the hazard.
Engineer the hazard away by redesigning a process or removing the hazard from the person.
PPE is always the last line of defence and should not be relied upon to remove all hazards.
All persons involved in the task must understand the risks and comply with all safety measures at all times to ensure the safety of the task, themselves, and others.
Precautions Before Work Commences
All work on board has to be risk assessed, and all risk assessments have to be documented. If all steps are carried out carefully and thoughtfully, it is possible to use the documents as guidelines when carrying out the work. This also means that the staff needs to follow the documents and the procedures. Any sidestep has to be risk assessed, and if the new way of work does not follow already written documents or procedures, a Management Of Change (MOC) has to be filed.
If the hot work is carried out inside a cargo tank or in any other space containing rests of flammable liquids, sludge or other deposits liable to give off fumes, it should be cleaned before the hot work starts. The tank should be isolated and secured against any dangerous substances by blanking off pipelines or other openings and by closing valves. Valves should then be lashed, or in some other way show that they are not to be opened. Lastly, a notice must be placed on all relevant controls. Credit: Manel & Sean on Unsplash.
If the hot work is carried out inside an enclosed space or in any other area where the flow of air is in any way restricted, ventilation before and during the hot work is needed. The area needs to be thoroughly ventilated, either by natural or mechanical means. Do not use compressed oxygen to ventilate any space. The space then should be tested to ensure harmful gases are removed and no pockets of oxygen deficient atmosphere remain.
Ventilation should continue during the period that area is occupied, but also during temporary breaks. In the event of a failure of the ventilation system, all staff in the workspace need to leave immediately.
If the hot work has to be carried out at the same time as another repair work on the same component it is called SIMOP. SIMOP's require more planning since more people are involved with a different scope of work. When assessing the SIMOP situation, the result might be that one of the parties has to hold back until another party has completed its work.
Holding Toolbox Talks is an excellent and quick way of increasing safety awareness at grass root level. The team, with the purpose of improving safety and health by directly involving everyone in issues that are important to them.
In all cases, nothing is stronger than its weakest link. Compliance with agreed procedures is mandatory to reduce or eliminate the risk of someone getting injured."
The Permit Procedure
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Work is planned.
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The job site is checked and a risk assessment is carried out.
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A PTW is identified as being required by the risk assessment.
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Permit conditions and all preparations are carried out, gas testing done, isolation made, and the register filled in.
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Toolbox Talk carried out. equipment is checked and positioned.
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Permits are checked at the work site with all signatures and, if accepted, PTW is posted at the site and bridge.
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Work starts and is monitored closely by all signatories.
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Work is completed, PTW closed, equipment returned, and ready for next job.
Isolations
Before commening work, there may be isolations as part of the risk assessment or PTW process. This can take one of two forms:
Lockout
A lockout is the isolation of energy from the system which physically locks the system in a safe mode. The energy-isolating device can be a manually operated disconnect switch, a circuit breaker, a line valve, or a block.
Push buttons, selection switches, and other circuit control switches are not considered energy-isolating devices. In most cases, these devices will have loops or tabs that can be locked to a stationary item in a safe position. The locking device can be any device that has the ability to secure the energy-isolating device in a safe position.
The process of tagging out a system involves attaching or using an indicator, usually a standardised label.
Tag out
Tag out is a labeling process that is always used when a lockout is required. The process of tagging out a system involves attaching or using an indicator, usually a standardised label, that includes the following information:
- Why the tag out is required.
- Time of application of the tag.
- The name of the authorised person who attached the tag to the system.
Only the authorised person who placed the tag onto the system is permitted to remove it. This procedure makes sure that the system cannot be started up without the authorised person’s knowledge.