Permit to Work System 📝

Permit to work (PTW) system is an integral part of a safe system of work and can assist in the management of work activities, including non-routine work. PTW is an important element of an effective safety and health management system. It is a formal authorisation system used in an organisation to control selected work activities to ensure safe execution of work on-site.

Normally, a permit to work involves 4 steps:

1. Highlighting potential hazards: Workers, guided by their supervisors, identify potential hazards and implement all necessary safety measures according to the PTW requirements.

2. Application of permit: The supervisor applies for permission to start work and submits the PTW application to the Safety Assessor when all the conditions in the PTW are met. The supervisor must indicate in the PTW that a risk assessment has been conducted for the required job, and the safety measures to be implemented.

3. The Safety Assessor, together with the supervisor, visits the work location to evaluate and verify that all safety requirements specified in the PTW have been fulfilled. The Assessor may recommend additional measures. Once this has been completed, the Assessor should endorse the PTW form and forward it to the Authorised Manager.

4. The Authorised Manager approves and issues the PTW when he/she is satisfied that the following requirements have been met:

   • All potential hazards and risks for the work have been adequately addressed.
   • All reasonably practicable safety measures have been taken.
   • All people involved in the work have been informed of the work hazards and precautions.
   • No incompatible work is carried out at the same time at the same location.

   Work should start only after the permit has been approved.

   The Authorised Manager, Safety Assessor and Supervisor must monitor the work continually to ensure that it is executed according to the permit.

   

Approval Workflow

An approval workflow is more than a sequence of tasks. With an approval workflow, it helps to standardise processes, establish organizational rules and set expectations. This, in turn, minimises mistakes, improves efficiency, prevents administrative mistakes, improves productivity and even the overall quality of work.

With an approval workflow, there shouldn’t be any questions about who is responsible for giving approval, when to expect a decision and what the next steps are in the process. This increase in transparency offers a unique opportunity to create order in a sequence of actions that could easily become disorderly without a framework.

When approval workflows are done manually, crucial time is wasted on tracking down spreadsheets and managing tons of paper rather than doing important work. By automating this process, unnecessary manual work can be eliminated, and the approval process can be automated and streamlined.

Approval workflows can range from collecting HR requests, processing job applications, IT tickets, etc. One of the commonly use-cases for my scope of work as a safety professional is managing the PTW system.

Why Digitise?

A digital PTW system brings along excellence in operational effectiveness and benefits like:

• Easier access and retrieval of PTW records in case of an audit.
• Keeping records safely in the cloud. Say goodbye to the thousands of paper forms.
• Facilitating coordination where multiple teams need to operate in the same areas.
• Getting real-time visibility on PTW applications at multiple locations
• Reducing administration time and costs with easy data entry and reporting.

Cost of Setup?

There are multiple SaaS solutions on the market and many times the solutions they offer are expensive to use and implement.

The purpose of this blog is to introduce low-cost no-code tools that can allow you to implement and customise the PTW system to suit your requirements with ease. Of course, with the lower cost, there are some Do-It-Yourself setups involved.

Tool required

The tool I strongly recommend is Jotform, one of the most established form builders in the world.

With Jotform, you can turn each form into a workflow step that automatically sends submissions to the correct recipient. Even better, you can view these submissions on every type of device, including smartphones. Its intuitive drag-and-drop user interface makes form building and workflow approvals building incredibly simple, and doesn't require you to write a single line of code.

Jotform is like an army knife with a suite of interconnected features. The features include functionalities like forms, tables with database functionality, reports and workflow approvals. In addition, the list of 3rd party integrations they have is really comprehensive, making it easy to automate and send your data to multiple SaaS solutions.

How to create a permit-to-work system with Jotform (Outline)

1. Create a Free Jotform account and login. Jotform offers a generous freemium plan. You may sign up for their paid plan when there is an increase in demand or use-cases.
2. Built the PTW e-form with the drag-and-drop builder.
3. Build the approval work-flow with the drag-and-drop builder.
4. Test and launch PTW form.

Additional Jotform Features

Notify users via email: Send approvers automated emails for every new PTW they receive. PTW applicants will receive personalized emails if their requests are approved or rejected.

View and manage all PTW submissions in one place with Jotform tables, an all-in-one spreadsheet-database hybrid.

Respond to submissions quickly with jotform inbox. PTW approvers can view and respond to pending approvals, and PTW form owners can track every step — so no task gets left behind.

Complete tasks on the go with jotform mobile app to manage your forms and approval flows from any device.

Get Started with building your first Digital Permit-to-Work System! - TRY JOTFORM FOR FREE!