Companies make considerable efforts to ensure the safety of their operations and to protect the health and safety of their employees. Among all the control and prevention measures implemented, the work permit system is a key tool for managing workplace safety.
A work permit is a document that specifies the task to be performed, the associated hazards and the security measures to be implemented.
In terms of form, work permits were traditionally in paper form or office file format. The disadvantages of this format limit its overall effectiveness. Indeed, as EHS we are often confronted with frustrations related to this process:
The consequences of these constraints can be dramatic, the frequency and severity of workplace accidents are closely linked to safety management on construction sites.
In the oil and energy sector, for example, issues related to safety and risk management are crucial. Inadequate work permit procedures have contributed to devastating industrial accidents in recent years, such as explosions, gas leaks and fires in some companies around the world (see Health and safety executive report).
So can we make it easier to manage work permits? In the digital era, companies chose to implement the digital work permit.
What is a digital work permit?
First, let us explain what we mean by a digital work permit system. I often hear people think of this as simply using a computer as a means of generating and printing a paper version of a work permit rather than manually doing it in the form of a paper-based work permit.
A digital work permit is way more than that, it provides a consistent and effective visual interface for work management and monitoring and allows for quick and efficient decision-making.
It provides users with complete visibility regarding the status of all permits (even from other remote sites), making it easier to manage security instructions and take action against risks. Furthermore, the digital work permit helps to automatically identify everything that has expired. For example: authorizations and training of staff or late work permits.
In practice, what are the operational advantages of a digital work permit compared to the paper version?
Digitized work permit: the benefits
As mentioned above, the manual preparation of work permits can be tedious and time consuming with the risk of information loss.
There are so many potential benefits of choosing the digital work permit, here are some examples:
Simplify OHS compliance work
In the end, digitized work permit is a very effective option for many companies where permits are regularly requested. Digitization offers many benefits, both in terms of the efficiency of operations and in the collection of valuable information.
One criterion not to be overlooked in choosing such a solution is to ensure that it complies with the company's OHS requirements and provides a high level of user-friendliness.
Go further :
> Digitize permits to work with the Bluekango solution.