OHS/OCP-68

Work Permit System

1. PURPOSE

The work Permit System is designed and intended to specify adequate safety
measures in advance against identified hazards and stipulate implementation of the
said safety measures by permittee to ensure safe execution of work in the
designated workplace.

2. ACTIVITIES REQUIRING PERMIT

At Thermax before start of the activity it requires a risk assessment to be undertaken to

ensure any risks to employees, contractors or members of the public are adequately
controlled. The risk assessment will identify the hazards and risks arising out of the
activity and the control measures or safeguards required to control them.

A Permit to Work is required where a risk assessment identifies there is considerable

risk either to plant or personnel calling for special safeguards, and shall be issued for:

 Working in confined space

 Working in a known asphyxiating atmosphere
 Carrying out hot work in specified location
  Carrying out cold work
 Working at P&M and other power driven equipment
 Giving clearance for excavation work
 Carrying out electrical work (High Tension/ Low Tension)
 Working at height
 Other work where a risk assessment identifies the need for a Permit to Work.

In addition to the permit to work system other precautions may need to be taken,
which should be identified in the risk assessment and any method statement.

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3. DEFINATIONS

a. Competent person is a person (generally the area in charge or the person

delegated this responsibility) having the ability, appropriate training, knowledge
and experience to supervise and / or carry out the work being undertaken in a
safe and proper manner. Competent persons are listed below.
EPC Sites
1. Contractor’s Engineers.
2. Supervisors
O&M Sites
1. Maintenance Manager
2. Engineer
3. Technicians

An Authorizing person is a person (generally the site in-charge or the line manager
or the person delegated this responsibility by site in-charge) deemed competent and
appointed by the Responsible Person to verify procedures and/or to authorize
procedures and Permits to Work.

EPC Site:
1. Area Engineers.
2. Site In charge.
O&M Site:
1. Shift In charge.
2. Station Manager.

b. Responsible person is the person appointed by the Organization into the

position of Station Head or the person delegated this responsibility by Project
Head responsible for the authorization and application of all or part of this
procedure.
c. Work Permit Issuer – Work permit shall be issued by TL Shift in charge only.
d. Work Permit receiver – Work permit receiver shall be TL Engineer.
e. Authentication – Site Safety officer shall ensure isolation, zero energy,
LOTOTO, JSA, TBT and checklist compliance.
f. Validity – A work permit is valid till the duration specified in the permit, duration
shall not exceed 12 hours.
g. Extension: When there is change in surroundings like sunset, wind speed, gas
concentration or work extending beyond the day etc. permit has to be renewed
with inspection of area by authoring person. Fresh permit is to be issued
when there is change in persons working under the permit.
h. Multiple Permits: It may be necessary to issue several Permits to Work during
the undertaking of complex operations. It is the responsibility of the Authorizing.
Person to ensure there are no conflicting operations being carried out on or off the
site.
i. Self-Authorized Permits: Authorizing Persons shall not authorize a Permit to
themselves, or delegate the issue to any other person not authorized to do so.
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Work Permit System

j. Place of Issue: The Authorizing Person should issue the Permit to Work on site at
the location of the proposed works following a personal inspection

h. Individual Responsibility: No person is absolved from the responsibility for their

own safety or that of others. Any person may ask for any reasonable additional
safety precautions to be taken.
i. Competent Person Responsibilities: A permit to Work shall be issued to the
Competent Person who must be in continuous attendance at the site and who is
deemed responsible for the works being undertaken. The Competent Person doing
permitted work, or in charge of a group of persons doing permitted work shall
remain on site and must produce the Permit to Work immediately when requested.
The Permit to Work should be displayed at site wherever practicable. An on-going
appraisal of the site conditions should be made to verify the continued validity of
the Permit. The frequency of the appraisal is dependent upon changing site
conditions, other activities on site and the nature of the work involved under the
Permit.
j. Authorizing Person Responsibilities: The Authorizing Person should visit site
(when issuing a Permit to Work) to confirm that the conditions of the Permit can
be met. They should brief the Competent Person, advise any other persons (on or
off site) who may be affected accordingly and satisfy themselves that the work can
proceed in a safe manner.
k. Transferability: The Permit to Work is not transferable, if the Competent Person
is unable to continue the work (e.g. due to illness) the Authoring Person shall brief
and nominate a new Competent Person and endorse the changes on the Permit.
l. The issuing authority inspects the work spot and once he is satisfied that the
situation is safe, closes the permit.
m. A copy of permit shall be sent to Safety officer for his information when
issuing/closing the permit.
n. In case the client desires that their work permit system is to be implemented, then
the same is followed.

Scope –

Issuer of Work Permit

The issuer of the work permit should

 Be responsible for determining the nature and extent of the job to be carried out,
possible Hazards and the necessary precautionary measures to be taken prior to
issuing the permit.
 Ensure that necessary isolations (electrical/process/mechanical/instrumentation etc)
are carried out
 Ensure Zero energy/power
 Provide acceptor with necessary Method Statements / Risk Assessments (where
applicable)

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 Take assistance of maintenance manager/officer in carrying out above

responsibilities in case of an engineering job.
 Ensure that necessary precautionary measures are taken prior to authorizing the
permit.
 For jobs directly under charge of the Issuer, the Issuer of WP shall …
a) Select competent people for the job
b) Be responsible for explaining the safe Work Method to the persons carrying out the job
provide them with proper tools / PPE
c) Be overall responsible for the job.

Acceptor of the Work Permit

The acceptor of the work permit should

 Assist the issuer / maintenance officer in hazard identification and developing
Method
 Statement (if required)
 Provide the issuer / maintenance officer the names of all persons carrying out the
job
 Be responsible for explaining fully to his subordinates the nature of the hazards
involved in carrying out the task and any precautions necessary to protect others
who may be in the area.
 Ensure that the nature and extent of the work does not differ from that described in
the
 Permit and that all persons under his control understand the precautions that they
are required to take

System Audit for checking effectiveness of the WP system

 It is very essential to understand the effectiveness of the work permit system and
this can be achieved through regular system audits.
 The Site Safety representative or EHS department shall conduct formal audit of WP
system covering all defined areas at site, at least once in a month, to confirm its
appropriateness and full compliance to all provisions of this Standard.
 The audit shall be carried out using a checklist developed based on this Standard.
Formal audit reports shall be prepared and appropriate corrective actions identified
 The Safety department head and project head shall personally carry out random
checks of Work permits records.

4. PROCEDURE:
Sequence detailed below should be followed during the execution of work permit.
a. Identify activity.
b. Carry out risk assessment for the activity and check if activity requires work permit.
c. Work execution team shall take permission to work from concern dept. and
take signature of concern permission given dept. person on permit.
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d. Before starting the activity covered under work permit system (WPS) the
concerned supervisor (permittee - the competent person) fills work permit
form after satisfying all the conditions mentioned in the permit and sends it to
the authorizing staff.
e. On receipt of the filled permit, the authorizing person inspects the work spot, fills
the permit and authorizes the permittee to work.
f. Safety officer will be monitoring the procedure of permit to work. He will
inspect the work place for compliance to the permit requirements.
g. Confined space entry and hot work permits require approval from safety officer or
site In- charge / Station Manager along with authorized person.
h. After completion of the job, the permit is brought back by the permittee to the
issuing authority; issuing authority then closes the permit after inspection of
work area.
i. Work Permits are made out in three copies: one retained by the issuer (White)
this copy is handed over to safety officer for records after closure, the second
(Pink) for the workers directly involved in the task and the (Yellow) for the
Contractors record or book reference. The workers’ copy is returned to the issuer
when the work is completed.

Flow chart A below outlines the process of work permit procedure.

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Flow Chart A

Activity plan

Risk Assessment through

HIRA or JSA.

Does the activity

No
Activity is started with
Require work
identified control measures
permit?

Yes

Prepare for compliance with the

work permits requirements with tool
box talk to persons involved.

Submissions of work permit form to

authorized person.

Inspection of work area by

authorized person

No All the Permit

Permit Rejected. conditions are
Satisfied?

Yes
Permit is authorized

Activity Start
Permit to be renewed.
Yes Permit for equipment’s under
long pending maintenance are
Is the activity to be to be retained in control room
continued after
specified duration?

No

Permit to be closed by
authorised person only

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Note –

o In case of Customer permit to work is following or implemented, safety officer shall sign
permit as a counter sign.
o In case safety officer shall not available (due to shift over, leave, ill health etc.), shift in
charge shall be ensure all authentication of Permit, compliance of Isolations
(Electrical/maintenance/process etc.), LOTOTO, JSA, TBT etc.
o In case of Shift in charge shall not available (due to leave, ill health, contract scope
etc.) dept. HOD/DSM will act as a permit issuer and permit to work authentication.

Rev No. 02, Date Rev.: 30.12.2022