Operations

Raise a work permit on board for each hazardous job, at one place and for a set time, from the permit types the office defines. The permit names the people who take part, links the job’s risk assessment, and records the gas tests, isolations, checklist answers and signatures the job needs.

Each permit type sets the gases to test, their minimum and maximum safe values, and how long a passing reading stays valid. The Gas Tester records each round with its sample point and instrument, and a failed or expired reading blocks issue until the air is tested again.

Record an isolation point for each energy source cut off before the work, apply it with its lock-out tag number, and have a second person verify it. The permit type names the energy types that must be covered and the least secure isolation method it accepts.

Each permit type sets which roles sign, at which of six stages, and which ranks may hold each role. A permit can’t move past a stage until every role required there has signed.

For enclosed spaces, the permit logs each person going in and coming out, so everyone knows who is still inside. A permit with anyone still inside can’t be closed, and an enclosed space entry permit lasts eight hours at most.

At a change of watch, Handoff passes the permit to the incoming team, with their names, a briefing confirmation and the Handover signatures. Extend gives more time within the type’s maximum validity and number of extensions, and Hold stops the work until Resume.

The office writes down how each operation is done on board, such as bunkering or a pilot boarding: its steps in order, who is responsible, its checklists and the risk assessment template every run starts from. Definitions are sorted into operation categories, published as versions and offered to the ship groups they apply to.

Work permit definitions set what every permit of a type needs: work category, ship groups, validity, risk assessment, isolation, attendance log, post-work monitoring, gas limits, conflict rules and a checklist. A permit copies its definition when it is created, so a later change never alters a permit in progress.

A permit links the completed risk assessment of its job, and Issue checks that assessment’s worst residual risk. In the Planned Maintenance System, a maintenance job’s work control names the permit type, operation or risk assessment the job needs.

Superintendents follow every vessel’s operation runs and work permits on the company app, and open each one with its gas readings, isolations, signatures and history. Permits and runs are issued and signed on the vessel, so the office sees exactly what the crew recorded.

The KPI board measures permits and operations across the fleet, from permit flow and validity to gas testing, isolation and the people who sign.