As the title suggests, we will discuss the types of work permits used in the oil and gas field. Many industries and companies require work permits. However, we will focus on the oil and gas field because oil and gas field services and oil & gas wastewater treatment includes many more hazardous elements than any other industry. Many of you may be in a dilemma about what a work permit is and its objective? This leads us to discuss the answers to your questions and the types of work permits used in oil and gas companies. So, read along to know the answer.
What is Work Permit?
Work permit, aka PTW, is a critical component in managing high-risk work activities. PTW abbreviation is used for Permit To Work. It is the part of safety management systems, the integrated management of business-critical maintenance processes. Also, it is the essential part of Control Of Work (COW) as it ensures that work done in any company is done safely and efficiently. Control of work consists of permit to work and isolation management, hazard identification, and risk management. It is used by hazardous industries and involves procedures to request, authorize, review, document, and de-conflict tasks that the frontline workers will carry out.
Permit to work can’t be ignored by the hazardous industries, especially the industries where oil and gas field services and oil and gas wastewater treatment is done, as it involves releasing a lot of harmful chemicals and gases. Therefore, it is considered the core element of ISSOW (Integrated Safe System of Work) because it permits ALARP (as low as reasonably practicable) reduction of hazardous activities in non-trivial work environments. Oil and gas field services company requires the rules to be followed more stringently, making the permit to work adherence an essential ingredient in process safety management.
Now that we have understood what a work permit is, we will move forward to the next section, i.e., the objective of the work permit.
The objective of the Work Permit
The main objective of a work permit is to provide safety to the personnel and protection of facilities. It ensures the uniform and standard procedure for obtaining the authorization to perform jobs that require special consideration. It provides safety to the persons involved and the protection of facilities by using a safe work system and by generating a clear understanding between the working organizations/ departments involved.
Types of Work Permit Used
Water and wastewater treatment and oil and gas field services require several work permits. These work permits list is mentioned below:
- Hot Work Permit
- Cold Work Permit
- Radiography Work Permit
- Vehicle Entry Work Permit
- Confined Space Entry Work Permit
This was just the list of permits used in the oil and gas field. Moving further, let’s discuss these permits briefly in the next segment of the article.
Hot Work Permit
It is also called a redwork permit. It is for the jobs that involve the generation of sparks, ignite a fire, or are considered capable of producing a hazard. For example, cutting, welding, etc. This is basically a document that specifies the precautions to be taken, identifies the hazards, and controls all the work that involves the elements mentioned above.
Cold Work Permit
This type of work permit is also called the green work permit, as it involves the jobs that do not have any chance to produce hazards or do not generate any spark. A cold work permit document mentions the precautions, identifies hazards, and controls the work that is not radiographic or hot in nature—for example, gasket replacement, housekeeping, etc.
Radiography Work Permit
The radiography work permit, aka yellow wrok permit, states the precautions, identifies danger and controls all the work that involves jobs radiographic in nature.
Mobile Plant Entry Work Permit
A mobile plant entry work permit is also called a vehicle entry work permit. This permit’s document defines precautions, identifies threats, and controls all the work involved in entering a vehicle or mobile plant into a high-risk area.
Confined Space Entry Work Permit
As the name suggests, this work permit involves the precautions in the job related to the entrance in confined spaces. In layman language, confines space is a space that has limited entry or exit, or limited ventilation, etc. A confined space entry work permit is a document that states the precautions, identifies danger, and controls all the work involved in entering in an enclosure that is not designed for continuous occupancy, i.e., it has limited means of exit or entry. This permit is required to do any jobs requiring entrance into the spaces mentioned above. For example, entry into a vessel.
This was all about the work permits used in the oil and gas fields. And, if you are the one that needs oil and gas wastewater treatment, then you can check the services provided by Aquatech. Aquatech offers mobile and central facility solutions to provide customers with the services that best suit their needs. So to get the best experience and engineering to meet the demand of field operations, contact Aquatech now.
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