How to apply for a work order-permit?

There are more than 35 varieties of work order-permit. And if you think that all these forms are needed to perform 35 different types of work – then no. For example, 10 of them are intended for gas-hazardous and fire works.

In addition to all these forms of outfits, there are 13 different forms of their registration logs. And each of these documents has its own specifics and can have different filling variations. Therefore, we offer you to plunge into the fascinating world of uncertainty of the Ukrainian legal field with us.

So, Let`s go…

To begin with, let’s define what an «work order-permit» is and what it is served with.

The first and most important thing is that there is currently no basic document in Ukrainian legislation that could have the title «Regulations on the Procedure for Issuing Orders – Permits» and would describe the general course of events when issuing such documents. So we will collect our regulatory and legal reality from the fragments available to us.

Let’s start with the definition: a work order-permit is a production task for the safe performance of work drawn up on a special form which defines its content, place, start and end time, necessary safety measures, team composition and persons responsible for the safe performance of work. This definition is provided by NPAPP 0.00-1.15-07 Rules of labor protection during work at height, and a somewhat similar interpretation can be found in other regulatory documents describing the procedure for issuing work orders – permits.

In a very simplified way, a work order-permit is a document that describes the process of performing high-risk work. The document must specify when, by whom and where such work is performed. It must also indicate what the participants have done to ensure the safety of these works.

So, the first question is, does everyone need to issue work orders-permits? Let’s apply our favorite step-by-step algorithms to analyze the entire process by its components.

Step 1 – Determine the need to issue a work order-permit

To begin with, you need to determine the list of works for which you need to issue a work order-permit. As a rule, these are high-risk jobs. The most common among them are the following: gas hazardous, fire hazardous, at height, in electrical installations and “hazardous work at construction sites”. End of quote. Usually, the list of such works exists in the form of an approved order for the company. So look for it among the orders. If you can’t find them, we advise you to refer to NPAPP 0.00-4.12-2005 (List of hazardous works), select the works performed by your company and create such an order. But not all high-risk work requires a work order-permit. Therefore, let’s move on to Step 2.

Step 2 – Monitoring the legislation

As noted above, there is no general document in Ukraine on the requirements and rules for issuing work order-permits. If you search for the word %work order-permit% in the Index of NPAPs, you will see only one match – the Regulation on the use of work order-permits for the performance of high-risk work in the metallurgical industry and iron ore mining and processing plants (NPAP 27.0-4.03-19). Metallurgists are lucky and are the only industry that currently has a document describing the work order-permit system.

The rest of us will have a fascinating journey through the jungle of national legislation to study the relevant regulatory documents. Let’s do it like this:

1. We take our Order on approval of high-risk work.
2. For each work, we look in the Index for the relevant NPAPP that describes the safety requirements for each type of such work.
3. Open these rules and use Ctrl+F to search for the word “work order-permit” in the text of the document.

If you find it, a work permit must be issued for this work. Most likely, you will find samples of all forms, blanks and a detailed description of the procedure for issuing such orders in the same NPAP. If you don’t find them, you don’t need to issue a work permit for such work.

And that should be all, but we still have a few more organizational steps for you to take to ensure that the issuance procedure is as correct as possible, as required by law.

Step 3 – Organizational work

Okay, our company has this list of works for which we have to issue a work permit. What do we do next?

We issue an order approving the list of works under the work order-permit. The order specifies not only the types of work, but also the list of persons responsible for preparing and carrying out such work.

Now we need officials who will ensure the implementation of this order. The procedure for issuing a work order-permit involves three leadership roles in this process:

1. Work supervisor.
2. Responsible executor of the work.
3. The issuer.

What is each of them doing?

Awork supervisor is someone who is responsible for ensuring that the work site is safe and that employees receive all the necessary instructions. This is usually a foreman, senior foreman, or shift supervisor.

Theresponsible worker is the one who will actually perform the work.

Theissuer is the one who makes sure that all safety measures are not forgotten and are included in the work order-permit. This is the chief engineer or department head. If the company doesn’t have one, it can be the director.

In some cases, the work supervisor can be both the issuer and the contractor. But the issuer can never be the contractor. Because in this case, he or she will have to check the safety measures that he or she has applied to the work being performed. We think the logic here is clear.

Other persons may be added to this list, if necessary. For example, an observer in the case of work in a confined space and other similar places where safety net is needed. When you have determined who is who, you need to approve these roles by a separate order.

NOTE: If the work is performed on the customer’s premises, then the customer’s representative responsible for the safety of the work site on his or her premises is also added to this list. Of course, we do not include him in the order.

The following requirement is not provided for in the law, but we advise you to prepare your own “Procedure for issuing work order-permits”. The Procedure should describe the entire procedure for issuing such orders. Approximately, such a Procedure may contain the following items:

1. Types of work performed under the work order-permits.
2. Requirements for employees who are allowed to perform such work – both executors and managers.
3. The procedure for issuing, issuing and storing work order-permits.
4. Cases in which it is necessary to stop work.

Since the legislation does not provide for clear requirements for the content of this document, we use Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine “On Labor Protection”, where the employer develops and approves regulatory documents on labor protection. Accordingly, it is up to you to decide what to include in this Procedure. And now we can start filling out the order itself. Download a sample order.

Step 4- Filling in the work order-permit

Before you start filling out the form, you will need a work order-permit form, which is provided for by the rules for a specific type of work, usually found in the appendices, somewhere at the end of the rules.

Let’s take a look at what information a work order-permit should contain, using the example of working at height.

What do we write in the form?

The first part of this document is entitled “ORDER”. This part contains information about WHAT, WHO, WHERE and WHEN to do and includes:

• The date the work is to begin;
• Team composition (who will do the work);
• Necessary PPE, materials, tools (what they will use to do it);
• Safety measures (what needs to be done to make it safe);
• Special conditions (what to do in case of force majeure);
• Work schedule;
• A list of all persons responsible for the safe performance of work and those who issue the work order-permit with their signatures on the work order-permits.

Next in the order is the second part, which is called «PERMIT». As the name implies, this part contains a list of activities that must be completed in order for us to start such work:

• Occupational safety and health briefings – we enter all your rules, instructions for this type of work or the entire content of the briefing with signatures and information about who conducted the briefing.
• If you are sending your employee to another company, you should provide information about the responsible person from the receiving company.
• Information about the targeted briefing with the signatures of all those who listened to it. We explained how and to whom to conduct such briefing in our previous article.
• The final step is to have all participants sign off on the fact that the work conditions are safe, the employees are trained, and the work can begin.

If you thought that’s all there was to it, it’s not. There are a few details to keep in mind:

1. If the work will last longer than 1 working day, you must record a daily inspection of the work site in the work order-permit.
2. If the composition of the team changes, this information should be reflected in the work order-permit, and new people should receive targeted occupational safety and health training. If more than 50% of the team members have changed, a new work order-permit is issued.
3. The work order-permit is issued for a period of no more than 15 calendar days. If these days were not enough, the legislation allows extending the work order-permit once for the same 15 days, but no more.
4. The work order-permit forms shall be filled in 2 copies. One copy remains with the person who issued the work order-permit, and the other is handed over to the responsible work supervisor. When performing two types of different work at the same time, both of which require a work permit, you can issue 1 work order-permit form, but enter the safety requirements for both types of work.
5. After the completion of the entire scope of work, the date and time of the crew’s withdrawal and closing of the work order-permit is indicated in the work order-permit and all responsible persons sign it.

NOTE: There are works for which there is a requirement to issue a work order-permit, but there is no established form of work order-permit. In this case, you can take any other form, adapt it to your needs, and approve it at your company.

And that should be all there is to it. But…

Step 5 – Registration of a work order – permit

Whatever work order-permit you issue, the information about the issuance must be recorded in the Journal of Work Performed Under Work order-permits and Orders, the form of which is included in the appendices to the relevant rules. Everything is classic here: the journal must be numbered, laced and sealed. When performing work for which orders were issued, usually only the following columns are filled in: No. of the work order-permit, the registration number and date of issuance of the work order-permit, the beginning and end of the work (time and date). When filling out, everything is simple, use a cheat sheet in the form of a table header.  A sample of filling out the register.

Work order-permits that are fully completed are generally stored for 30 days, but there are work order-permits that can be stored for longer. Closed work order-permits are stored by the employees who issued them.

P.S. As for the issuance of work order-permits in electronic form, unfortunately, in Ukraine, the regulatory documents do not yet provide for the procedure for issuing work order-permits in electronic form. Therefore, we can use the Procedure for Implementation of Electronic Document Management (EDM) in the Occupational Health and Safety Management System, which states that the employer approves the list of documents kept in electronic form.

Therefore, you need to have at your company:

• an order on the implementation of the EDMS;
• a list of documents that are kept in electronic form, including the work order-permit;
• the procedure for creating, sending, exchanging, storing, and destroying these documents;
• electronic digital signature and seal.

The retention period should also be described in the regulations on electronic document management at the enterprise. For better or worse, it is not known exactly what these documents should look like.

Therefore, until a specific format is established, we will use the established forms, and here are samples of the most common forms for issuing work order-permits:

• for gas hazardous work – a work permit for gas hazardous work (download template)
• for fire work – a work permit for fire work (download the template)
• work in electrical installations – work permit for work in electrical installations (download template)
• for work at height – work permit for work at height (download template)
• for work with increased risk during construction – a work permit for work with increased risk in accordance with Annex G of DBN A.3.2-2. (download template)

The most difficult thing about electronic work order-permits is that such work is usually performed somewhere where the communication coverage is not the best, so signing the work order-permit will be quite a quest for employees. But we do not lose hope in Ukrainian networks and are implementing electronic work order-permits.

Thank you for reading this cumbersome text to the end. Issuing a work order-permit is a procedure that may seem complicated, but with the right instructions and understanding of all the steps in the process, it becomes much easier.

Write us