Isolation and Permit to Work Procedure

Purpose. This procedure sets out how energy sources are isolated, locked and tested before work on plant and how permits to work are issued, held and closed for maintenance and high risk tasks.

1.Scope

This procedure applies to all work on fixed or mobile plant that requires the isolation of electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, mechanical, gravitational or stored energy, and to all tasks that require a permit: confined space entry, hot work, working at heights, excavation and work on high voltage. It applies to employees and contractors.

2.Isolation principles

Every energy source must be identified from the plant isolation drawing, isolated at the isolation point, locked with a personal lock and tagged by every person working on the plant, and tested to prove the isolation is effective before work starts. Group isolations must use a lock box controlled by the permit holder. No person will work on plant under another person's lock.

• Identify all energy sources
• Isolate at the approved isolation point
• Lock with your own personal lock and tag
• Test for dead or de-energised state
• Try to start to prove isolation

3.Permit to work

The permit must be raised in the Permit to Work and Isolation Register by the person in charge of the task, listing the plant, the isolations, the hazards, the controls, the crew and the permit validity. The permit issuer, who must be an authorised isolation officer, must inspect the isolations before issuing the permit. The permit holder must keep the permit at the job and must not extend it beyond the shift without re-inspection.

4.Working under the permit

Only people listed on the permit and holding a personal lock on the isolation may work on the plant. If the scope changes, work must stop and the permit must be amended and re-issued. Any breach of an isolation must be reported immediately and recorded in the Hazard and Incident Register as a high potential incident.

5.Closing the permit and returning to service

At the end of the task the permit holder must confirm all people, tools and materials are clear, remove locks in reverse order, complete the permit closure in the register and hand back to the operations supervisor. The plant must be tested before it returns to production.

6.Lost locks and forced removal

A lock must only be removed by the person who applied it. Where that person cannot be found, the Maintenance Superintendent and the site manager must follow the forced removal steps, confirm the person is off site and safe, document the removal and record it in the Hazard and Incident Register.