Pakistan Textile Journal. march index

Develop work permit culture in textile processing units
by Mahmood Akbar

Various types of work permits such as cold and hot work permits, confined space work permit, and special assignment areas work permits etc are in practice in all the professionally managed industrial establishments, especially where stakes are high. We generally do not find culture of such type of work permits, especially in textile processing units. The scope of present article is limited only to discuss cold and hot work permits. It is felt that at least cold and hot work permits procedures should be introduced and followed in textile processing units where chances of fire accidents are very high.

Cold work permits (CWP) & Hot work permits (HWP) are issued jointly by Maintenance and Process Supervisors/Foremen before the commencement of a job. This job may be of minor and/or major nature. The format of these permits are simple and easy to follow by the Supervisors/Foreman.

By educating plant staff about the use of CWP / HWP shall ensure the elimination of:

2. Loss time injuries (LTI). These shall save extra expenditure in medication and of payment of salary to the employee upto the healing of the injury.

4. Accountability of operators / technicians for the delay in carrying out the job.

This permit is followed for attending all the jobs except those not related to welding, grinding and cutting, etc and also those not related to electrical panels, brakes, junction boxes, and substations, etc.

v CWP size 20cm length, and 10cm width is filled in duplicate using a carbon paper. A green strip printed on both the sheets indicates that the permit is a CWP.

v First sheet of CWP is generally white (of lesser grammage paper) while the second sheet is of light green colour (of higher grammage paper). A thread is provided in the hole at the top centre of CWP.

v Process Supervisors (General Shift and or Shift) shall inform / communicate Maintenance Supervisor/Foreman about any emergency on the machine and or about the nature of job, may be of minor nature, to be attended in their Area.

v The Maintenance Supervisor/Foreman, in order to attend job, shall fill the following details provided on the CWP:

v CWP shall be handed over to a technician who shall first visit the site of the job to assess the nature of job and also about the requirement of tools.

v The technician shall then come to Process Supervisor with CWP who shall fill following 2nd part of CWP. (i) Machine is stopped / locked / tagged / air / water / steam / gas lines valves closed and lines drained / depressurized. (ii) System drained / flushed and emptied. (iii) Sufficient ventilation provided for carrying out jobs inside closed systems.(iv) Name of person / operator looking after this job.

v The Process Supervisor shall put “Do Not Operate” tags where necessary especially at the brakes of the machine. brakes are to be locked for in order to ensure the safety during maintainence process.

v If found necessary, work place for which permit is issued, should be cordoned off with display of a few captions: “Work In Progress”.

v The Supervisor shall mention time of hand over of job and may also give technician another time of hand over of the job, if required necessary.

v The Process Supervisor shall give the 2nd copy of CWP and retain the 1st copy.

v The technician shall arrange tools from Tool Room according to nature of job and then start attending the job. He shall also display CWP at the site of job.

v After completion of job, technician shall report to Maintenance Supervisor / Foreman who shall visit the place of job in order to ensure the completion of job and then fill the following remaining portion of CWP:

v The Maintenance Supervisor / Foremen shall exchange CWP format by returning duplicate copy to Process Supervisor and the first copy of CWP for his own record.

HWP is used for attending all the jobs related to welding, heating, grinding, cutting, etc and also those related to electrical panels, brakes, junction boxes, and flammable substations, etc. All these jobs require strong supervision and follow up not only by Supervisors but also by Deptt Heads in order to ensure safety of personnel and machines, etc.

v HWP permit is filled in duplicate using a carbon paper. A red strip printed on both the sheets indicates that the permit is a HWP. First sheet of HWP is white (of lesser grammage) while the second sheet is of light red colour (of higher grammage). A thread is provided in the hole at the top centre of HWP.

v Process Supervisors (General Shift and or Shift) shall inform / communicate Maintenance Supervisor/Foreman about any such emergency. For example, leakage of water, steam, condensate, and or breakage from any part of the machine and or about any other hot job, may be of minor nature, to be attended in their Area.

v The Maintenance Supervisor/Foreman, in order to attend job, shall fill the following details provided on the HWP:

v HWP shall be handed over to technician who shall first visit the site of the job to assess the nature of job and also about the requirement of tools e.g. welding sets and other relevant equipment.

v The technician shall then come to Process Supervisor with HWP who shall fill following 2nd part of HWP. (i) Area cleared of perishable goods. (ii) Machine stopped/isolated/locked/tagged. (iii) Air / water / steam / gas lines valves closed and lines drained and purged.(iv) All other safety precautions taken for fire hazard related jobs.(v) Name of person / operator looking after this job.

v The Process Supervisor shall put “Do Not Operate” tags where necessary, especially at the brakes of the machine. brakes are to be generally locked in order to ensuring e the safety of the worker.

v If found necessary, work place for which permit is issued is cordoned off with display of a few captions: “Work In Progress”.

v The Supervisor shall mention time of hand over of job and may also give technician another time of hand over of the job, if required necessary.

Note: in order to ensure complete evacuation of traces of gas from pipe lines and stenter, an explosive meter is used, but where this instrument is not available pipes and other systems have should be used to purge the air for sufficient period to get smell free system.

v The Process Supervisor shall give the 2nd copy of HWP and retain the 1st copy.

v The technician shall arrange tools from Tool Room according to nature of job and then start attending the job. He shall also display the work permit at the site of job.

v The Maintenance Supervisor / Foreman shall exchange the work permit format by returning duplicate copy to Process Supervisor and the first copy of HWP for his record.

v At the start of new shift, new day, etc if the job is still pending, fresh CWP/HWP is prepared before the start of the same job.

v CWP/HWP can also be initiated from maintenance and process deptt, to attend the job, by any other responsible officer other than Supervisor / Foreman.

v In case of minor / major modification requiring cold and hot jobs on any machine, maintenance planning deptt / Engg Manager / Maintenance Engineer / Supervisor / Foremen shall initiate CWP/HWP for more than one day. This duration may be at the discretion of maintenance deptt. In such cases machine has to be cordoned off with captions “Work In Progress”.

v In critical area, CWP/HWP should also be countersigned by Section Incharges, Deptt Heads of Processing Area before handing over job to technicians. In case of any mishaps / accidents, Section Incharges / Deptt Heads shall also be responsible along with permit issuing Supervisor.

v The procedure of CWP/HWP cannot be altered, modified and or bypassed by any individual without the permission of the Management.

v Printed tags such as “Do Not Operate” and “Work In Progress” tags shall be required for issuing CWP / HWP.

vIt is to be also noted that just by circulating these procedures among the staff shall not be enough. Various Instruction Sessions/Workshops on these procedures should be held.

v These procedures also need “Lock Out Procedure” of machines. These are also to be developed and circulated in due course. Basically, they call prior shutting off brakes of machines and their locking out with special locking device, before issuing work permits.

As long as locking devices are not developed “Do Not Operate” and “Work In Progress” tags can be utilized.

Besides introducing CWP / HWP, Safety Committees should be formed in the unit. In these Committees those members are opted who are not directly involved with the maintenance and operation activities of the unit. It is the safety of unit through Safety Committees. These Committees take monthly round of entire unit (unannounced) and critically inspect the following issues:

3. Spot checking of machines brakes for their cleanliness (in textile fluff can be major cause of fire due to short-circuit).

The result of their inspection are circulated by the Committee and concerned persons then attend those fault/issues which are pointed out by the Committee.

Such work permit procedures and formation of Committees, if established and practiced in a textile processing units, do not require investment or any appreciable expenditure, but save the units against possible mishaps and fires. Such fires can engulf not only in-process goods, but also furnished products, which are awaiting despatch to their destinations, thus causing significant loss to the company.