Permit To Work (PTW)

When you find someone at work telling you while you are a new employee: Where is the PTW? It is okay if you did not answer him because I will let you know what this person is talking about.

I guarantee that you will know about the PTW, how it is applied, why it exists, and its benefits.

First, take a hot coffee, dear reader, and enjoy learning something new.

Do you know what this sign is?

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Some people will think this is a checklist; unfortunately, this is the PTW sign from the nine life-saving rules.

We can define the?PTW?as a formal document used as a safety process to ensure that all the workers during the hazardous operation are safe.

Did you hear that? ''Hazardous operation'', so technically used in hazardous areas at work.

There are too many types of PTW; it all depends on the company and country's legislation.

In my country, as far as I know, they use only two types, "Cold and Hot permits."

Cold permits are used in low-hazardous operations, and Hot permits are used in high-hazard operations. The company will decide where to place the types of operations. For example, the company decided to place working at height as a part of the hot permits, so if you want to work at height, you need a hot permit to start working.

The PTW should and must be issued by the manager of the operation area or by the supervisor. It should include the name of the operation, area zone, types of possible hazards, workers in-out, and their signatures.

The benefits of the PTW are:

1- Knowing the workers who enter the area

2- In case of an emergency, it is easy to know who is still in the operation area and who is out

3- Decreasing the accidents and injuries and increasing the safety culture by committing to the HSE management system.

• Not applying PTW as it is supposed to will have consequences according to the company's policy and law.