Edinburgh Airport, Scotland’s busiest airport, has revolutionized its contractor management and permit processing systems to keep pace with its growing operations. Initially using a paper-based system, they transitioned to an electronic SharePoint solution before ultimately adopting VelocityEHS Control of Work. This new system was chosen for its simplicity, clear layout, and significant time-saving capabilities. It has enabled the airport to reduce administration time by 50%, while handling over 250 permits/passes monthly, by streamlining processes such as insurance checks and competency validation.

The implementation of the Velocity system has allowed Edinburgh Airport to maintain efficiency while increasing the number of permits processed by 57% during 2023. The software’s user-friendly interface has facilitated easy training for additional staff and smooth adoption by over 500 companies that regularly work on-site. Edinburgh Airport credits the system’s straightforward layout and efficiency for making operations “really easy around here,” highlighting its ability to meet the diverse needs of all users, both internal and external.

Read the full case study for a deeper dive into the evolution of Edinburgh Airport’s contractor management and permit processing journey.

The post Edinburgh Airport Reduced Contractor Administrative Time by 50% appeared first on VelocityEHS.

We are excited to share the success story recently published of Boston Scientific Cork. Boston Scientific, a leader in medical device manufacturing, has achieved ISO 45001 certification by transforming its permit and contractor management system. This milestone reflects the company’s dedication to safety and innovation amid rapid growth.

In addition to this, Boston Scientific Cork is a finalist in the Verdantix 2024 European EHS Innovation Awards. The Verdantix awards recognize remarkable achievements in advancing EHS, sustainability, and operational performance across Europe.

The EHS management team knew their old, manual permit-to-work process had become inadequate for the growing demands, leading to documentation issues and insufficient visibility. To address this, they implemented VelocityEHS Control of Work. Switching to the software system helped them to easily integrate permit and contractor management with emergency management, enhancing safety and audit capabilities. This also allowed them to better track activities across the site in real-time.

Read the full case study to discover how Boston Scientific improved its EHS processes, enabling them to ensure safety and compliance for all people on-site.

The post Boston Scientific Cork Achieves ISO 45001 Certification with Innovative Permit Management appeared first on VelocityEHS.

It’s a common practice for companies to use contractors or temporary workers to complete projects, with some companies even having a constant stream of temporary workers coming on site. A 2020 Career Builder study found that the majority of employers in some industries, such as information technology and manufacturing, planned to hire temporary workers—75% and 59%, respectively. Additionally, these companies often have visitors on the premises. This creates unique safety challenges and potential liabilities that businesses must be aware of and properly address as they work toward achieving or maintaining EHS and ESG maturity.

Managing contractors, temporary workers and visitors, making sure they’ve completed the necessary training, and ensuring they have the proper credentials and permits can be a daunting task. An effective control of work (CoW) management system is essential for mitigating risk and ensuring safety.

What Exactly is Control of Work?

Control of work is an element of risk management that keeps everyone in a work environment safe by ensuring that contractors, temporary workers and visitors have the proper training, credentials and/or worker permits to be on site. It’s an essential element of a comprehensive EHS program and acts as a gate for the workplace.

Control of work management systems also support effective application of the contractor safety management lifecycle (below), which provides a formal framework for planning, evaluation and selection, implementation, onboarding/induction, and safety performance review of contractors and temporary workers.

The contractor safety management lifecycle blends control of work processes with continuous improvement principles so that data, best practices, and lessons learned can be integrated throughout the system.

Control of work is a critical component of managing operational risk at every level of the organization. It ensures that hazardous tasks to be performed by a contractor or temporary worker, such as confined space entry or hot work like welding and brazing, don’t take place until all work permits and verifications have been met.

Simply put, control of work is a seamless system to manage a contractor or visitor’s journey from start to finish across work locations.

Why Control of Work Is So Important

Numerous studies show that contractors and temporary workers are at elevated risk for workplace injury and illness. An analysis performed by researchers at ProPublica.org found that the incidence of workplace injuries for temporary workers was between 36-72% higher than that for full-time regular employees. Another study conducted by the National Council for Occupational Safety & Health (NCOSH) showed that temporary workers, who represent just 2% of the U.S. workforce, accounted for 17% of work-related fatalities.

This is especially noteworthy for industries that heavily rely on temporary workers. In manufacturing, for example, temporary employment continues to significantly outpace the average utilization rate compared to other industries. A  2018 BLS report analyzed data from the US Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) and the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Employment Statistics Survey (OES) and revealed that since the Great Recession (2008-2017), manufacturing utilization of temporary workers ranged between 5.2% and 10.3%, whereas the overall average for all industries during that same period was around 2%.

The findings of these studies and others like them suggest an inconvenient truth for employers—bringing temporary workers or contractors into the workplace is likely to introduce additional EHS risks to the organization and its employees. While temporary labor can provide financial and operational advantages compared to full-time permanent employees, those benefits can be quickly erased by overwhelming financial liabilities and damage if the safety of temporary workers is poorly managed.

When it comes to managing the safety of temporary labor, the first step is understanding the root causes of why these injuries and illnesses occur at a higher rate. Employers generally possess less control over the performance of temporary workers and contractors than over their own employees when it comes to workplace safety.

Contributing factors of this could be poor communication of training and hazard information, confusion between temporary workers and the employer regarding obligations, qualifications of the temporary workers not being properly vetted and approved, or not having the proper worker permits established.

Therefore, employers should strive to provide added layers of protection when temporary workers and contractors are on-site. That way, they can ensure that all work is being performed in accordance with their own high safety performance standards, and they are doing all they can to protect temporary workers. That’s where the value of a formal control of work management system really comes into play.

The Value of Control of Work

As mentioned earlier, control of work management systems provides manufacturers with a highly visible and traceable means of verifying that contractors and temporary workers possess the necessary skills, training, and hazard controls to perform jobs safely. An important and often requisite component to control of work to ensure contractor and temporary workers safety is the implementation and maintenance of a permit-to-work system. It can be helpful to think of PTW as a sub-system that provides an added layer of protection within a control of work management system.

Control of work and permit to work systems also provide assurance that temporary workers like contractor providers and staffing agencies meet all requirements with respect to regulatory compliance, safety performance, liability coverage, or any other qualifications and criteria set forth. From an administrative standpoint, they also provide enhanced visibility of work activities across multiple facilities and inform more detailed safe work plans (SWPs) that effectively address the hazards that may be introduced due to the presence and activities of contract and temporary workers.

The ability to monitor what jobs are being performed, when and where they are being performed, and who is performing them is also a valuable advantage for departments outside of EHS. HR, facility security, maintenance, operations, payroll, and many other teams benefit from the ability to schedule, coordinate, and monitor the presence of temporary workers, contractors, and visitors on-site.  

Finally, formal control of work and permit to work systems provide an effective communication framework that promotes collaboration and coordination between employers and temporary workers. This makes it easier to ensure all parties to the employment contract are aware of their obligations for contractor and temporary worker safety, and verify that all necessary training, hazard controls, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other job-specific precautions are in place prior to work. This understanding and communication is a crucial, yet often an overlooked component of contractor and temporary worker safety, which has been shown to be a significant factor in injury and illness prevention.

A Software Solution to Ease the Control of Work Burden

With permit-to-work, contractor management, visitor management, and additional control of work tools, the VelocityEHS Control of Work Solution can ensure temporary workers and contractors have been properly vetted, trained, and approved. VelocityEHS Control of Work helps manufacturers and employers across all industries seamlessly manage complete contractor journeys and electronic permit-to-work processes across locations through a single centralized system. Are you ready to start yet?

The post The Importance of Control of Work on the Path to Maturity appeared first on VelocityEHS.

The countdown continues in the VelocityEHS Blog series on OSHA’s Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards for 2023! We’re down to #6 on the list with the Control of Hazardous Energy Standard, better known as Lockout/Tagout or LOTO.

Employees servicing or maintaining machines or equipment are at risk of life altering injuries or death if proper procedures aren’t in place to prevent hazardous energy from being released. This standard is about expecting the unexpected and making sure safeguards and controls are in place to ensure those working on or with machines or equipment are not at risk of potentially fatal injuries such as electrocution, burns, crushing, fractures, amputation, and others.

Simply put, the purpose of OSHA’s LOTO Standard is to prevent injury to workers servicing and/or maintaining equipment due to the unexpected energization, startup, or release of stored energy in machines and equipment.

The LOTO Standard specifically addresses hazardous energy sources such as:

• Electrical
• Mechanical
• Hydraulic
• Pneumatic
• Chemical
• Thermal
• Other energy sources

OSHA’s Control of Hazardous Energy (1910.147) Overview

The OSHA LOTO Standard requires employers to have an established energy control program. This consists of having documented energy control procedures, employee trainings, and periodic inspections. The purpose of the LOTO program is to ensure that before service and maintenance is performed, machines and equipment that could unexpectedly startup, become energized, or release stored energy are isolated from energy source(s) and rendered safe. This is generally done by de-energizing machines and equipment and then using the appropriate lockout and/or tagout devices to prevent accidental release of energy.

A lockout device physically prevents the operation of a machine or equipment by securing energy isolation points and preventing startup. A tagout device is a warning tag attached to energy isolation points indicating that employees should not operate the machine or equipment. The employer must follow a formal process before any employee removes these devices.

Employers must have rigid practices and procedures in place to ensure these energy sources are “isolated and rendered inoperative” before work is started, and that those procedures are followed by all employees working with this equipment.

LOTO Requirements

There are many different requirements, clearly outlined, within OSHA’s LOTO Standard. Starting with documented energy control procedures, employers must develop, document, and use specific procedures to control potentially hazardous energy when employees are servicing equipment or machinery.

The specific elements that the employer’s LOTO procedures must include, as required by OSHA, are a summarization of the scope, purpose, authorization, rules and techniques that the employer will use to control hazardous energy and the means to be used to enforce compliance.

At a minimum, the procedures must include:

• A specific statement of the intended use of the procedure
• Specific procedural steps for shutting down, isolating, blocking, and securing machines or equipment to control hazardous energy
• Specific procedural steps for the placement, removal, and transfer of lockout devices or tagout devices, and a description of who has responsibility for them
• Specific requirements for testing a machine or piece of equipment to determine and verify the effectiveness of lockout devices, tagout devices, and other energy control measures

A LOTO training program is another key component. Employers are required to train each employee working on the equipment to ensure that they know, understand, and can follow the applicable provisions of the hazardous energy control procedures.

The training must cover at least three areas:

1. The employer’s energy control (LOTO) program
2. Energy control procedures specific to the employee’s work duties or assignment
3. Other requirements of the OSHA standards related to LOTO

A third component of a LOTO program is periodic inspections. OSHA has a minimum requirement for annual periodic inspections to ensure procedures and policies are effective and being followed. The periodic inspections must have at least these components:

• An inspection of each energy control procedure
• A review of each employee’s responsibilities under the energy control procedure being inspected

However, the LOTO program should be reviewed and updated as often as necessary to account for installation of new equipment or control devices, new operators, or any other factors that could introduce potential exposures to hazardous energy sources.

What Are the Top LOTO Citations

There are many individual provisions within OSHA’s LOTO Standard and in 2023, there were  2,139 citations issued by OSHA. Among these provisions, the top five violation types were:

1. 1910.147(c)(4)—”Energy control procedure.” 730 violations
2. 1910.147(c)(7)—”Training and communication.” 491 violations
3. 1910.147(c)(6)—”Periodic inspection.” 362 violations
4. 1910.147(c)(1)—Energy control program: “The employer shall establish a program consisting of energy control procedures, employee training and periodic inspections to ensure before any employee performs any servicing or maintenance on a machine or equipment where the unexpected energizing, startup or release of stored energy could occur and cause injury, the machine or equipment shall be isolated from the energy source and rendered inoperative.” 265 violations
5. 1910.147(c)(5)—Application of control: “The established procedures for the application of energy control (the lockout or tagout procedures) shall cover the following elements and actions and shall be done in the following sequence.” 231 violations

It’s interesting to note that the top four of the five most commonly cited provisions of the LOTO Standard all relate to the LOTO program requirements we listed above, suggesting that many violations are rooted in the failure to establish and maintain a well-documented LOTO program.

What Are the Costs of LOTO Violations

According to OSHA, compliance with the LOTO Standard prevents an estimated 120 fatalities and 50,000 injuries each year. Unfortunately, in 2022 there were around 30 fatalities involving LOTO program failures reported to OSHA. Plus, employees that are injured from exposure to hazardous energy lose an average of 24 workdays for recuperation.

One fatal incident that took place at a compost manufacturing facility in Washington state in 2020 truly demonstrates the importance of the LOTO Standard. On the morning of the incident, a lead operator and his assistant were operating a biomass screening system which uses a stacker conveyor to deposit finished compost into stockpiles. When the assistant noticed that plastic debris was escaping from a waste container near the stacker, he went to get a leaf blower to clean up the debris, and returned to find that the stacker was shut down.

When he investigated what caused the stacker to stop operating, he saw the lead operator stuck inside the machine. The operator had tried to manually clear debris without first shutting the machine down, and the hood of his jacket got caught in the rollers, pulling him into the stacker. Employees freed the lead operator from the machine, but he died after nine days on life support. Subsequent investigations found that the company lacked a specific LOTO procedure for the stacker, which would have certainly reduced the likelihood of identifying and controlling specific risks associated with the equipment.

One fatality is one too many, which is why it is vital to understand and comply with OSHA’s LOTO Standard. Compliance means having a detailed, well-documented equipment-specific LOTO procedure in place that identifies what equipment is being isolated, when its being isolated, where the equipment is located, why this equipment is being isolated, who is performing the isolation, who will be approving the isolation—and have that LOTO procedure linked to a permit-to-work process to ensure the employee performing the isolation has been trained and qualified on safe LOTO procedures.  

LOTO Resources

OSHA’s LOTO Standard might seem straightforward, but as you can see from the story above, there are simple steps that can easily be missed. Thankfully, OSHA has developed numerous tools and resources to help you safeguard employees from hazardous energy releases.

• LOTO Program
• LOTO Concepts
• LOTO Fact Sheet
• Control of Hazardous Energy Guide

OSHA also has a LOTO eTool interactive training program that summarizes the key components of the standard in a question-and-answer format. It’s intended as a guide for understanding aspects of the LOTO Standard but is not a substitute for LOTO training program compliance.

Using Software to Help with Compliance—VelocityEHS Can Help!

LOTO is about planning and having appropriate and effective controls in place. Software can help you  better manage these controls by allowing for better visibility and transparency across your organization. The VelocityEHS Control of Work Solution is designed by our EHS experts for EHS professionals like you, and provides a wide range of capabilities including Electronic Permit-to-Work, Contractor Management, Induction & Orientation, Qualification Management, and the NEW Lockout/Tagout capability coming soon.

Control of work is just one aspect of cultivating a safe work environment. The VelocityEHS Accelerate^® Platform includes a wide range of innovative software solutions and built-in expertise to meet your toughest EHS and ESG challenges. Talk to one of our experts and discover how software can help make it easier for you to manage, maintain, and ensure long-term success.

Catch up on all OSHA’s Top 10 List of Most Frequently Cited Standards Blog Series:

1. Fall Protection—General Requirements
2. Hazard Communication
3. Ladders
4. Scaffolding
5. Powered Industrial Trucks
6. Lockout/Tagout
7. Respiratory Protection
8. Fall Protection—Training Requirements
9. Personal Protective and Lifesaving Equipment—Eye and Face Protection
10. Machine Guarding

The post OSHA’s Top 10 List of Most Frequently Cited Standards: Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout) appeared first on VelocityEHS.

What is Lockout/Tagout? 

The term Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO, or Lockout/Tagout) refers to the safety practice and procedures that are necessary for employees to disable machinery or equipment to prevent the release of hazardous energy and prevent start-up until maintenance or repair work is completed. In a nutshell, it falls under the umbrella of Control of Work and is a process to make sure that you isolate equipment from its power source while you’re working on it (lock out) and attach a tag to the machine to alert other employees of its status (tag out).  

It’s a fairly straightforward element of safety, but there are important specifics to note to protect employees from exposure to hazardous energy when performing maintenance on equipment. By effectively detailing and implementing LOTO procedures, organizations can prevent accidents, save lives, and minimize injuries in the workplace. LOTO procedures also help companies comply with safety regulations and avoid legal and financial repercussions resulting from non-compliance. 

Why is Lockout-Tagout Important? 

The objective of LOTO is to protect workers from hazardous energy-related accidents, such as electrocution, thermal burns, crushing, or being caught in machinery during equipment maintenance tasks. The unexpected start-up or release of stored energy from equipment poses a large risk to employees, and LOTO is the systematic approach to isolate and de-energize equipment energy sources while it is under maintenance, as well as locking and tagging the equipment to prevent unauthorized access or accidental activation during maintenance or repair work. 

Every year, OSHA unveils its annual Top 10 list of common violations, and for the past 15 years, lockout/tagout (LOTO) violations have consistently held a spot on this list. 

What are Regulatory Requirements for LOTO? 

Because of the significant risks posed by missing or inadequate LOTO procedures, regulatory agencies have developed standards to establish employer requirements.  

For example, in Canada there’s no specific regulatory framework for enforcing control of hazardous energy, although it’s considered an employer obligation. In the UK, British Standard BS 7671 “Requirements for Electrical Installations. IET Wiring Regulations,” covers electrical installation and the safety of electrical wiring in domestic, commercial, industrial, and other buildings, and in special installations and locations. It states that “every employer shall ensure that, where appropriate, work equipment is provided with a suitable means to isolate it from all its sources of energy. Every employer shall take appropriate measures to ensure that reconnection of any energy source to work equipment does not expose any person using the equipment to any risk to their health or safety.”  

In the US, OSHA has a regulatory standard addressing LOTO at 29 CFR 1910.147 that contains specific requirements for LOTO procedures and employee safety. Specifically, OSHA requires that employers have an energy control program with an energy control process that is comprehensive and simple for employees to understand and be trained in. 

What are the Key Elements of Lockout-Tagout? 

There are two primary categories within LOTO management – Isolation Management and Procedure Management. Both are processes meant to gather and document all details deemed relevant for LOTO procedures to easily be referred back to when needed.  

Isolation Management 

Involves identifying: 

• what equipment you’re isolating 
• where the isolated equipment is located 
• who authorized the equipment to be isolated 
• when the equipment was isolated 
• the personnel involved in the LOTO task 
• the specific actions taken 
• Focuses on managing authorization and visibility for the LOTO task to take place/be completed 

Procedure Management 

• Entails documenting the process of the LOTO task 
• Focuses on following the established steps for the LOTO task 

Energy Control Procedures 

Every organization must establish a comprehensive set of energy control procedures specific to their equipment and work environment. These procedures outline the steps to isolate and control the energy sources and provide detailed instructions for employees to follow during maintenance, servicing, or repair activities. 

LOTO Devices 

There are specific devices used when locking and tagging out pieces of equipment.  

To Lock Out a piece of equipment means to literally lock it in the position where the energy-isolating device is in the OFF position.  

They are physical mechanisms, such as padlocks, lockout hasps, or lock boxes, that are used to prevent unauthorized operation of the machinery and ensure that the equipment remains in a de-energized state until the lockout devices are removed. 

To Tag Out a piece of equipment means to attach a tag to the locked-out machinery or equipment to easily alert others to the LOTO status.  

These tags contain information about the reason for the lockout, the person responsible for the lockout, and the expected duration of the lockout. They act as a visual reminder and communicate that the equipment should not be operated until the lockout is removed.  

What are the 4 Most Common Types of LOTO Devices? 

Gate Valves  

Gate valves deny access and cover a valve handle to turn and keep the valve off. Gate valves are named after the method that they use to allow or block flow.

When a gate valve is closed, its disc sits perpendicular to the valve and blocks the flow, operating much like a gate. 

Ball Valves  

There are different types of ball valve devices, but all valve lockout devices are installed over the equipment handle to prevent it from being turned, and the equipment energized while it’s locked out for maintenance.

A padlock is installed through the lockout to ensure that it cannot be removed by unauthorized personnel. 

Plug Valves 

Plug valves are named after the method it uses to allow or block flow.

The base of the lockout device can remain in place once applied, and generally does not interfere with valve activation by wrench or removable handle.  

Butterfly Valves  

Butterfly valve devices prevent a valve handle from being turned to open the valve and restore energy through the pipe.

A padlock is required to ensure the lockout isn’t removed by unauthorized personnel. 

Training and Communication for LOTO 

Proper training and communication are crucial aspects of a successful lockout-tagout program. Employees should receive proper training on LOTO procedures, including how to identify energy sources, understand the purpose of different lockout devices, and recognize the significance of following the protocols. Employers must also ensure clear
communication channels to convey LOTO-related information to all employees. 

Effective training, clear communication, and diligent adherence to LOTO procedures are essential for the successful implementation of this vital safety measure. On top of being a legal requirement, it’s a simple and valuable aspect of a workplace’s commitment to the safety of its employees.  

Using Software to Help with Compliance—VelocityEHS Can Help! 

LOTO is about planning and having appropriate and effective controls in place. Software can help you better manage these controls by improving visibility and trackability of LOTO compliance across your organization, helping prevent any de-energized equipment from being placed back in service without proper review and authorization.  

Part of VelocityEHS Control of Work, the upcoming Lockout/Tagout Isolation Management capability can help EHS professionals overcome the challenges of managing this critical task with cumbersome, inconsistent paper or spreadsheet-based processes – to more effectively mitigate occupational hazards and enhancing operational efficiency. You’ll be able to quickly verify which equipment is isolated and where it’s located, who authorized its isolation, and when isolation was initiated. Talk to one of our experts and request a demo to discover how our EHS software can make it easier for you to manage and maintain the long-term safety of your workforce. 

The post Understanding Lock-Out/Tag-Out appeared first on VelocityEHS.

At the VelocityEHS User Conference, several breakout sessions were held, spanning various topics to help educate attendees on best practices for improving processes in all facets of safety at their own companies.

During this session, Karl Ryan, Global Enterprise Account Manager, spoke about the importance of invoking change in an organization’s safety processes by becoming your own champion, drawing from his own personal experiences, as well as case studies from VelocityEHS customers.

Change Is Not Easy 

To become a champion and invoke change within your organization, it’s important to first know what problem you want to solve. It’s also crucial to acknowledge what pains exist in your process today (accidents, administration, employees not following procedures, etc.), so you can decide what to address. 

The next step is to prepare for getting your buy-in from stakeholders. Karl’s quote – “With time and patience, even a snail will get to Jerusalem” – was a fun way of saying it’s okay to slow down and be pragmatic about how you approach your next move. Ask yourself: Who should be involved with this? How could this change benefit them? How do I communicate this plan? Answering these will allow you to be confident in not only your belief and confidence in yourself, but for others as well. 

How Can You Achieve the Dream with Control of Work? 

Karl drew on several examples of customers he’s helped make significant change by implementing VelocityEHS Control of Work: 

GSK achieved their goal of setting global standards for their permit to work process, which had been bogged down by paper permits. Abbvie gained control over their contractor process and was able to pass internal audits. Abbott was able to easily enforce internal requirements across all divisions to achieve true compliance with their standards. 

Karl gave some additional spotlight to the Google case study, as they had great success invoking change to their Control of Work process. Being such a large company, Google needed help managing 1000+ contractor companies, 3000+ safety inductions and 25,000 safe permits across the globe. They’re now saving 20 minutes per permit by utilizing VelocityEHS. 

VelocityEHS Can Help You Too! 

Our Control of Work Solution, part of our VelocityEHS Accelerate Platform, can help your business easily find qualified contractors to carry out permitted work at your facilities and have the documentation and audit trail to keep you compliant. 

Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you to improve your Control of Work program. 

The post Control of Work – Real-World Best Practices to Optimize Your Process appeared first on VelocityEHS.

One of the biggest pain points when it comes to control of work for contractors and temporary workers is the amount of administrative work to verify that contractors coming on-site meet our stringent safety standards. From submitting required documentation and pre-qualification responses to completing worksite training and induction, it can take days, even weeks’ worth of administrative work to get all the pieces in line so that a contractor or temporary worker is ready to work.

What if there were an electronic system that streamlined the entire process of contractor management, ensuring that the right people are hired for the right jobs, and that all the necessary qualifications and controls are in place prior to them stepping through the door?

The VelocityEHS Control of Work VelocityEHS Control of Work Solution includes our Contractor Management Self-Service Portal which allows a contracting company and their workers to take ownership of their information. The portal enables them to upload, verify and manage their own pre-qualification submissions, safety documentation and other required information, as well as complete training and induction for contracted jobs before they even report to the work site.

Let’s take a look at some of the basic steps in the contractor management process and how the Contractor Management Self-Service Portal works to streamline the process and help eliminate many of the administrative burdens that keep contractors and temporary workers from getting on-site quickly so they can get the job done.

Compliance Documentation & Records Submission 

For a contractor provider or temporary employer to be qualified, let alone selected and authorized to work on-site, they first need to upload their insurance documentation and other required information and records into the system for review by the host employer. Digital documents can be uploaded and managed within the system and the contracting company will need to verify that the correct, valid documents have been uploaded. This contractor’s administrator can edit and manage the company’s documents and will be responsible for monitoring qualification status and verifying that the right documents have been uploaded, validated, and not expired.  

The Contractor Management Self-Service Portal makes it simple for contracting company administrators to monitor their document submission tasks using a “traffic light” system to indicate the status of any required documents—green if they’re properly uploaded and valid, orange if it’s 30 days out from expiring, and red if it has expired. If a required document has not been submitted or is expired, the system will automatically add an action item to the contracting company’s “To Do Card” within their company profile. Here, they can quickly view and complete any outstanding action items that require attention. This includes compliance documentation and records, and as we’ll see in the next steps, pre-questionnaires to complete or required worker training courses.

Worker Pre-Qualification 

Once the contracting company’s compliance documentation and records are verified, the Contractor Management Self-Service Portal sends a pre-qualification questionnaire for the contracting company and their workers to complete. Pre-qualification questionnaires can be easily built and deployed by the host employer using the contractor management tools within the VelocityEHS Control of Work Solution. Within the pre-qualification questionnaire, contracting companies and contract/temporary workers can submit responses regarding their work history, safe work statements, licenses, certifications, and training qualifications, and any pre-qualification criteria established by the host employer.

By making it easy to view and assess whether pre-qualification criteria are met, both host employers and contracting company administrators can easily evaluate individual workers’ qualifications and identify contractors who are qualified to perform whatever job(s) are being contracted by the host employer. This eliminates any potential communication or recordkeeping errors that could cause work stoppages or delays due to contractors or temporary workers lacking the necessary qualifications to work safely and perform the jobs they are contracted for. We all know what happens when employees work jobs that they aren’t qualified for, especially contract or temporary workers.

Training & Site Induction

Because the Contractor Management Self-Service Portal tracks contractors’ and temporary workers’ roles, qualifications and what jobs they will be performing, the Course Manager tool within the portal knows which training items to assign to individual contractors as part of site induction. Instead of the company administrator having to manually assign each specific training course to each contractor, the induction process is automated, and courses are immediately assigned once qualification is verified. The portal also allows host employers and contracting company administrators to view each contractor’s training history and status directly within their profile, and update training requirements/assignments as needed.

Like document and records submission, the Course Manager tool also applies a “traffic light” system of green, orange and red icons to indicate the status of a training action item. Training status will show as orange when a training item is 30 days away from its due date, and the contractor will receive an automated email reminding them of the outstanding training item. When their training is officially overdue, the icon will be red, and the warning will appear for the contractor, the contracting company administrator, and the host employer administrator. The contractor cannot be added to a permit until the mandatory qualification is valid, or approved for access to the site if they haven’t completed all required training and other site induction action items. Even if the contracting company has contractors working between multiple sites, which may each have their own distinct training and site induction requirements, the system will automatically assign these items to the contractor based on the location settings in their contractor profiles.

Putting It All Together

What do each of these benefits add up to? Put simply, a more efficient and standardized contractor management process. Many companies are still reliant on paper, spreadsheets, email, and a lot of back and forth to manage all the information and communication that goes along with the contractor management process. As a result, they still struggle with the delays, communication errors and unforeseen risks that often result from use of these disconnected and outdated systems. The Contractor Management Self-Service Portal within the VelocityEHS Control of Work Solution streamlines the contractor management process and automates many of the manual tasks that go into evaluating, selecting, and training contractors so you can get the job done safely and quickly, and focus on your more important EHS and ESG goals.

Take a look at the many capabilities within our Control of Work solution, and contact us for a demo to see first-hand how we can help you.

The post Benefits of the VelocityEHS Control of Work Contractor Self-Service Portal appeared first on VelocityEHS.

Our recent webinar, “Contractor Management and Permit-to-Work Made Easy” shared the benefits William Grant & Sons, a UK-based distiller that is a leader in the international spirits industry, has seen after implementing VelocityEHS Control of Work. Enda Lynch, Safety, Health and Environment Advisor at their Irish Brands division, discussed with how the electronic contractor management and permit-to-work system helped them gain visibility over all employees (full-time and contracted), their tasks, and the permits required to complete them.  

Their Challenges with a Paper Permit System 

Like many companies that use paper-based permit systems, William Grant & Sons (WG&S) struggled to keep their permit management processes streamlined and efficient. But beyond this, their largest issue was that they lacked visibility over: 

• All construction companies and contractors currently employed; 
• the projects they were working on; 
• and permit verification.  

Ultimately, this left the company open to operational risks – if someone was working on a job or walked into a work area that they weren’t permitted for, people could get seriously injured. 

Their Wants of an Electronic Permit-to-Work System

WG&S knew that they needed a better permit-to-work system, since they were going to continue employing temporary/contracted workers to complete projects on site. They wanted an electronic permit-to-work system that gave them: 

• visibility over all work sites – employees, permits, hazardous jobs; 
• real-time data; 
• control over user access; 
• and a smooth transition to the new system from their previous, paper-based one. 

Their Benefits from VelocityEHS Control of Work

WG&S got everything they wanted in an electronic permit-to-work system from VelocityEHS Control of Work, and then some. In the discussion, Enda explained how the company was able to save days’ worth of work thanks to: 

• The site maps, which gave them the visibility they were looking for, allowing them to see everything that was happening across the site at one time. This also enabled them to see the bigger picture of what was working well in their operations and where any hiccups were.  
• The date-stamped approvals on the digital permits, which meant that they no longer needed to chase folks down across the site for approvals or track down a single sheet of paper. 
• The administrative tasks being completed in the system, ahead of time, such as verifying contractor qualifications and their documentation, as well as workers completing their induction before they even arrive on site.  

Their Advice for Others – Just Do It 

For many companies, the transition to an electronic permit-to-work system from a paper-based one can be intimidating. But Enda said that anyone who is considering leaving a paper-based system should just do it.  

He suggested that future system administrators consider who will need what type of access in the control of work system for their job tasks, and make sure that their IT systems are compatible with any existing systems in other parts of the company.  

If you’re one of those people who is stuck on deciding whether or not to move forward with an electronic permit-to-work or contractor management system, take a look at the webinar and listen to the whole conversation for yourself. 

The post Contractor Management and Permit-to-Work Made Easy Webinar Summary appeared first on VelocityEHS.

Historically speaking, workers in the manufacturing industries are at higher risk for work-related injuries and illnesses than workers in other industries. In 2020, the manufacturing industry ranked fourth highest in non-fatal recordable injury and illness rates, with 3.1 cases per 100 full-time employees (FTE) compared to the average rate of 2.7 cases per 100 FTE across all private industries. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also shows that while manufacturing sectors employed 7.8% of the US labor force in 2021, they accounted for upwards of 9.5% of all non-fatal work-related injury and illness cases recorded that year. In addition, National Safety Council data shows that total number of non-fatal cases among manufacturing workers (135,900) rose by nearly 10% between 2019 and 2020, reaching their highest level since 2011. These figures and many others point toward an elevated risk of injury and illness for workers in the manufacturing industry, but they don’t tell us the entire story. The increasing utilization of temporary workers and contractors in manufacturing means that the risk of injury and illness for all manufacturing employees may be significantly higher than these figures suggest.

Temporary Workers & Contractors in Manufacturing

A 2020 study by Career Builder surveyed industries on their projected use of temporary employees. It found that information technology (IT) industries had the highest projected utilization, with 75% saying they planned to use temporary workers. Manufacturing industries ranked a not-too-distant second with 59% of employers planning on hiring temporary workers.

Temporary employment in manufacturing also continues to significantly outpace the average utilization rate compared to other industries. A 2018 BLS report analyzed data from the US Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) and the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Employment Statistics Survey (OES) and revealed that since the Great Recession (2008-2017), utilization of temporary employees in the manufacturing industry ranged between 5.2% and 10.3%. Compare this to the overall average of around 2.0% for all industries during that same period.

However, it’s important for manufacturers and other employers to remember that while temporary labor can provide significant financial and operational advantages compared to full-time permanent employees, those benefits can be quickly erased by overwhelming financial liabilities and damage to your business if temporary worker safety is poorly managed.

Numerous studies show that temporary workers are at elevated risk for workplace injury and illness. An analysis performed by researchers at ProPublica.org looked at worker’s compensation claims in several states between 2007 and 2012 and found that the incidence of workplace injuries for temporary workers was between 36-72% higher than that for full-time regular employees.

Another study conducted by the National Council for Occupational Safety & Health (NCOSH) showed that temporary workers, who represent just 2% of the U.S. workforce, accounted for 17% of work-related fatalities in 2015. Other research performed by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries found that temporary workers in construction and manufacturing had twice the rate workers’ compensation claims compared to full-time regular employees doing the exact same types of work.

When you consider the elevated risk of injury and illness among temporary employees in combination with the upward trend in temporary labor in the manufacturing industry, it’s not hard to imagine how this could contribute to potentially higher rates of injuries and illnesses.

The first step to prevent these injuries and illnesses is understanding their root causes. So, what’s behind these higher rates of injury and illness among temporary workers and contractors? Manufacturers, like most other employers, generally possess a lesser degree of control over the performance of temporary employees and contractors than over their own full-time permanent employees when it comes to workplace safety. Poor communication of training and hazard information, along with confusion between host and temporary employers regarding each parties’ obligations for temporary worker safety are major contributing factors.

The findings of these studies and others like them suggest an inconvenient truth for employers—bringing temporary employees or contractors into your workplace is likely to introduce additional EHS risks to your business and your employees. Yet, despite these added risks, the utilization of temporary workers and contractors in the manufacturing industry continues to rise.

Therefore, employers should strive to provide added layers of protection when temporary workers and contractors are on-site. That way, employers can ensure that all work is being performed in accordance with their own high safety performance standards, and they are doing all they can to protect workers. That’s where the value of a formal Control of Work (CoW) system really comes into play.

What is Control of Work?

A Control of Work (CoW) system is an essential element of a comprehensive EHS management program that functions to ensure that all temporary workers and contractors (as well as the staffing agencies and contractor providers who employ them) meet the qualifications and safety standards of your organization, support safe facility operations, and align with your safety performance goals. At the same time, the system gives employers’ a formal system to document and track temporary workers on-site, and enhances employers’ visibility and control over the wide range of temporary work activities being performed within your facilities at any given time.

CoW systems also support effective application of the contractor safety management lifecycle (Figure 1), which provides a formal framework for planning, evaluation and selection, implementation, onboarding/induction, and safety performance review of contractors and temporary workers.

The contractor safety management lifecycle blends CoW processes with continuous improvement principles so that data, best practices and lessons learned throughout can be integrated into the system, ideally refining your CoW system with each iteration. To learn all about Control of Work systems and the contractor safety management lifecycle, including a detailed breakdown of each step, watch our on-demand webinar “Ensuring 100% Certainty with Contractor Safety & Compliance” and download our interactive infographic “Applying a Systematic Approach to Contractor Management.”

CoW and Permit-to-Work (PTW)

An important and often requisite component of CoW and contractor/temporary worker safety is implementation and maintenance of a Permit-to-Work (PTW) system. It can be helpful to think of PTW as a sub-system that provides an added layer of protection within your CoW system.

PTW systems provide manufacturers with a formal, standardized process to identify, document and evaluate job hazards, and verify that all prescribed hazard controls, training, precautions, and personnel are in place prior to commencement of contract or temporary work. At the heart of a PTW system is the permit-to-work or “permit.” It is a physical or electronic document that specifies all associated job hazards and provides verification in black-and-white that a worker possesses the necessary qualifications and hazard controls to safely perform a specific task. Information typically included/required on the permit will include (but is not limited to):

• Names of specified personnel who are authorized to perform work at a specific site at a certain time
• A detailed list of the hazards of the job, and the corresponding hazard controls, training and other precautions necessary to perform the job safely
• Written verification and approval from a permitting authority that the permit holder is qualified to perform the work, and that all necessary controls and precautions are in place prior to performance of work
• The timeframe of the permit. Permits are typically issued for a specified duration and must be either “closed” when work is complete or otherwise concluded, or specify procedures for renewal where necessary.

PTW Requirements & Best Practices

In many jurisdictions, permits must be issued and maintained when employees (whether contract/temporary or permanent) perform specific types of high-hazard jobs such as hot work (welding, cutting, brazing, etc.), confined space entry, work at height, live electrical work and isolation of hazardous energy (i.e. lockout/tagout). Depending on applicable occupational health and safety standards, the following types of hazardous work likely require use of PTW:

• Electrical work (high/low voltage)
• Mechanical service & maintenance
• Utilities
• Hot work
• Confined space entry
• Excavation/trenching
• Hazardous material handling/disposal/remediation
• Work at heights
• Heavy equipment operation
• Scaffolding

Even when PTW is not specifically required by applicable occupational health and safety standards, it is best practice to use permits for any manufacturing job where workers may be exposed to hazard which they may be unfamiliar with, where special precautions or additional hazard controls are needed, or where there is a potential for miscommunication of hazards between employers or employees that could create a risk for injury or illness. Types of jobs where PTW should be used include:

• Non-production work (e.g. maintenance, repair, inspection, testing, alteration, construction, dismantling, modification, cleaning etc.)
• Non-routine operations
• Jobs where two or more individuals or groups need to co-ordinate activities to complete the job safely
• Jobs where there is a transfer of work and responsibilities from one group to another

For a more detailed look at PTW systems and best practices for implementing and maintaining a PTW system in your workplace, watch our on-demand webinar “Permit-to-Work (PTW) Systems: Real-World Best Practices to Optimize Your Process.”

The Value of CoW & PTW

As mentioned earlier, CoW and PTW systems provide manufacturers with a highly visible and traceable means of verifying that temporary workers possess the necessary skills, training, and hazard controls to perform jobs safely. CoW and PTW systems also provide assurance that temporary employers like contractor providers and staffing agencies meet your requirements with respect to regulatory compliance, safety performance, liability coverage, or any other qualifications and criteria you set forth. From an administrative standpoint, they also provide enhanced visibility of work activities across multiple facilities and inform more detailed safe work plans (SWPs) that effectively address the hazards that may be introduced into your workplace due to the presence and activities of contract and temporary workers.

The ability to monitor what jobs are being performed, when and where they are being performed, and who is performing those jobs is also a valuable advantage for departments outside of EHS. HR, facility security, maintenance, operations, payroll, and many other teams benefit from the ability to schedule, coordinate, and monitor the presence of temporary workers and contractors on-site.  

Last but certainly not least, formal CoW and PTW systems provide an effective communication framework that promotes collaboration and coordination between host and temporary employers. This makes it easier to ensure all parties to the employment contract are aware of their obligations for temporary worker safety, and verify that all necessary training, hazard controls, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other job-specific precautions are in place prior to work. This understanding and communication is a crucial, yet often overlooked component of contractor and temporary worker safety, the lack of which has been shown to be a significant factor in temporary worker injuries and illnesses.

Control of Work Challenges

As you might imagine, effective CoW and PTW systems have a lot of moving parts and involve participation and communication among multiple individuals and employers. The unfortunate fact is that an overwhelming majority of businesses rely on basic software like email, spreadsheets, word documents, and paper-based permits to manage their CoW and PTW systems. This creates a high potential for error and unnecessary bottlenecks in the contractor safety management and permitting processes which, at the very least, can delay contractors and temporary workers from entering your facilities and getting the job done. At worst, it can lead to gaps in hazard awareness and communication failures that can put temporary workers and contractors, as well as your own workforce at risk.

A 2017 study in the journal Chemical Engineering Transactions looked at more than 600 process safety-related accidents in the chemical processing and manufacturing industries between 1990 and 2015, and found that permit-to-work (PTW) system failures were identified as the root cause in 6.98% of the 600 cases studied.

By itself, this might not seem like a significant contributor to the overall number of process safety-related accidents, but the study also noted that the percentage of accidents caused by PTW system failures had not improved year-over-year during the 25-year period of the study. The study also found that in every case where PTW system failures contributed to process safety-related accidents, poor communication of essential hazard information and improper or missing safe work procedures contained within the permit were found to have contributed to the failure.

A separate 2016 study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded that adherence to a formal permit review process and automation of PTW issuance procedures can be very effective in overcoming the limitations of paper-based PTW systems, and can prevent or reduce the probability of human errors in the permitting process.  

Additional Control of Work Resources

Check out these additional resources to learn more about how to implement and optimize your CoW and PTW systems:

• What is Control of Work?
• Implementing a Digital Contractor Management System: A Panel Discussion with Customers – Webinar Discussion Summary
• The Burdens of Permit to Work and Contractor Management
• ePermits vs Paper Permits – Making the Move to an Electronic Permit to Work System
• The Issue with Incomplete Permits
• The Perils of a Paper Permit System

VelocityEHS can Help!

Control of Work is a critical component of managing operational risk at every level of a global enterprise. With permit-to-work, contractor management, visitor management, and additional CoW tools, the VelocityEHS® Control of Work solution can ensure temporary workers and contractors have been properly vetted, trained, and approved. VelocityEHS® Control of Work helps manufacturers and employers across all industries seamlessly manage complete contractor journeys and electronic permit-to-work processes across locations through a single centralized system.

VelocityEHS® Control of Work includes an all-in-one PTW system that can be easily configured to match your organization’s specific PTW processes to improve visibility of health and safety policies throughout the workplace and connect workers to what’s actually happening in your organization. By providing greater transparency, strengthening compliance with EHS policies, and structuring your PTW system in a way that prompts workers to complete permits thoroughly and accurately, electronic PTW systems can save manufacturers significant time and headaches with day-to-day tasks while minimizing EHS risks.  

Visit our Control of Work Solutions page to learn more.  

The post Why Manufacturers Should Implement a Control of Work (CoW) System appeared first on VelocityEHS.

Hosted by Greg Duncan, MELP, Senior EHS & ESG Content Manager, with added discussion from Killian Whooley, Global Enterprise Manager, and Chris Ahern, Manager of Customer Onboarding, the VelocityEHS webinar, “Permit-to-Work Systems: Real-World Best Practices to Optimize Your Process”, shares a detailed breakdown of Permit-to-Work systems, best practices to apply to a PTW system, as well as tangible examples and applications of PTW systems.

The webinar began with a poll of the audience, asking them what drew them to this Permit-to-Work (PTW) discussion. 58.1% of the audience who responded said that they were watching to learn how to upgrade or improve their current PTW system.  

The session’s objectives were to understand: 

• PTW basics, such as: PTW process overview; the roles and responsibilities at each step of the PTW process: initiation, permit request, approval, commencement of work, permit closure and renewal; common challenges that lead to errors in PTW system management. 

• Best practices to standardize PTW systems and processes across locations, eliminate errors, reduce risk, and improve efficiency 

• How the VelocityEHS Control of Work solution administers the PTW process 

• Real-world lessons learned from successful PTW system implementations 

What is a Permit-to-Work System? 

It’s a formal system to identify, document and evaluate job/task hazards to ensure that work is performed safely. A PTW system verifies that all prescribed hazard controls/training/precautions are in place before any work on a task begins. Although they’re primarily used in high-hazard environments or jobs, PTW systems are applicable to jobs at all risk levels and across industries—they’re a critical part of an effective Control of Work (CoW) program.  

Permits: The Heart of the Permit-to-Work System 

Permits are detailed documents that authorize specified personnel to work on a specific task at a specific site; they define all hazards in a job and the necessary precautions to complete the job safely. Every permit must be reviewed and approved by the required individuals before any work can (or should!) begin. After a project has been completed, its permit must be closed to document the completion of the work.  

The Permit-to-Work Process 

All permits follow the same process through a PTW system: Employee/project initiation, permit request, permit approval, commencement of work, permit closure or renewal, and then it begins again.  

The Benefits of Permit-to-Work Systems 

PTW systems ultimately help organize jobs by broadening the visibility of projects across all sites; by tracking and verifying all permits and workers onsite; and by facilitating the scheduling and coordination of jobs or processes for larger and more complex activities before any work begins.  

The Challenges of Permit-to-Work Systems 

And while, ideally, all the pieces of a PTW system work together seamlessly, there are some challenges to note when it comes to managing a PTW system. 

The common challenges of PTW systems revolve around standardization and centralization, or the lack thereof. Contract workers often travel between sites, across companies and work within several systems for their jobs, and if permits are filled out in a different way at each site, company and in each system, it leaves many workers at a loss, for not knowing how to translate the permit without clear guidelines and restrictions for their jobs.  

Permit-to-Work Best Practices 

To face the challenges mentioned above and experience the benefits of a solid PTW system, there are some best practices that can be utilized to keep a system well-organized and effective. 

One best practice is that it’s important to anticipate permit suspensions, and potential permit interactions. Jobs will need to be stopped if the permit is lacking info or approvals; and it’s important to note how jobs and permits interact with other, ensuring that the activities allowed by one permit don’t create hazards for another.  

There should also be a system in place for permit handovers. If work is carried out over multiple shifts, the permit will need to be handed over to a qualified person on the next shift to ensure that the permit stays on track. All permit handovers must be documented.  

To keep a system running smoothly, don’t try to juggle permits. A PTW system is only effective if its permits are coordinated and controlled by an issuing/responsible authority related to the job, and if there’s adequate supervision of the permits being monitored. One person in authority cannot properly manage every permit, so make sure that there are enough people to keep the PTW system operating well.  

Establish effective systems to manage PTW requests. And the most effective, efficient system to manage PTW requests is a digital one. By having all permits and necessary documents uploaded into the cloud, workers can submit and refer to permits for their work, and the employer hiring contractors will receive a notification each time a new permit is submitted or requires attention. 

And, be intentional with permit approvals. Prioritize permits for jobs based on multiple factors – risk rating of a job, type of job, project timeline/deadline, etc.  

This is just an overview of this intensive, impactful webinar on permit-to-work systems and practices. The details and discussion that the three presenters added to the session are a must-see. Check out the recording here or take a look at our other permit-to-work webinars and materials in our free EHS resource library.

The post Permit-to-Work (PTW) Systems: Real-World Best Practices to Optimize Your Process – Webinar Summary  appeared first on VelocityEHS.