Posted By Andrew Lochlyn Ure
David
I'm afraid I don't have a pro-forma to offer but I can tell you I don't agree with Stuart Nagle's posting.
A Permit to Work System is exactly that - a system. The competence of the various action parties involved should be an output of whether the system is working or not. A good system audit will identify all areas of weakness, including any issues aorund competence. To carry out a Permit to Work audit (and I have, many times in the oil and gas industry) I personally would start at the top and follow the Permit process down vertically, or sequentially, through a random selection of permits. Doing it this way, you'll be able to assess whether the hazards arising from the scope of work were addressed and written up correctly, whether the right type of permit was invoked, whether the all the precautions necessary for work to commence were taken before work started and whether the permit was validated/re-validated or completed and signed off as per your procedure. The issue of competence will inevitably arise through the audit trail as it should form part of the PTW procedure, but I wouldn't concentrate on it solely as you risk missing other important factors such as hazard identification, gas testing, correct work equipment, access controls, fire precautions, PPE considerations, emergency response and so on. The audit should be both a desktop exercise and involve observations on site to ensure the entire Permit lifecycle is observed properly, by everyone, including contractors.
The starting point needs to be the PTW procedure, which enshrines the process in a document and it should be relatively straightforward as a Permit is a timeline e.g.identify scope of work, assess risks, identify controls, document, raise permit, sign, hold kick off meeting, ensure precuations are taken, commence etc etc.
Good luck
Andrew