Working safely with external parties

Every organisation has to deal with it from time to time: external parties coming to perform specific tasks. You can think of a mechanic, electrician, welder, but also auditors.

These external parties must be able to do their work safely, and as the client or hiring party, you share responsibility for this. It is also important to have an overview of who is present at a location at what time, for instance in case of emergencies.

Many organisations therefore have a process for work permits. This ensures quality and safety. These processes are not always easily set up, which can make them quite labour-intensive.

How can you automate this so that the processes are executed efficiently? We will be happy to explain it to you.

The work permit process

Whatever the application and whatever industry you operate within, the process for applying for and issuing work permits usually looks pretty much the same. The steps are then as follows:

1.Application – this step involves identifying and recording who is coming, when and what work this person will be performing. If known, you also add information on what tools etc. are required and/or brought along.

2. Assessment – the manager must assess the application. If the work is high-risk, a task-risk analysis may need to be carried out.

3.Approval or rejection – depending on the information from the above steps, the application will be approved or rejected. If it is rejected, in most cases the process will be restarted, as the work will have to be carried out anyway.

Do we not know this workflow from somewhere?

Many organisations have already digitised various notification and application processes. This is not so much the case for the work permit process. This is not only a missed opportunity in terms of efficiency; it is actually quite strange. Because if the process is so similar to that of,  handling other notifications or applications, it shouldn’t be so difficult at all, right?

A workflow management system like Zenya FLOW can help you with this. If you already use the system for handling notifications, incidents or other requests, then it is often quite easy to use one of the existing workflows as a basis for capturing the work permit process. This will require some adjustments, but the basis will already be usable.

Benefits of digitising the work permit process

Digitising work processes can bring quite a few benefits.  In the process, every stakeholder also always has visibility on how an application is progressing, thanks to Zenya FLOW.

Product application can also be compared to a work permit application, although  workflows is a lot more complex. The basics are the same. So the benefits mentioned here are also very applicable to other digital workflows, such as the process around work permits.

So what advantages can you think of?

• Uniformity: all applications are submitted and processed in the same way.
• Speed: the number of administrative tasks is reduced and automation provides more speed anyway.
• Completeness: an application can only be submitted or processed if it is complete. If it is not, if data is missing or not correctly filled in, the application can easily be parked or returned to the submitter.
• Responsibility is secured: applications no longer remain unanswered and everyone knows what is expected of them and when. This can also be viewed. The same goes for the agreements made, so your quality remains guaranteed.
• Insight and overview: thanks to smart dashboards, you always have insight into the progress of requests, whether they have just come in, are being processed or have already been dealt with. You also maintain a real-time overview of what is going on.
• Accessibility: all application information is easy to consult, in one fixed location. For example, you can easily record and view the validity of a work permit.

Working safely with and for external parties secured with workflow management

The process surrounding work permits is important to ensure the safety of the external party/parties, together with the safety of your own employees. It is also important to be able to guarantee your quality.

In many industries, this is already a standard part of daily operations, especially in organisations with high-risk work. There, it is important that the external person also knows how to work safely on your site.

But for other organisations, too, it can’t hurt to think about this. Because do you always know when externs are on your site? And what do you do in case of an emergency, such as a fire or other accident?

Even in those cases, it is good to know that an external person is present, so that you can ensure their safety, whatever happens.

Could your process regarding work permits or recording the work of external workers be improved? Digitising the process with Zenya FLOW could be a solution for you too.