If a certain area in the facility is required to be cleared or isolated before the maintenance work can start, you can create an isolation order and connect it to a work order (through a permit). This will ensure that the work order is not started before the establishment of the isolation order is complete and that the equipment or linear asset is not put back into operation before the re-establishment of the isolation order is complete.
A permit on the other hand is a time-limited approval or certificate, used to ensure that certain regulations or instructions are followed and/or that there is a manager’s approval before a work order, or a group of work orders are executed.
A permit can have many types of isolation orders connected to it (e.g.: process, electrical etc) and a single isolation order can be connected to many permits.
Isolation orders and permits are used in both IFS/Enterprise Asset Management, and in IFS/Service Management.
In order to create isolation orders or permits, you need to first define isolation types and permit types as basic data. The types are used to categorize the isolation orders and permits respectively. Furthermore a relationship between the types need to be established in order to connect the isolation orders and permits at a later stage. This relationship also ensures that you always connect the relevant isolation orders to the permit.
You can also specify the maximum number of connections that can exist between an isolation type and a permit type. Generally you would connect a single isolation order of one or more isolation types to a permit. However, there can be instances where several isolation orders of the same isolation type is required to be connected to a permit. This is where the number of connections comes in to play. The default number of connections between the two types is 1, and is assigned by the system when you link the two types. You can change this value according to your requirement. For example; if the number of connections between permit type PT1 and isolation type IsoT1 is 3, a permit of type PT1 can have three isolation orders of type IsoT1.
An isolation order can be created in many ways as described below.
In all three cases the new isolation order will receive a unique isolation order number, and the status will be set to New when the record is saved.
Prepare the isolation order by adding or changing information such as dates for the establishment and re-establishment process (these dates are required to approve an isolation order), signatures of the person who prepared and approved the isolation order, equipment involved, etc. You can also enter instructions as to how the equipment or linear asset should be shut down before the work is started, and started up when the work is done, i.e., define establishment and re-establishment instructions. Once the preparation is done you can set the status to Prepared.
Next step is to approve the preparation. An approved isolation order receives the Preparation Approved status. An approved isolation order does not usually require a revision, however if such a requirement does arise you can revise it by changing the status to Under Preparation (right-click on the window, point to Isolation Orders and Click Revise). Once the revision has been made you can set the status back to Preparation Approved. Note: An approved isolation order can be cancelled if needed, provided it's not connected to a permit.
You can now perform the establishment instructions.
Next, depending on the stage of the establishment process, change the status of the isolation order in the following sequence:
Once the work has been completed and the permit is returned (Note: An isolation order can be connected to many permits, therefore all related permits should be returned in order to proceed), you can carry on with the re-establishment instructions. The status of the isolation order should be changed in the following order:
Permits can be created manually in the Permit window, or from Prepare Work Order/Permit tab. You can also connect a permit type to a PM action, in order to create permits automatically during the work order generation process. This method will ensure that the permit is valid within the start and completion dates of the work order. Note: Alternatively you can connect a permit type to a work task template which in turn will be inherited by the PM action when generated, or directly connect the work task template to a work order to generate the permit.
To create a new permit manually, enter the permit type and a brief description. An identity will be automatically assigned and the status set to New when the record is saved.
The next step is to prepare the permit by entering additional information such as the time interval for which the permit is valid, any additional notes, signatures of the person who prepared and will approve the permit, etc. You can also connect isolation orders to the permit at this stage. The status of the isolation orders should be between New and Establishment Complete statuses. Note: When entering valid dates for the permit make sure that the following conditions are met (these conditions are required in order to approve the permit):
Once the preparation is complete you can approve the permit. As with isolation orders, an approved permit can be revised. Note: An approved permit can be cancelled if required, provided no isolation orders are connected to it.
Next step is to release the approved permit so that it can be used during the execution of a work order. If isolation orders are connected to the permit the statuses of the isolation orders must be set to Establishment Complete in order to release the permit. In addition, the work leader for the permit and work order(s) must be the same as well.
When the work order has been completed, i.e., the work order's status has been set to Work Done, you can return the permit and set it to the Historical status.