Permits to work, signed and kept in one register.
SafeBook keeps a vessel's permits to work in one shared register on the ship's own network. Each permit is drafted, cleared, issued, accepted, handed back and closed by named people, and every step is signed and kept.
A permit passes through many hands.
Who signed what
On paper it can be hard to see who cleared the area, who issued the permit and who accepted it.
What is active now
Permits expire, are suspended or share an isolation. The board shows which are active and which are about to run out.
A history that holds
Each step is kept as a signed entry in the register, so a permit's history cannot be quietly rewritten.
From a draft to a closed permit.
01
Prepare
The permit is drafted from the template for the job: general work, hot work, enclosed-space entry, electrical isolation, or work at height and over the side.
02
Clear and issue
The area officer clears the area and the issuer issues the permit, each signing with a fresh password entry.
03
Accept and work
The person leading the work accepts the permit before work starts. A suspension stops the work until it is lifted.
04
Hand back and close
When the job is done the permit is handed back and closed. A permit holding a shared isolation cannot close while a linked permit is still open.
Checks that follow the type of work.
01
Type-specific items
Hot work asks for a fire watch and fire-fighting equipment. Enclosed-space entry asks for gas test results, ventilation, an attendant and rescue arrangements. Electrical work asks for locked isolation points and a zero-energy check.
02
Limited validity
A permit runs for at most eight hours and ends with the shift. A change of scope, an extension or a shift handover goes back through clearance, issue and acceptance.
03
Three different people
The area officer, the issuer and the person leading the work must be three different users.
04
Printed for the worksite
Each permit prints on one A4 sheet, with its revision and the time of every named signature.
One register on the ship's network.
01
Shared by the workstations
The ship's Windows computers share one dedicated folder on the vessel's server. No connection ashore is needed.
02
Named accounts
The ship's administrator issues each user's account. An idle session locks after 15 minutes.
03
Checked before every change
The register is verified before each step. If the folder is unavailable or a record is damaged, electronic changes stop and the paper procedure takes over.
04
Verified backups
A backup copies the register and its attachments to a new folder and checks the copy against the original.
What comes before the first electronic permit.
Before any permit is issued electronically, a vessel goes through these steps.
01
Compare the templates
The vessel's technical owner compares each template with the ship's safety management system and records the differences.
02
Test on two workstations
Two separate computers on the vessel network exercise every template, simultaneous edits, a lost connection and a restore.
03
Pilot on one vessel
Thirty days with printed permits and the paper procedure alongside, with any defects logged and corrected.
04
Timetable
Fix the dates for the workstation test, the start of the 30-day pilot and its review.
What it does and doesn't do.
What it does
- Keeps a vessel's permits to work in one shared register on the ship's own network, with no connection ashore needed.
- Takes each permit through drafting, clearance, issue, acceptance, hand-back and closing by named people, with every step signed and kept.
- Applies checks that follow the type of work, limits a permit to eight hours at most and requires three different users.
- Prints each permit on one A4 sheet for the worksite.
What it doesn't do, or not yet
- Before any permit is issued electronically, a vessel compares the templates with its safety management system, tests on two workstations and runs a 30-day pilot with the paper procedure alongside.
- If the register's folder is unavailable or a record is damaged, electronic changes stop and the paper procedure takes over. Using SafeBook does not replace required official records or approvals.
Start with your permit forms.
Send us the permit forms you use now and tell us how many workstations and departments work with them. The next discussion covers whether SafeBook fits your procedure, what needs adapting and what a pilot would involve.