FLHAs with permits and isolations: three capstone jobs

By June, Sam had been with Coldwater for a year. He had a ground disturbance ticket, a confined space entry course, H2S Alive training and his first evaluation as an acting lead hand. To finish his first year, Owen gave him a challenge: lead the FLHA for three of the most demanding jobs in Coldwater's summer schedule, with Dani reviewing each one. All three involved work that also required permits or isolations. This lesson first explains how FLHAs and permits work together, then follows Sam through the three jobs.

Permits and FLHAs: different jobs, one plan

A permit is a formal written authorization to do a specific high-risk task, in a specific place, for a specific time, under specific conditions. It is issued by someone with authority over the area or system, often the client's operator or a designated permit issuer, and accepted by the person in charge of the work. Common permits on Coldwater's jobs include hot work permits, confined space entry permits, ground disturbance or crossing permits from pipeline owners, and isolation or lockout permits for the client's systems.

The permit and an FLHA do different jobs:

Four rules link them:

• The FLHA records each permit. Its number, its issuer, its expiry time and its key conditions.
• Permit conditions become controls on the FLHA. If the hot work permit requires a fire watch for a set time after the work ends, the FLHA names the fire watch and the time.
• The FLHA covers what the permit does not. A confined space permit covers the entry, but not the drive to the site, the lift of equipment into the vault or the traffic on the road above.
• If they disagree, stop. If the permit says one thing and the crew's plan or the site says another, for example the permit lists one isolation point and the crew finds two feeds, the crew stops and resolves it with the permit issuer before starting.

Isolations, confined spaces and hot work

Three types of high-risk work show up on most permits. Each has its own rules, covered in separate courses. Here is what the FLHA must capture for each.

Isolating hazardous energy

Alberta's OHS Code requires hazardous energy to be controlled before work on machinery, equipment or systems where its unexpected release could injure a worker. The usual method is to isolate the energy at every source, secure each isolation with a personal lock, release or block stored energy, and verify that the system is in a zero-energy state before work starts. For gas lines, isolation means closing and locking every valve that could feed the section, bleeding the section down and confirming zero pressure at the work point. The FLHA should list each isolation point, who holds the lock and how zero energy was verified.

Confined spaces

A confined space is a restricted space that may become hazardous because of its design, construction, location or atmosphere, or the work done in it. Valve vaults, meter pits and large-diameter pipe can all be confined spaces. Alberta's OHS Code requires a hazard assessment, a code of practice, an entry permit system for confined spaces, atmospheric testing before and during entry, trained workers, a competent person outside the space and a rescue plan with the equipment and people to carry it out. The FLHA should record the permit number, the test readings and times, the ventilation, the attendant and the rescue arrangements.

Atmospheric testing for confined spaces is usually done in a set order: oxygen first, then flammable gases, then toxic gases. Many permits require oxygen between about 19.5 and 23 percent, flammable gas below 10 percent of the lower explosive limit, and toxic gases below their exposure limits. The permit sets the exact limits for the job.

Hot work

Hot work is any work that produces flame, sparks or heat that could ignite a flammable material, including welding, cutting, grinding and torch work. On gas work, the main hazard is ignition of gas that remains in or near the pipe. Alberta's OHS Code requires that hot work not be done where a flammable atmosphere may be present unless the atmosphere has been tested and confirmed safe, and most clients require a hot work permit with gas testing, removal or protection of combustibles, a fire extinguisher and a fire watch. The FLHA should record the permit, the gas test results at the work point, the fire watch and how long the fire watch will stay after the work.

Capstone job 1: regulator replacement in a valve vault

Sam's first job was replacing a pressure regulator inside a concrete vault under a parking lot. The vault was about 2.4 m (8 ft) deep, entered through a 750 mm (30 in) hatch with a fixed ladder. The work required a confined space entry permit from Southplains Gas and an isolation of the gas feeding the regulator.

Capstone job 2: tie-in weld on a steel main

The second job was welding a new section of 150 mm (6 in) steel main into an existing main beside a row of houses. The section would be isolated and purged, then cut with a cold-cutting tool, and the new section welded in. The work required a hot work permit, an isolation agreed with Southplains Gas's operator, and an excavation that the competent person had inspected that morning.

Capstone job 3: hydrovac crossing near a high-pressure pipeline

The third job was the most complex. Coldwater had to expose a Southplains Gas distribution line where it crossed under a rural road, about 20 m from a high-pressure transmission pipeline owned by another company, and under a three-phase power line. The work required locates through Utility Safety Partners, written consent from the pipeline licensee for ground disturbance in the controlled area, a road-use and traffic plan from the county, and a power line clearance check with the electrical utility.

Dani's review

After the three jobs, Dani sat down with Sam and the three forms. She had only small comments. On the vault job, she suggested writing the actual gas readings and times instead of 'OK.' On the tie-in, she pointed out that the fire watch period after welding was on the permit but had been left off the form. On the crossing, she praised the joint talk, and said it was the best SIMOPS planning she had seen from a first-year worker.

Then she asked him what he had learned in a year. Sam thought about it. 'The form isn't the point,' he said. 'The point is that we all look at the job before we do it, we say out loud what could kill us and what's stopping it, and we stop when something changes. The form is just how we remember that we did.'

That is a good summary of this course. An FLHA done well is short, specific and honest. It is built from the steps of the job and a scan of the site. It uses the energy wheel to find hazards, focuses on high-energy hazards and their direct controls, rates risk as a conversation rather than a calculation, verifies the controls that matter most, gives everyone the authority to stop, is shared through a pre-job talk that people listen to, and fits together with permits and isolations. Above all, it is done by people who care about getting everyone home.