Necessary maintenance work at technical objects, such as inspections, preventive maintenance or repairs, can only be executed once all the measures to ensure a safe working environment have been implemented. These safety measures can include, for example, lockout/tagout, fire protection and radiation protection.

In lockout/tagout, for example, technical objects are isolated electrically or separated mechanically from other parts of the technical system whilst maintenance work or special tests are performed, so that work on these technical objects can be performed safely.

You can use the Work Clearance Management (PM-WCM) component to control and monitor the safety measures. You can ensure safe working conditions for the employees in your maintenance department, adhere to environmental protection regulations, and guarantee the reliability of your technical systems.

To ensure that the numerous safety conditions in the workplace are observed, work clearance management must be planned exactly and organized consistently.

Safety in the workplace can be influenced by the following factors:

• Type of tasks
• Technical specifications of technical systems
• Qualifications of employees
• Organization within the maintenance department

If you use the Work Clearance Management component, you can ensure the following:

• Standardized process for enforcing safety measures
• Approvals and status tracking
• Adherence to legal and internal company safety standards
• Verification (using change documents and time stamp for changes)

The use of the work clearance management component is recommended in all companies where specific safety regulations apply. These regulations can include laws on the maintenance of industrial health and safety standards and requirements for dealing with hazardous goods.

However, the use of this component is also recommended for the following operational requirements:

• Your employees in Plant Maintenance work in a critical environment, in which they are exposed to high levels of danger. This can include high voltage, radioactivity and gases.
• Your employees have to work under difficult conditions. These can include restricted space or visibility, heat, noise and dust.
• In your industry, there are typical work-related illnesses that necessitate special health and safety measures.
• You must also perform maintenance work whilst the system is operative.
• Effective safety devices are not available for all the technical systems.
• You often use external personnel.
• Other parts of the system should not be affected under any circumstances.

This component is typically used in the chemical, oil, gas, and supply industries.

Work Clearance Management is integrated into the Plant Maintenance (PM) component. It is thereby possible to consider aspects of safety in the workplace, in addition to the traditional tasks of planning maintenance work (material planning, scheduling). Not only the different maintenance tasks must be planned exactly, but also how the affected system parts can be processed.

The Work Clearance Management component is an open system with different work clearance management objects and flexible Customizing.

The functions available include:

• Approving, scheduling and controlling safety measures
• Combining orders for collective safety measures
• Printing shop papers