Digital solution saves time and decreases incident risks
Described by some as the “seafarer’s friend”, Permit to Work (PtW) systems are an essential safeguard to minimise the risk of accidents and incidents on board ships. The mandatory process is used to authorise controlled work in both standard and nonstandard, potentially hazardous conditions – such as working at height, performing hot work, or entering enclosed spaces – and is a core element of a ship’s Safety Management System (SMS). Despite this, according to figures from InterManager, the trade association for the ship management industry, 54% of shipboard accidents still occur during planned work, often in critical areas like holds and oil tanks.
“It’s clear that the process is not working as it should,” says Tommi Vihavainen, director, development, NAPA Safety Solutions at Finnish software and data service provider NAPA.
Vihavainen explains that the permits are traditionally managed through paper forms and can require crews to spend hours going around the ship to collect a multitude of signatures from different departments. The manual nature of this process is prone to delays, errors and miscommunication, posing safety risks and inefficiencies, he says.
For this reason, NAPA has developed a new digitalised PtW system that it believes will enable better monitoring and management of hazardous tasks. Two years in the making, the system has been trialled by Carnival Cruise Line and Virgin Voyages. “Since day one, we have worked closely with our customers and seafarers at the frontline to hear their concerns around the permit to work process. With their feedback we have built a digital system that contributes to a safer working environment for them,” says Vihavainen.
According to Vihavainen, NAPA Permit to Work will save significant time for crews by digitalising the required signatures and, importantly, decrease incident risks by automatically notifying all relevant departments and personnel with real-time status updates of ongoing work, especially riskier tasks like tank cleaning. It will also act as a comprehensive digital checklist to help seafarers ensure that no safety-critical steps are missed.
“With a paper-based system, it is easier to make mistakes within the form,” says Vihavainen. “For example, you can skip some mandatory checks, and it might go unnoticed in the approval process and only be discovered later if there’s an audit, or even worse, if there’s an accident resulting in an investigation.
“Our digital system is designed so that no form is accepted unless all required safety checks are completed. Only then will it allow you to progress to the next stage of the process. In a sense, it becomes your virtual guide.”
Vihavainen points out that post-Covid a large proportion of crew working aboard ships, particularly in the cruise industry, are on their first contract with little at-sea experience. The system’s step-by-step functionality augments previous training and makes handovers much easier, he says.
For shoreside teams, the data transparency provided by the digital system delivers fleet-wide visibility of ongoing work and conditions, enabling a more proactive approach to safety, maintenance and resolving technical issues. “In the long term, you can use the data to analyse trends, spot differences between voyages or vessels, and improve efficiency and safety that way,” says Vihavainen.
While NAPA Permit to Work has been developed in close collaboration with cruise line customers such as Carnival Cruise Line and Virgin Voyages, it is also being marketed for use on merchant vessels, with interest already registered from tanker, gas and container operators. The system’s software allows for customisation according to each operator’s unique processes and SMS guidelines.
“This gets even more important as we enter the multi-fuel, multi-technology era. There will be more processes on board and much more complex working environments for seafarers,” notes Vihavainen, adding that this is where digital tools such as NAPA Permit to Work can really come into their own.
New fuels, for example, will require specific procedures for their safe handling, bunkering and changeovers. Having a digital checklist to guide crews will therefore be a key learning tool to ensure nothing is overlooked when completing new tasks and procedures. This isn’t just a ‘nice-to-have’ but rather a prerequisite to minimise the risk of accidents and incidents, stresses Vihavainen.
He also emphasises that that system can have a critical role to play in taking some of the mental and administrative load from crews. With a recent survey by the International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) affirming that the rapid changes caused by the decarbonisation transition are already impacting seafarer fatigue and stress, with more than half of the respondents also reporting an increase in their workload, and a third fearing potential criminalisation for complex reporting requirements, no doubt this more user-friendly ‘friend’ will be very welcome.
