IntelliPERMIT boosts plant safety at Samancor Metalloys
The Metalloys division of Samancor Manganese has invested in IntelliPERMITTM to help improve plant safety and enhance management control over safe-work permits issued at their site in Meyerton, Gauteng.
Samancor Manganese forms part of the Carbon Steel Materials Division of the BHP Billiton group. The three electric arc furnaces at Samancor’s Metalloys plant in Meyerton are among the largest in the world. The plant, which produces ferromanganese and silicomanganese, supplies the local steel industry and exports manganese alloys to steel producers worldwide.
The metals industry is characterised by highly hazardous production environments and therefore management of safety is a key focus area. Permit-to-work systems are critical in hazardous operations in order to safeguard employees and the environment, thus ensuring responsible and sustainable operations.
Despite their critical nature, most permit-to-work systems suffer from a lack of visibility and management often find it difficult to proactively implement controls to ensure that procedures are consistently followed. Auditing these systems is tedious and often deviations are only discovered after an incident has occurred.
IntelliPERMITTM provides operations management at Metalloys with tools to effectively manage their permit-to-work processes and ensure that safe working procedures are followed and the highest safety standards consistently met when permits are issued for maintenance staff and contractors to perform work on site.
“The safety of our employees is our highest priority. Permits-to-work, risk assessments and access control form one of the cornerstones of our safety drive. ApplyIT’s IntelliPERMITTM offers a state of the art system to integrate these elements seamlessly," says Philip Hechter, Vice-President RSA Operations, Samancor Manganese.
Implementation Project at Metalloys - West Plant
The project to implement IntelliPERMITTM at West Plant, the first of five production units at the Meyerton site, took 2 months and was completed by ApplyIT’s team of consultants in November 2004, on time and within budget.
“Our needs at the plant were specific: we had to fill the gap between procedures and what was happening in practice,” says Steynberg van Rensburg, production superintendent at West Plant. “We required a system that enforced the rules of safe work, controlled authorisation and provided visibility of work in progress across the plant.”
IntelliPERMITTM’s patented rules engine allowed operations management at West Plant to build rules into the system according to their defined procedures. These rules ensure that hazards are correctly indicated on the permit and the necessary safety precautions are adhered to. The result is that information recorded on all permits is of the highest integrity.
The exacting level of commitment to safety on the plant, called “Zero Harm”, meant that buy-in from top management and the production teams at West Plant did not present a challenge.
From the time the system went live it performed to standard. User acceptance of the system was rapid and onsite support from ApplyIT was required for only two days following go-live.
“IntelliPERMITTM integrates with our SAP Plant Maintenance system and the plant’s existing permit process, so that the system fits our business process rather than the other way around,” says Van Rensburg.
Now, at any one time those operating the plant can see exactly what’s happening in every area of the plant, what permits are active and what isolations are in place.
According to management, in the months following go-live, numerous benefits are already being enjoyed at the plant, including high quality permits-to-work, high visibility of work in progress, improved efficiency of the permit-issue process, comprehensive audit trails and the fact that permits can only be signed by duly authorised people.
A second phase of the rollout was completed in March 2005 which saw the deployment of biometric identification, using fingerprint scanners, for the “signing” of permits. The use of this leading edge technology has allowed for a completely secure method of electronically signing permits and has further streamlined the authorisation process.
Site-wide use of IntelliPERMITTM
Following the success of IntelliPERMITTM at West Plant, implementation of the system at the remaining production units on the Meyerton site is underway.
Production management at Samancor’s Metalloys believe that the significant benefits offered by IntelliPERMITTM and the potential to improve operational safety will encourage other operations within the group to look at similar initiatives.