Effective communication among plant teams plays a crucial role in maintaining safety standards. During shift handovers, there is a risk of overlooking important details when one team passes on responsibilities to another. The handover process depends on clear communication to ensure smooth operations. Any breakdown in communication can lead to safety risk. This could potentially result in a preventable accident occurring.
What Is Shift Handover?
According to Health and Safety Executive in the United Kingdom, shift handover can be defined as “a period of preparation by out-going personnel; handover where out-going and in-coming personnel communicate to exchange task-relevant information; and cross-checking of information by in-coming personnel as they assume responsibility for the task”. These three elements also form part of the criteria for an effective permit transfer at shift handover..
Shift change is important to manage well because it relies on people and can’t be done automatically. The shift change procedure aims to ensure that responsibilities smoothly transfer from one person to another, which helps maintain the continued operation of the plant and continuity of work in progress.
Challenges of Work That Takes Place Across Shifts
A shift roster is typically set up in advance to accommodate people’s need to work to a schedule, and shift changeover times are also planned in advance.
The reality of day-to-day operations is that certain tasks, like critical repairs or unloading bulk raw materials, happen on their own time scale. These tasks, sometimes involving different teams, can take place during two or more shifts. Other, bigger tasks, such as a major repair, might take place over days, weeks, or even months.
Why is Shift Handover Procedure Important?
To ensure continuity and minimise errors, a standard procedure is implemented for shift handover. Each organisation will develop their own procedure in line with their operational requirements. In reality, we have noticed that handover procedures vary between sites. Some have strict processes, while others depend on individuals to communicate well. Standardisation is often lacking in this area.
Properly managing shift changeovers is crucial for workplace safety, as there are many opportunities for miscommunication and errors. Incidents and fatalities can result from poor coordination and communication during shift handovers. Having clear procedures in place and ensuring that key information is accurately passed on from one shift to the next is important to improve safety.
Relationship Between Permit-To-Work System And Shift Handover
In typical industrial environments the permit-to-work makes sure that communication takes place between all people involved in dangerous, non-routine tasks on the plant.
So, what should happen to these permits at shift handover?
Two approaches are possible:
- The permit is closed off, and the incoming shift issues a new permit for the work to continue.
- A shift handover procedure is implemented that ensures that responsibility is transferred from the outgoing to the incoming persons on the permit document itself.
The first method may be time-consuming, but it prompts a thorough review of the task and facilitates effective communication. On the other hand, the second method is more efficient but carries the risk of overlooking important changes that may not be properly addressed by the individuals involved in the handover.
Companies often struggle to determine which method is most suitable, and the handover procedures can vary between different industries. For instance, the nuclear industry typically follows a more structured handover process compared to chemical manufacturing.
Key Principles for Effective Shift Handover
According to Health and Safety Executive, to ensure safety and efficiency during shift handovers, organisations should:
- Prioritise high-risk handovers: Identify and address critical tasks or situations that require extra attention during shift changes.
- Enhance communication skills: Invest in training programs to improve staff’s ability to communicate effectively and clearly during handovers.
- Foster a culture of handover importance: Emphasise the significance of shift handovers in maintaining operational continuity and safety.
- Establish standardised procedures: Develop clear guidelines and protocols for conducting shift handovers, ensuring consistency and completeness.
- Optimise maintenance scheduling: Whenever possible, plan maintenance tasks to be completed within a single shift to minimise disruptions and potential risks.
Effective shift handovers should be:
- Face-to-face interactions: Encourage direct communication between outgoing and incoming staff to facilitate a comprehensive exchange of information.
- Shared responsibility: Ensure that both participants actively engage in the handover process, taking ownership of the information being shared.
- Multimodal communication: Utilise both verbal and written communication to capture and convey critical details effectively.
- Tailored to information needs: Customise the handover process to address the specific information requirements of incoming staff.
- Prioritised and supported: Allocate adequate time and resources to ensure that shift handovers are conducted thoroughly and effectively.
To further improve shift handover practices, organisations should:
- Design user-friendly tools: Develop support equipment, such as logs and computer displays, that are intuitive and easy to use for operators.
- Involve end-users: Seek input from staff who directly participate in shift handovers to ensure that any changes to communication methods are practical and effective.
Electronic Shift Handover And Permit Systems
Electronic permit software, like IntelliPERMIT, is used in many organisations to help manage operational safety, reduce operational risk and improve operational excellence. A few of these systems incorporate the shift changeover process or shift handover management process. When considering an electronic permit to work system, it is important to check that the system can accommodate the overall operation and does not just focus on one single process in isolation.
IntelliPERMIT has been designed with operations excellence, productivity, and minimising operational risk in mind. Over many years, the system has evolved beyond an electronic permit to a work system to accommodate the various processes that take place in the plant, factory, or other business operations, including shift handover.
9 Ways That IntelliPERMIT Supports Shift Changeover And Permit-To-Work
1. New Signatories On The Permit
IntelliPERMIT supports the transfer of responsibility between the responsible people named on the permit by appending the signatures of the outgoing and incoming individuals at shift changeover. These individuals have to review the permit to sign, and the system has a dual signature feature that can be set up to force simultaneous signatures (at the same computer terminal).
2. Incorporating Your Business Rules
IntelliPERMIT is built on a set of “business rules” that can be specific to each site. This allows the system to accommodate your existing procedures. One such business rule could, for example, ensure that both the permit issuer and acceptor have to sign simultaneously to transfer permit responsibility to a new acceptor.
3. Quickly Create A New Permit If Required
IntelliPERMIT supports the rapid creation of a completely new permit if this is required at shift handover. The old permit is closed off in the usual way and a new permit is initiated that provides continuity by inheriting certain information. This process of creating a new permit, reviewing the information and securing new signatories helps with communication between shifts.
4. Maintain Isolation Integrity
Isolations can be managed such that they can be linked to multiple permits with dependencies. In this way, isolation integrity is maintained even during shift handover if a new permit is created. System users can view permits linked to the isolations through a hierarchy view which supports extremely complex scenarios if necessary.
5. Incorporate Permits Into Shift Handover Logbook
The IntelliPERMIT system incorporates optional functionality to manage shift handover logs. These logs are filled in according to templates set up by the business and can be linked electronically to other operational processes underway.
6. Ensure Routine Operations Meetings Incorporate Permit To Work Reviews
The IntelliPERMIT system incorporates an optional module that manages the agenda and tracks decisions taken during production meetings. Such meetings often coincide with shift handover. This “meeting minutes” module allows teams to work quickly through a structured agenda where all the relevant live information is presented to attendees in a single display. The minutes of the meeting are captured automatically, and tasks are tracked.
7. Track People On Shift
The IntelliPERMIT system incorporates an optional shift roster module that helps companies manage their various production and maintenance shifts. All this data is connected to other pertinent operational support systems.
8. Link To Plant Maintenance Work Orders
IntelliPERMIT can also be linked to the computerised maintenance management system, thereby allowing operations, safety and maintenance processes to remain coordinated during shift changes.
9. An Integrated Operations Performance Management Approach
When information is managed in a single operations database such as IntelliPERMIT it becomes possible to integrate information from all related processes in a single system. When this data is then analysed several useful insights become possible.
Where To Start?
During a review or implementation of a new shift handover process, it is suggested that you analyse the existing procedures to see what steps can be improved, rather than just transcribe “what has always been done” into a new computer-based system.
Shift Handover Process Might Include:
- Permit-to-work
- Isolation management
- Shift handover
- Production meetings
- Maintenance
- Routine and non-routine operations that take place over shifts
- Shift roster management
In the early phase of an improvement project, you would work closely with the software supplier to understand the system’s capabilities and help you map your existing processes to the new system. This process mapping exercise will often identify gaps and opportunities that will greatly enhance operational effectiveness and safety.
Conclusion
Operations management involves a number of interrelated processes, all which need to work together to improve effectiveness and ensure that work takes place safely.
Shift handover is one such critical process that relies on effective communication to reduce the risk of safety incidents. The permit to work system must be coordinated with the shift handover procedures to ensure that jobs continue to take place under safe conditions, even when teams change.
These and several other operational processes are supported by the IntelliPERMIT system. To establish where operational safety improvements can be made, it is suggested that the IntelliPERMIT team at Adapt IT be contacted to discuss possibly analysing your specific requirements and proposing a complete solution. While considering the various safety systems available, it may be beneficial to download our guide on selecting the correct safety software and find out the essential features to look out for.
