Best Practices – Kleen Energy

Contractor management program advances culture of safety

Challenge. Kleen Energy Systems has implemented a two-part safety improvement as part of its ongoing efforts to advance contractor understanding and compliance with the NAES corporate safety procedures.

Currently, Kleen Energy requires a Safe Work Permit for any maintenance or work done by a contractor, and the contractor is responsible for completing a “first-cut” of the Safe Work Permit, prior to it being reviewed and authorized by a Kleen Energy control-room operator.  Kleen Energy strongly believes the Safe Work Permit process contributes significantly to the safety culture at the facility, and has revised and updated the process several times to maximize its effectiveness.     

Solution. Kleen Energy’s first safety improvement is an expanded, formal contractor training presentation, which explains in detail the Safe Work Permit. Each section of the permit is reviewed, and the sections that must be completed by the contractor are highlighted and emphasized (Figs 1, 2).

Kleen Energy’s second safety improvement was to establish a “Contractor Permit Area.” In this area, Kleen Energy provides an enlarged version of the front and back of the Safe Work Permit, with those portions of the permit to be completed by contractors highlighted and filled out with sample information.  Additionally, enlarged versions of other safety permits that contractors may be issued (confined space, lock-out/tag-out, and hot work) also are provided (Fig 3).

In addition to furthering contractor understanding of the Safe Work Permit process, locating the Contractor Permit Area down the hall from the control room provides contractors a separate area to complete their paperwork and enables Kleen Energy to maintain a more orderly control room—especially during outages and other times of increased contractor presence.

Results. Kleen Energy has seen a marked improvement in the quality and completeness of contractor Safe Work Permits, and see these safety improvements as significant contributors to the strong safety culture at the facility.

Project participants: 

Jason Farren, EHS compliance coordinator