Overview of Work Clearance Management 

Necessary maintenance work on technical objects, such as inspections, repairs, or preventive maintenance work, can only be executed once all the measures to ensure a safe working environment are in place. 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 while maintenance work or special tests are performed. Only then can work on these technical objects be carried out safely.

You can use SAP's 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 carefully and organized to the last detail. Safety in the workplace can be influenced by the following factors:

  • Task type
  • Technical specifications of technical systems
  • Employee qualifications
  • Organization within the maintenance department

SAP's Work Clearance Management component enables you to do the following:

  • Standardize your processes to enforce safety measures
  • Control work using approvals and status tracking
  • Adhere to legal and in-house safety standards
  • Verify work using change documents and a time stamp for changes

Work Clearance Management is integrated in SAP's Plant Maintenance (PM) component. This integration makes it possible to consider not only the traditional tasks of planning work (material planning, scheduling), but also safety aspects in the workplace. This involves not only planning the different tasks accurately, but also ensuring how work can be carried out on the affected system parts safely.