Clearances overview

Clearance types

A clearance can have a type of Working, Template, or Admin. The type of clearance you use depends on the nature of the clearance requirement.

Working clearance

Establishes a safe boundary for maintenance and testing personnel to perform work activities.

You apply clearance protection to specific work activities by adding the relevant work order or work orders to the working clearance. You use the working clearance to plan the required clearance boundary, and to track the component tagging actions and approvals that occur during clearance application and restoration. Tags on a working clearance can be shared with other working or admin clearances.

The process for working clearances includes an optional subprocess to facilitate craft involvement. This subprocess includes the requirement for maintenance to approve the clearance boundary as applied in the field before work begins. The process also includes the requirement for maintenance staff to sign on to the clearance before working under clearance protection. Maintenance approval of the clearance boundary in the field is referred to as craft approval. The subprocess for craft involvement, and the related requirement for maintenance approval of clearance revisions, are configurable clearance options.

Template clearance

Defines a template clearance boundary that is copied to generated working or admin clearances.

You can manually generate a working or admin clearance directly from a template clearance. For recurring work activities that require clearance protection, you can automate the fulfillment of clearance requirements by associating template clearances with specific job plans on a preventive maintenance (PM) record. During the process of work order generation, and depending on clearance generation settings in the PM record, work orders are associated with matching working clearances that are already available or generated to meet the demand.

Only template clearances with a status of Draft or Waiting for Approval (WAPPR) can be associated with PM records. Tags on a template clearance cannot be shared.

Admin clearance

Defines the configuration of plant equipment for specific operational activities. Typically, admin clearances are used to control, protect, or isolate components in compliance with regulatory requirements.

You use the admin clearance to track component tagging actions and approvals that occur during clearance application and restoration. You cannot add work orders to an admin clearance. However, tags on an admin clearance can be shared with working clearances or other admin clearances.

You can use the Clearances (Nuc) application to create a clearance of any type. The specification of clearance type is mandatory for all clearances, and the value is displayed on the Clearance tab of the clearance record.

The following rules apply:

• When you manually create a clearance in the Clearances (Nuc) application, you must specify the clearance type.
• You can change the type value of a manually created clearance when the clearance record is in Draft status. If work orders are related to a Working type of clearance, and you change the type to Admin or Template, you must remove the work orders that are related to the Working type of clearance.
• Clearances that are manually created from a template clearance are automatically assigned a clearance type of Working or Admin, depending on the action that is used to generate.
• Clearances that are generated as part of the PM work order generation process are automatically assigned a clearance type of Working.

Clearance application and restoration

The clearance process is designed to control the configuration of components during clearance application and restoration. Clearance application involves positioning and tagging the components that form the clearance boundary. Clearance application takes place before the related work activities begin. Clearance restoration involves removing tags and repositioning boundary components so that they can be returned to service. Clearance restoration takes place when work is completed and the clearance is released. Components on a clearance record require position details for both the application and restoration phases. Allowable positions for each component, and the verification requirements that apply during application and restoration, must be defined on the component record.

The component positioning actions that are done during clearance application and restoration are added to the operational history of the relevant component records. Completed positioning actions that belong to a clearance process can be reused as credits in concurrent lineup processes.

Clearance boundary

The clearance boundary comprises the set of components and the corresponding configurations that are required to create a safe boundary for the performance of maintenance or operational activities. During clearance initiation and before clearance application, a virtual tag is defined on the clearance for each boundary component. For each tag, the following configuration information is specified:

• Application and restoration sequence number
• Tag type
• Tag ID
• Location ID
• Application position and restoration position and, where applicable, the requirements for independent verification during application and verification

During clearance application, boundary components are moved into the required positions. Physical tags are printed and hung to make information about the clearance boundary accessible to workers in the field.

The components that comprise the clearance boundary can be linked with specific boundary equipment groups. These relationships can be used to indicate the possible impacts of clearance configuration activity on related components and component groups.

Scope of protected work

The scope of protected work for a working clearance comprises the set of components that require maintenance, and the work order tasks that are planned.

On the clearance record, the following items of information define the scope of protected work:

• Clearance description, primary component, site, unit, and plant system
• Associated work orders. On the associated work orders, the following items of information define the scope of protected work:
  • Work order description and primary component
  • Work order tasks
• Associated revision plans. On the associated revision plans, the following items of information define the scope of protected work:
  • Revision plan description and type
  • Revision plan tags
  • Associated work orders and their tags
  • Associated clearance requests
• Associated temp lifts. On the associated temp lifts, the following items of information define the scope of protected work:
  • Temp lift description and type
  • Temp lift tags
  • Other clearances that are affected by the temp lift
  • Work orders that are related to the clearance

Clearance users

To perform certain actions that are available as part of the normal clearance lifecycle, such as approving the restoration of a clearance, users must have the relevant authorization privileges for those actions.

The clearance process that is modeled in Maximo® Nuclear refers to steps and actions that are done by the following users and user roles:

Maintenance user

Specifies the need for clearance protection on a work order.

If the process for working clearances is configured to include the subprocess for craft involvement, a maintenance supervisor grants craft approval of the clearance boundary in the field before work begins, and approval for any changes to the clearance boundary that are planned on clearance revisions. If craft approval is required, maintenance users sign on to and off the clearance to register work that is being done under clearance protection.

Work planner and scheduler

Facilitates effective work management by grouping work tasks and work orders that have the same clearance requirements to take best advantage of plant equipment downtime. The work planner initiates the clearance, specifies the scope of protected work by associating the relevant work orders, and specifies the dates for which clearance protection is required. For recurring work activities that require clearance protection, the work planner associates template clearances and job plans with a PM record.

Depending on plant processes and best practice in the industry, the planner might specify more requirements for clearance protection by using optional clearance and work order features. For example, the planner can develop a classification and associated attributes to use with clearance records or job plan tasks as a clearance requirements checklist. The planner can also use clearance and work order log entries to communicate additional information.

Tagging Official

Must approve the initial clearance and subsequent revisions before application of the clearance boundary in the field. Must approve release of the clearance following completion of work and specification of restoration details, and before the restoration of components in the field. The Tagging Official is generally a member of the operations staff. The approval actions of the Tagging Official precede the approval actions of the Shift Supervisor.

Shift Supervisor

Approves the initial clearance and subsequent revisions after Tagging Official approval is granted, and before application of the clearance boundary in the field. Approves clearance restoration after Tagging Official approval is granted, and before the restoration of components in the field. The Shift Supervisor is generally a member of the operations staff. The requirement for Shift Supervisor approval of clearances before restoration is a configurable clearance option.

Clearance revisions

When a clearance has a status of Ready or Active, or when all tags on an approved clearance have a status of Applied, the clearance boundary and the scope of protected work can no longer be changed without creating a clearance revision. The action of creating a clearance revision results in the availability of two different versions of the same clearance: the existing revision and the new revision. The new revision has the same identifier and description as the existing revision, a different revision number, and a status of Draft. The existing revision continues to function as the current clearance. The new revision is inactive, and cannot be issued as the current clearance until it has the same status as the existing revision. Only one revision of the same clearance can be current at a time: When the new revision is issued, the existing revision is rendered inactive and acquires a status of Revised.

You can initiate various actions on a current clearance that can affect the associated clearance revision. The clearance revision must be in Draft status. For example, you can add work orders, transfer tags from work orders to a clearance revision, and block or unblock work orders.

You can cancel a clearance revision that is in Draft status, if the clearance was never taken to Approved status, and if tags were not shared on that revision.

You can assemble one or more revision plans into a clearance revision.

History of clearance revisions

You can review the history of clearance revision records, including clearance status, the status change date, the user who approved the change, and comments by the approver. A summary of all the revisions that are issued against a clearance is also available.

Revision plans

The clearance process consists of establishing a protection boundary, and expanding or contracting that boundary to suit changing work requirements. With revision plans, you can pre-stage the boundary changes. You can link the additional work orders, with their associated tags and clearance requests, that apply to the clearance boundary changes. Revision plans facilitate the preparations for known work management evolutions in advance of need.

Temp lifts

When you want to temporarily remove one or more tags from a clearance, you can initiate a temp lift. By using temp lifts, you can change a clearance to remove the tags, without creating a clearance revision. This capability is powerful when you want to temporarily remove tags that are shared among multiple clearances.

Clearance requests

A clearance request defines the hazards, such as the sources of electrical, hydraulic, thermal, or mechanical energy, which requires isolation so that work activities in adjacent areas and equipment may be safely done. You can use clearance requests to initiate the process where trained system experts develop a worker protection plan. The worker protection plan consists of steps to isolate plant systems by opening or closing valves, electrical switches and circuit breakers, and steps to remove the hazardous energy by using vents, drains, and grounds.

Details for clearance requests display in the Related Records tab and in the Revision Plans tab of the Clearances (Nuc) application.

Clearance groups

With the Clearance Groups (Nuc) application, you can organize clearances for various purposes. For example, you might want to create groups of clearances that are to be used within a particular operating cycle or during a refueling outage. Managing groups of clearances facilitates tag sharing among the clearances that are part of a group.

Configurable options for clearances

The clearance process and related areas include the following configurable options:

• For clearances, you can specify options to automate status changes, include or exclude craft involvement, allow modification of verification requirements, and allow the association of multiple clearances to a single work order. You can also specify the use of clearance groups.
• For clearance tags, you can define settings for sequence numbering, sharing, conflict checking, single tag ownership, and tag type compatibility. You can specify a position value that does not require clearance control. You can also prevent tag sharing between clearances for specific tag types. When you prevent tag sharing, you can also prevent the use of multiple tags of that type on the same component by different clearances.
• For work orders and permits, you can define settings to control the specification of clearance requirements and the transfer of tags during craft approval.
• For work orders, quick work orders, and permits, you can specify the option for creating clearance requests.

Clearance options are configured at the site level.