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Read -> Compare -> Flag Clash -> Review -> Decide

Permit-to-Work Conflict and Simultaneous-Work Checker

The agent reads the day's permit log and flags dangerous combinations of simultaneous work, like hot work near a line break on the same header, along with permits that are expired but still open. It reads the permit register, the location and equipment tags, and the lockout and confined-space register, then returns clash alerts and an overdue-permit list. It is most useful where permits still live on paper or in a spreadsheet.

The Problem

Two crews. Same header. One doing hot work, one breaking the line. Nobody put the permits side by side.

It is a Monday shift handover and forty permits are open across the plant. One crew has a hot-work permit near the C-train header. Another crew, on a separate permit signed by a different supervisor, is breaking that same line to swap a valve. Each permit is fine on its own, and because they sit in two different binders, no one sees that together they put an ignition source next to a live hydrocarbon release.

What Changes

Every open permit compared against every other, by location and timing

The agent reads the day's permit log with its location tags, equipment tags, and time windows, then compares each permit against the others for known dangerous combinations. It flags hot work near line breaks or confined-space entry on the same equipment or header, and it lists permits that are past their expiry but never closed. The shift lead gets one conflict summary at shift start instead of forty separate pieces of paper.

Humans stay in control: the agent raises clash alerts, and your permit authority decides which work is paused, resequenced, or allowed to proceed.

HOW THE AGENT WORKS

TRIGGERLLMAPIDECISIONACTIONWAIT
TRIGGERShift-start schedule firesRuns at shift start and on each new or updated permit during the shift.
APIRead the day's permit logPulls all open permits with their location tags, equipment tags, and time windows.
APIRead isolation and entry registerPulls active isolations and confined-space entries to compare against permits.
LLMFind clashing combinationsCompares every open permit against the others for dangerous simultaneous-work pairs on shared tags.
DECISIONAny clash or overdue permit?
LLMDraft conflict summaryWrites clash alerts and an overdue or open-permit list ranked by severity.
ACTIONSend shift-start summaryDelivers the conflict summary and overdue list to the shift lead and permit authority.
The agent does not approve, suspend, or close permits. Your permit authority does. The agent removes the manual job of laying every open permit side by side to spot a clash.

HOW TO BUILD IT

Three levels of depth. Pick the one that matches where you are.

For the ops person who needs to understand what's involved and brief their team.

Your Permit RecordsPermit log, location and equipment tags, isolation register
The AgentWorkflow engine + LLM
Your Shift TeamShift lead and permit authority review the alerts

WHAT YOUR TEAM PROVIDES ONCE

  • Permit register - your day's permits with location, equipment tags, and time windows, on paper or digital
  • Location and equipment tag list - the naming that ties a permit to a specific line, header, or vessel
  • Lockout and confined-space register - active isolations and entries to compare against open permits
  • A clash rule set - the combinations you treat as dangerous, like hot work near a line break
  • A notification channel - email, Teams, or Slack where the shift summary lands
What happens day-to-day: at shift start the agent reads every open permit and the isolation register, compares them for dangerous pairs on shared equipment, and sends the shift lead one summary. Clashes are named with both permit numbers and the shared tag. Expired-but-open permits are listed so they get closed or renewed before work carries on.

For the IT person or technical lead who needs to scope the integration.

INQUIRY SOURCES

Permit register export (spreadsheet or digital system)
Location and equipment tag list
Lockout and confined-space register

WORKFLOW ENGINE (N8N)

Shift schedule or permit change event
Fetch open permits
Fetch isolations and entries
Match permits by tag and time
Clash or overdue found?
Build conflict summary JSON
Post summary to shift channel

CONNECTS TO

Permit system (spreadsheet / Permit Vision / e-permit)Read: permits, tags, time windows. Write: none
Isolation register (spreadsheet / CMMS lockout module)Read: active isolations, confined-space entries. Write: none
Tag master (P&ID list / asset register)Read: equipment and location tags. Write: none
Notification (Email / Microsoft Teams / Slack)Read: none. Write: clash alerts and overdue list
WITHOUT PMS API

Without API access, the permit log is exported to a spreadsheet each shift and the agent checks that file. It still finds every clash and overdue permit, it just runs per shift rather than on each change.

WITH PMS API

With API access to the permit system, the agent re-checks the moment a permit is raised or changed and can catch a clash as the second crew signs on, not just at shift start. Best experience.

For the person who wants to build this agent step by step. Each node below maps to an n8n workflow node.

TRIGGERNode 1
Trigger - shift start or new permit
n8n Schedule node at each shift start, plus a Webhook if the permit system can push changes.
Output: The set of open permits with tags and time windows.
APINode 2
HTTP Request - read permits and isolations
GET open permits and active isolations for the site.
Output: A combined list of permits, tags, times, and isolations.
LLMNode 3
LLM - detect simultaneous-work clashes
Send all open permits and the clash rule set, ask for pairs that violate a rule on a shared tag.
You are a permit-to-work safety checker. Given the open permits and the clash rules, find every pair of permits that share a location or equipment tag and overlap in time in a way a rule forbids.

Permits: {permits}
Clash rules: {clash_rules}
Current time: {now}

Also list any permit whose end time has passed but status is still open. Respond ONLY with valid JSON. No explanation.
INPUT
two permits sharing tag HDR-C: PTW-88 hot work 08:00-16:00, PTW-91 line break 09:00-12:00; rule forbids hot work with line break on same tag
OUTPUT
{"clashes": [{"permit_a": "PTW-88", "permit_b": "PTW-91", "tag": "HDR-C", "rule": "hot_work_near_line_break", "severity": "high"}], "overdue": []}
DECISIONNode 4
IF - any clash or overdue
n8n IF node on clashes or overdue not empty.
Output: Routes findings to the summary builder.
LLMNode 5
LLM - draft the conflict summary
Turn the clash and overdue data into a shift-start summary for the shift lead.
Write a shift-start conflict summary from this data. Group by severity, name both permit numbers and the shared tag for each clash, and list overdue permits separately.

Findings: {findings_json}
Shift: {shift_label}

Respond ONLY with valid JSON. No explanation.
INPUT
one high-severity clash PTW-88 and PTW-91 on HDR-C, one overdue permit PTW-70
OUTPUT
{"shift": "Mon-Day", "high": [{"permits": ["PTW-88", "PTW-91"], "tag": "HDR-C", "issue": "hot work with line break"}], "overdue": ["PTW-70"]}
ACTIONNode 6
Send - notify shift lead
n8n Email or Teams node posting the summary at shift start.
Output: A shift-start message with clashes and overdue permits.
MVP vs Advanced — Where To Start
MVP — START HERE
  • Start with one unit and the three clash rules that cause the most concern on your site.
  • Export one day's permit log to a spreadsheet with clean location and equipment tags.
  • Run the clash check by hand against the agent's output for a week to confirm the tags line up.
  • Send the summary to one shift lead and collect which flags were real and which were noise.
  • Add the overdue-permit list once the clash flags are trusted.
  • Only then widen to the whole site and the full rule set.
ADVANCED — ADD LATER
  • =+ Add a webhook so a new permit is checked against open ones the moment it is raised.
  • =+ Pull isolations from the CMMS lockout module instead of a separate spreadsheet.
  • =+ Add proximity logic using P&ID adjacency so nearby tags, not just identical ones, are compared.
  • =+ Track clash frequency by area to target where paper permits should go digital first.
  • =+ Send a mid-shift re-check for permits extended past their original window.
  • =+ Keep a signed record of each summary so an audit can see what was flagged and when.

Full Video Walkthrough Coming Soon

Watch the agent flag a hot-work and line-break clash on the same header.

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Frequently asked questions

Permit-to-Work Conflict and Simultaneous-Work Checker is an AI agent that flags clashing permits and open-but-expired work before the shift starts.
Two crews. Same header. One doing hot work, one breaking the line. Nobody put the permits side by side. The Permit-to-Work Conflict and Simultaneous-Work Checker addresses this: flags clashing permits and open-but-expired work before the shift starts.
No. Your team stays in control. The agent does not approve, suspend, or close permits. Your permit authority does. The agent removes the manual job of laying every open permit side by side to spot a clash.

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