ADNOC WMS is ADNOC’s work management system: the framework that controls how work is planned, authorised and carried out safely across its operations. At its centre is the permit to work, so no high-risk job starts until the hazards are known, the controls are in place and the right people have signed.
It applies to employees and contractors alike. Anyone working on an ADNOC site, whether as a technician, a supervisor or a contractor’s permit holder, works inside it.
Fieldmaster.ai is not affiliated with ADNOC. This guide explains the system in general terms, from public sources. On ADNOC sites, ADNOC’s own WMS procedures and its approved training are the authority.
What the Work Management System Covers
ADNOC describes its personal safety and work management system as the framework through which work activities are planned and safely executed. It brings together practices from the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) and ADNOC’s 10 life-saving rules.
In practice, WMS is more than the permit form. Training providers and job descriptions for ADNOC projects list the same core elements:
- Permit to work (PTW). Written authorisation for the job, its location, its hazards and its controls.
- Job safety analysis (JSA). The step-by-step look at how the job could hurt someone, attached to the permit.
- Energy isolation. Proving that equipment is isolated and at zero energy before work starts.
- Simultaneous operations (SIMOPS). Managing jobs that run at the same time in the same area.
- Temporary defeat. Controlling any override or bypass of a safety system for the duration of the work.
ADNOC completed a move to a digital permit-to-work system across its operations in 2024. In 2025 it added start work checks, in which a second person independently confirms the critical controls at the worksite before the activity begins.
The Work That Needs Control
ADNOC’s life-saving rules show which activities the system is built around. They include:
- Working with a valid permit when one is required
- Getting authorisation before entering a confined space
- Controlling flammables and ignition sources during hot work
- Verifying isolation and zero energy before work begins
- Protecting against falls when working at height
- Following the rules for toxic gas environments
- Planning lifting operations and controlling the area
- Getting authorisation before overriding or disabling safety controls
Every worker on every site also holds stop-work authority: anyone can stop a job they believe is unsafe.
Who Does What
WMS gives each person a defined role, so nobody approves their own work. Job titles vary between ADNOC companies and sites, but two roles come up again and again:
- Job Performer. The certified permit holder at the worksite, who leads the crew doing the job and works to the permit’s conditions.
- Area Authority. The person responsible for the area, who sets the worksite precautions and controls and approves work in it.
Training material also refers to authorities who validate and issue the permit, and to endorsers whose areas or systems the job affects, such as fire or specialist teams. Check the exact roles and their limits in the procedure for the site you are working on.
WMS Training and Certification
People who hold WMS roles on ADNOC sites need ADNOC-approved training. Approved training providers in Abu Dhabi run courses such as:
- WMS Full Package and WMS Basic Package, covering the system as a whole
- Temporary Defeat, for controlling safety-system bypasses
- Simultaneous Operations, for managing jobs that overlap
Many job adverts for ADNOC projects ask for an ADNOC-approved WMS Job Performer certification as a condition of hiring, sometimes for a named field or area. Contractors should confirm which courses each role needs, and how long the certificates last, with ADNOC’s contractor requirements and an approved provider before mobilising a crew.
What Contractors Should Have in Place
ADNOC relies on contractors for most of the hours worked on its sites, and its contractor HSE requirements are written into contracts, covering selection, onboarding, training and performance monitoring. On an ADNOC site the work follows ADNOC’s system. Away from it, a contractor’s own discipline is what carries over:
- A permit process at your own yards, workshops and other clients’ sites. Crews who sign permits every day at your own facilities arrive at an ADNOC site already working that way.
- A record of who is certified for which role. Knowing which Job Performers hold a valid certificate, and when it lapses, avoids sending the wrong person.
- Job safety analyses that are written, not copied. A JSA that describes the real job makes the permit review faster and safer.
- Protective equipment checked, not assumed. The crew’s helmets, hi-vis, boots and glasses should be checked before the job starts.
- Evidence that survives the shift. Who signed what, when and where, kept for audits and incident reviews.
Where Electronic Permits Fit
ADNOC runs its own digital permit-to-work system on its sites, and that system is the one to use there. For a contractor, an electronic permit system is useful everywhere else: at its own yards and workshops, on non-ADNOC projects and for internal work that still needs control. It keeps the same habits of named sign-offs, checks done on site and a complete record that ADNOC expects.
For the general picture, read what is a permit to work system.
How Fieldmaster Approaches It
Fieldmaster builds a permit app around your own permit types, checklists and sign-off stages, for the sites you control. It runs from application to close-out: a spoken application, a safety review, signatures from named people at each stage, daily reconfirmation and close-out. A photo of the crew can be checked for protective equipment before the permit is issued. It works without signal and in more than 40 languages, so every member of a mixed crew can read the permit.
It does not connect to or replace ADNOC’s own system. It gives your crews the same discipline on the sites you run.
See the details on our permit to work page, how it fits HSE management, or talk to us about your yards and sites.
