What does a century of progress in safety management look like?
Control of Work (CoW) systems have undergone a remarkable transformation over more than 100 years, driven by industrial hazards that resulted in major incidents, regulatory shifts, and technological breakthroughs.
This Insight Brief traces that journey from early industrial safety practices to today’s smart, data-driven safety ecosystems. Learn how CoW has become the cornerstone of operational safety in high-risk industries and why it’s increasingly vital for sectors like oil & gas, energy, manufacturing, and others.
Highlights of this Insight Brief include:
- Key milestones from early safety laws to real-time digital systems
- How Permit-to-Work (PtW), lockout/tagout (LOTO), and job safety analysis (JSA) have matured over time
- How today’s CoW systems support environmental, social, and operational goals
- How data and digital tools are reshaping risk management
The safety protocols, permit systems, and digital platforms used today didn’t appear overnight and are the result of more than a century of hard lessons, often in response to major industrial disasters.
Fill out the form to download your copy to understand this historical trajectory, discover what’s behind current regulations, learn to avoid repeating past mistakes, and recognize the gaps that still exist in some legacy systems.