A permit to work is a signed agreement between the person in control of a site or system and the person in charge of a job: this work, in this place, between these times, with these isolations and precautions in place, and nothing else. It exists for the jobs where a misunderstanding kills — opening a line that is still under pressure, reaching into a machine someone else can start, working on a system the next shift thinks is live. This general permit follows the life of a real permit: describe the job, isolate, prepare the area, issue and accept, then hand back and cancel as two separate signed steps. Any precaution answered No is flagged in the report. You can fill it in here and download a finished PDF without creating an account.
When a job needs a permit
Not every task needs one. Permits are for non-routine or higher-risk work where several people, or several shifts, have to agree on the state of a plant or an area: maintenance on machinery and process equipment, work on pipelines, vessels and electrical systems, roof access, work in plant rooms and risers, and any job that interacts with other work going on nearby.
Specialist work usually has its own permit as well — hot work, confined space entry, excavation, electrical isolation. This general permit records which of those are linked to it, so nobody signs one without knowing about the others.
Isolations are the heart of it
Most permits exist because something has to be made safe first. The isolation register lists every point separately: the equipment, the kind of energy, the switch or valve, how it is secured, the lock or tag number, who isolated it, and whether it was proved dead. "Isolated" without a test is an assumption. A row answered No for proved dead is a safety finding.
At cancellation the same register is the checklist for putting things back, or for leaving them deliberately isolated with a tag that says why.
Issue, accept, and the crew
The issuer signs only after walking the job and seeing the precautions in place. The person in charge of the work signs to accept the conditions and to stop if they change. Then the crew are briefed and sign on — a permit that only the supervisor has read controls nothing at the work face.
If the job pauses for a shift change, an alarm or a change in conditions, the permit is suspended and re-checked before work resumes. If it runs past its expiry, it is extended in writing or closed and reissued.
Hand-back and cancellation are two steps
At the end, the person in charge hands the area back: how far the work got, whether it is clean and safe, whether guards and covers are back on. The issuer then inspects and cancels the permit, restoring isolations or recording why they stay. Two signatures, two people, because the person who did the work is the last one who should be the only one to say it is finished.
On the phone, speak while you walk, and the document writes itself: walk the job with the person in charge, say what you see, and the precautions and isolation rows fill in.
Common questions
What is a permit to work?
A written system for controlling higher-risk, non-routine work. It records exactly what work is allowed, where and when, which hazards have been isolated or controlled, who issued it, who accepted it, and how the area was handed back and the permit cancelled.
Who can issue a permit to work?
Someone authorized by the site owner or operator who knows the plant or area and has the authority to make it safe — not the person who will do the work. Many sites keep a list of named issuers for each area or type of permit.
How long is a permit valid?
For the time written on it and no longer — often one shift. If the work runs over, the permit is extended in writing after the precautions are re-checked, or closed and a new one issued. A change in scope always needs a new permit.
What is the difference between hand-back and cancellation?
Hand-back is the person in charge of the work confirming how far the job got and that the area has been left safe. Cancellation is the issuer inspecting it, dealing with the isolations, and closing the permit. Keeping them separate means a second person checks before the plant goes back into service.
Does this replace a hot work or confined space permit?
No. Those have precautions of their own, such as a fire watch or an entry attendant. This permit lists which specialist permits are linked to the job so that all of them are issued, and closed, together.