Permits to work

A permit to work records what is isolated, what was tested and who may work, for a job or a shutdown — and a job that needs one will not start until a permit covering it has been issued and accepted. The Permits screens are where permits are raised, issued, worked under and handed back. Open them from Work → Permits. You need View permits to work.

If you don’t see this in your navigation, your administrator can switch the module on under Administration → Modules, or it may not be included in your plan.

The register

A permit is the one record in the product with a clock genuinely running against it, so the register leads with what is live right now and how long it has left, sorted by what runs out soonest.

Figure	Meaning
live	Permits in force now (green)
running out	Permits in force with two hours or less left — roughly a shift’s tail, and still time to do something about it (amber)
expired	Permits past their end time that have not been handed back (red)

When any permit has run out without being handed back, a red banner names them: “N permit(s) have run out and not been handed back”.

Column	Meaning
Permit	The permit number
Kind	The kind of permit, with what the work is beneath
Status	Where the permit is in its life — see Statuses
In force	When it starts, and “runs out in…” (amber in the last two hours, red once expired)
Covers	The work order or shutdown it permits, as a link
Where	The site, and the asset beneath
Isolations	How many are applied, out of how many the permit lists
Crew	How many people are named on it

Click a row to open the permit.

Statuses

Status	What it means
Draft	Being prepared. Not yet cover for anybody. The only status in which the permit can be edited
Issued	Signed over by the issuer, waiting for the person in charge of the work to accept it. A signed piece of paper on a desk, not cover for anyone working
Active	Accepted, and in force within its window
Expired	Active but past its end time. Shown instead of Active: the status word never overrides the clock
Suspended	Stood down. Work stops; isolations stay on
Closed	Handed back, with the state the area was left in
Cancelled	Called off before it was worked under

Active and Issued are deliberately different colours, because only an active permit covers anyone.

Raising a permit

Raise a permit on the register — or Raise a permit on a work order whose permit is missing — opens the form. You need Draft permits to work. “It permits nothing until the isolations are on, the precautions are confirmed, and somebody has issued and accepted it.”

What it is, and what it covers

Settled when the permit is raised — a permit for different work, or for a different job, is a different permit.

Field	What it means	Notes
Kind	Hot work, Confined space, Working at height, Electrical, Lock-out/tag-out, Excavation, Lifting, Chemical, Radiation or General work	Required
The job	The work order the permit covers	Pick a job by number or title. When you raise the permit from a work order, the job is already decided and not asked again
Or the shutdown	A shutdown the permit covers instead	Only shutdowns still in planning or in progress are offered. A permit covers a job or a shutdown — every job in that shutdown is then covered

The work, and what will hurt you

What somebody standing at the gate reads before they sign.

Field	What it means	Notes
The work	The work, in the words the issuer would say out loud — “weld repair to the fire main”	Required
Method and limits	How the work is to be done, and what it must not go beyond	Optional
Hazards identified	What the risk assessment found	Optional, but the half an incident report quotes

Where

Field	What it means
Asset	The asset the work is on, or Not against one
Where	The place within the site, or The whole site

How long it has

A permit runs out. What it is issued for is a shift or a task, not a project.

Field	What it means	Notes
In force from	When it starts	Required, with a time
In force until	When it runs out	Required, with a time. “A permit that does not run out is a standing permission.”

Raise it creates the permit as a Draft and opens it. Your organisation may have added its own questions, photographs or documents to this form; an administrator arranges it from Edit form in Form Studio.

The permit

The header shows the permit number, what the work is, the status, the kind and “runs out in…”. The permit lists Kind, Covers, Site, Where, Asset, In force from, In force until, Issued by and Issued at, Accepted by and Accepted at, and Closed by and Closed at — the two signatures and the hand-back, each with a name and a time. Any reason it was stood down, called off or handed back with is shown beneath. The work shows the description and the hazards.

The custody chain

A permit is never edited into a different status. Each step is its own button, because the whole point of a permit is that two people, at two moments, each signed for something real.

Button	When	What it does	Who can do it
Issue it	Draft	Signs the permit over, once its isolations are on and required precautions confirmed	Issue a permit, and waive the permit a job asks for
Accept it	Issued	The person in charge of the work accepts it. The permit becomes Active	Accept a permit as the person in charge of the work
Stand it down	Active	Suspends work under it without ending it, with a reason (for example “Site fire alarm”). “Work under it stops until somebody resumes it. The isolations stay on.”	Suspend, resume, close and cancel permits
Resume it	Suspended	Lifts the suspension	As above
Hand it back	Issued, Active or Suspended	Closes the permit, recording “what state the area was left in. The next shift and any investigation read this.”	As above
Call it off	Any status before it is closed	Cancels the permit, with a reason. “For a permit that never ran. One that has been worked under is handed back instead.”	As above
Edit	Draft	Corrects what the permit says. Once somebody has signed for a permit, it is a record of what they signed for, not a form to correct	Edit a draft permit and what it says
Archive it	Closed or Cancelled	Removes it from the register	Archive permits
Document	Any	Produces the printable permit from your organisation’s template — usually the reason somebody opens a permit at all: to hand a technician the paper to carry to the gate. See producing a document	Attach files and photographs

Before a draft can be issued, the screen says plainly what is still missing — “Before this can be issued:” followed by nobody being on it, isolations not on yet, or precautions unconfirmed — rather than letting the attempt fail.

Handing a permit back with isolations still on is flagged in the dialog — “N isolation(s) are still on. Record each one as removed first.”

Draft ──Issue it──→ Issued ──Accept it──→ Active ⇄ Suspended (Stand it down / Resume it)
Issued, Active or Suspended ──Hand it back──→ Closed
Any open status ──Call it off──→ Cancelled

Isolations

What is isolated lists each isolation in order:

Column	Meaning
What	What is isolated — the valve, the starter, the breaker
How	Lock, Tag, Blank, Spade, Valve, Earth applied, Fuse removed, Disconnected or Other
Lock or tag	The lock or tag number, which lets somebody match the tag on the steelwork to the line on the permit
On by	Who applied it and when, or “not on yet”
Off by	Who removed it and when

Add an isolation asks What is isolated, How and Lock or tag. It’s on records an isolation as applied; Took it off records it as removed. These need Apply, prove and remove isolations and precautions.

Precautions

Precautions taken are the conditions of issue, each written so it is either true or it is not — “gas tested below 10% LEL” rather than “check the atmosphere”.

Column	Meaning
Condition	The precaution, marked advisory when it is not required
Reading	The reading taken, where one applies — for example “20.9% O₂, 0% LEL”
Checked by	Who confirmed it and when, or “not checked”

Add a precaution asks for the Condition and whether it is Required before the permit can be issued (ticked by default). Confirm it records it as checked, with a Reading where one applies; Check again records a fresh check, for example after a break. A required precaution left unconfirmed holds up issue. Needs Apply, prove and remove isolations and precautions.

Crew

Who this permit covers lists each person with their Name, Company (“ours” for your own people) and what they are On this permit as — for example person in charge, welder or fire watch. Add somebody adds One of ours or A contractor… (with their Name and Company) and their role; Take off the permit removes them. A permit with nobody on it cannot be issued.

Permits and work orders

A work order is marked Needs a permit when its maintenance plan says so or when somebody ticks it on the job. Until a permit covering it is in force:

the work order shows a red banner saying why it may not start, with Raise a permit;
its Readiness tab lists the permit requirement as blocking;
the move into work (Start work by default) is refused with the same sentence.

The work order’s Readiness tab lists every permit covering it — its own, and any covering the shutdown it is in (“via the shutdown”) — with whether each is in force and when it runs out. People with Issue a permit, and waive the permit a job asks for can Waive it on the requirement, with a reason recorded against their name.

Gatehouse

Where a device or visitor is checked against what has been declared and authorised.

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The field app

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The register

Statuses