Permit to work basics for small builders

A permit to work is a short record that says: this risky job has been looked at, the controls are in place, and the person doing it knows. It is not a replacement for a safe work method statement. It sits beside one, and it is about this job, here, today.

Which jobs usually need one

The usual candidates are the jobs where one mistake is serious.

• Hot work. Welding, cutting and grinding, where sparks meet something that burns.
• Confined spaces. Tanks, pits and enclosed spaces, where the air itself can be the hazard. Many states' WHS regulations require an entry permit for a confined space, so check yours.
• Work at heights. Where a fall could hurt someone.
• Excavation and penetration. Digging, trenching and cutting into slabs, where services can be hit.
• Energy isolation. Making power or plant safe to work on, with locks and tags.

Your client, your principal contractor or your own safety plan may ask for permits on other work too. Check your state's rules and your site requirements. This is general information, not legal advice.

Three people, three jobs

A permit works best when the roles are separate.

1. The person who asks. Says what the work is, where on site, who is doing it and for how long. Writing it down is half the value, because it forces the question "what is next to this that could go wrong?"
2. The person who issues. A supervisor, not the person doing the work. They check the controls for this kind of job. For a confined space that includes an air test before entry, a standby person and the list of who may go in. For an isolation it means the points that were isolated and the lock numbers.
3. The person who accepts. The worker, who agrees to the controls before the work starts. When a crew is named, everyone named accepts.

Only when all of that is done is the permit active.

Keep it short in time

A permit should cover the job, not the week. Shorter is safer, and asking again is cheap. A permit that runs past its end time has expired, and the work stops until a new one is issued. A supervisor can also suspend a permit if conditions change.

The task should wait

The most common failure is not a bad permit. It is no permit, because the job started while the paperwork was "being sorted". The cure is to tie the two together: a task that needs a permit does not start until the permit is active.

What to keep

When the work is done, close the permit. The record should show the checks, who was named, the times, and any readings, so you can answer a question months later without asking anyone to remember.

A starting point for a small team

1. List the kinds of work on your jobs that need a permit.
2. Decide who can issue, and make sure it is never the person doing the work.
3. Ask for the permit from the task, so the description is already there.
4. Do not let the task start until the permit is active.

Novato lets you ask for a permit from a task, issue it with the checks for that kind of work, collect acceptances on phones, and keeps the task locked until the permit is active.