Permit to work template: a printable work permit with a hot work section

What a permit to work is and when you need one

A permit to work is part of a safe system of work. It does not make a job safe by itself. It forces the people who control the area and the people who do the work to agree, in writing, on what will be done, what can go wrong and what has been put in place before anyone starts. It also fixes a time window and names the person who must close it.

Routine maintenance rarely needs one. Permits are used when the work itself creates or meets a hazard that normal controls do not cover, or when a contractor works in an area they do not own. Typical cases:

• Hot work: welding, cutting, grinding, brazing or any open flame outside a designated workshop.
• Confined space entry: tanks, silos, pits, sewers, ducts and process vessels.
• Work at height: roofs, scaffolds, mobile elevating platforms, fragile surfaces.
• Electrical work: live work, work close to live conductors and switching operations.
• Excavation: digging near buried cables, pipes or foundations.
• Chemical work: opening process lines, handling hazardous substances, cleaning contaminated equipment.

The sections every permit to work needs

Whatever the format, a usable permit answers the same questions in the same order. The free template follows this sequence, so the form reads from top to bottom as the job progresses.

• Scope: permit number, site, area, equipment tag, work order number and a plain description of the job.
• Hazards: a checklist of what is present, with the control applied to each one.
• Isolations and LOTO reference: isolation points, lock numbers, who isolated and who verified zero energy.
• Gas test: oxygen, LEL, H2S and CO readings with time, instrument and tester, repeated after any break.
• PPE: what each worker must wear, from safety glasses to a harness or breathing apparatus.
• Precautions: barriers, fire watch, extinguisher, ventilation, standby person and rescue plan.
• Validity: start and end date and time, shifts covered, any extension.
• Authorisation: issuer, area authority and safety officer sign before work starts.
• Acceptance: the performer signs to confirm the precautions are understood and applied by the crew.
• Suspension and hand-back: every stop and restart is logged, with a new gas test where needed.
• Closure: work finished, area clean, isolations removed, permit withdrawn.

Common mistakes that make a permit worthless

Most permit failures found after an incident are not missing forms. The form existed; it was filled in without being true. These are the patterns to watch for when you audit your own permits.

• The permit is issued from the office without a joint site visit, so the hazards listed are the ones printed on the template, not the ones on site.
• No validity period is stated, and a permit written on Monday is still in use on Thursday by a different crew.
• Gas is tested once in the morning and never again after a break or a change in conditions.
• Isolations are ticked, but lock numbers and the zero-energy check are not recorded.
• Closure is never signed: the area owner does not know whether the equipment is safe to restart, and the hot work fire watch ends when the welder leaves.

How the digital permit works in FreeMaint

Work permits live in the HSE module, which is part of the Starter plan ($29 per company per month, not per user). A permit is created from the HSE register or directly from a work order, with its type, location, asset, validity window, hazards, precautions, PPE, emergency procedure and contractor details.

Admins attach a pre-work and a post-work checklist template to each permit type, for example a gas test and rescue check for confined space or a fire watch check for hot work. When the permit is submitted, its pre-work checklist is created, and required items must pass before the permit can be activated. When the crew marks the work complete, the post-work checklist opens and the closure signatures follow.

The approval chain is configured once in the workflow engine, for example safety review then area authority. On the Business plan, the chain can differ by permit type. A parent permit cannot be approved until its sub-permits are, which covers the common case of hot work inside a confined space.

Regulations give context: adapt the template to your site

Permit systems are described by many national rules and guides: OSHA 29 CFR 1910.146 for permit-required confined spaces and 1910.252 for welding and cutting in the United States, the HSE guidance HSG250 in the United Kingdom, and comparable texts elsewhere. Insurers often add their own hot work conditions.

This template is a generic starting point, not a compliance guarantee. Adapt the hazard list, gas limits, PPE and signatories to your local regulations, your risk assessment and your site procedures before you use it.