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A permit to work is the formal, recorded process a site uses to control a job it has identified as potentially hazardous. This free permit to work checklist is for maintenance planners, engineers, EHS leads and contractors’ supervisors who issue or work under permits. One run is one permit, from the request to the hand-back. It follows the HSE’s guidance on permit-to-work systems: request the work and name the issuer, acceptor and area authority, assess the risks and write the method statement, make and prove the isolations, put the precautions in place, then issue, brief and accept the permit before work starts. The permit type you choose adds its own precautions: hot work, work at height, electrical work, confined space entry, breaking containment or excavation. Gas tests appear when the job needs them, a handover, suspension and extension phase appears when the work runs past one shift, and audit tasks appear when the permit is sampled for the periodic audit.
A permit-to-work system is the formal, recorded process a site uses to control work it has identified as potentially hazardous. The permit itself names who may do which job, where and when, and sets out the main precautions. It is also how site management, plant supervisors, operators and the people doing the job talk to each other about that job. The HSE’s guidance, HSG250, says permits suit non-production work such as maintenance, repair, cleaning and modification, non-routine operations, and jobs where two or more groups have to co-ordinate or hand work between them. It also warns against using them for everything: they are not normally needed for routine maintenance in non-hazardous areas, and overuse weakens them.
A permit does not replace the risk assessment or the isolation procedure; it brings them together for one job. Isolations follow your lockout/tagout procedure, hazards across the whole site are found by a safety inspection, and the job itself usually starts as a work order in the equipment maintenance workflow. HSG250 suggests common titles for the roles in a permit system. The originator requests the job, the isolating authority makes the isolations, and a site checker such as an authorised gas tester carries out the checks the permit lists. On a small site one person may hold several roles, but nobody issues a permit to themselves. Three roles sign the permit most often:
Who: the person authorised and trained to issue permits for this plant, such as a shift engineer or permit co-ordinator.
Does: confirms the hazards are assessed and the isolations and precautions are in place, visits the site during the job and inspects it at the end.
Signs: the issue, any handover or extension, and the cancellation.
Who: the person in charge of the work, such as the lead fitter or the contractor’s supervisor.
Does: briefs everyone working under the permit, keeps the work inside its terms, and tells the issuer when the job is finished, suspended or changed.
Signs: the acceptance and the hand-back.
Who: the person in control of the area or plant, such as the production or shift manager.
Does: knows what work is under way in their area, especially when containment is broken or work is handed over or suspended.
Signs: that the plant is back under their control after the job.
Eight phases take one permit from the request to the hand-back, in the order of the HSE’s guidance. Phase 4 shows only the precautions for the permit type you choose, gas tests appear only when the job needs them, Phase 7 appears only when the work runs beyond one shift or is suspended, and the monitoring and audit tasks appear when the permit is sampled for the periodic audit. Nothing after the issuer’s authorisation can be completed until it is given.
The originator raises the request and names the people who will run the permit. The issuer and the acceptor must be different people: nobody issues a permit to themselves.
A permit is not a replacement for a risk assessment. The HSE says it helps bring the assessment to life where the work is done. If the hazards cannot be controlled, the job is rejected or redefined, not permitted.
Isolations follow your lockout/tagout procedure, and each one is listed on the permit or on an isolation certificate cross-referenced to it. The two gas test tasks appear only when Phase 2 says gas testing is needed.
Only the precautions task for the permit type chosen in Phase 1 appears. Your own permit form and procedures set the precautions; the checks in each task are prompts to work through.
The issuer authorises the permit only after inspecting the work site, and nothing after the authorisation can be completed until it is given. Where the potential for harm is particularly high, the HSE says a second person, the permit authoriser, should see the permit before it is issued.
Work stays inside the permit’s scope, place and time. The issuer visits the site while the work is under way, and anyone stops the work, makes the area safe and asks for advice if conditions change.
Applies only when the job runs beyond one shift or is suspended. A suspended permit stays live until it is cancelled, so its isolations may still be in place.
The hand-back answers three questions: is the work complete, is the plant back in a safe condition with the isolations removed, and has the person in control of the plant taken it back? The two audit tasks appear only when this permit is selected for the periodic audit.
HSG250 sets out the essential elements of a permit-to-work form, and says a form that misses any of them is unlikely to be doing its job. Signatures on the form should be dated and timed. Use the table to check your own permit form, and to see where each element is recorded in this checklist.
| Element | What it records | Where in this checklist |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Permit title | The type of permit. | Phase 1: Choose the permit type |
| 2. Permit reference number | With references to any other relevant permits or isolation certificates. | Phase 1: the first task and the cross-references |
| 3. Job location | Where the work will be done. | Phase 1: the first task |
| 4. Plant identification | The plant or equipment being worked on. | Phase 1: the first task |
| 5. Description of the work and its limitations | What will be done, and what the permit does not cover. | Phase 1: Describe the work and its limits |
| 6. Hazard identification | Including residual hazards and the hazards the work itself creates. | Phase 2 |
| 7. Precautions and actions in an emergency | The people who carried out precautions, such as the isolating authority, sign that they have been taken. | Phases 3 and 4 |
| 8. Protective equipment | Including PPE. | Phase 4: Specify the PPE for the job |
| 9. Issue | The issuer signs that isolations are made and precautions taken, except those that can only be taken during the work, with the date and the permit’s duration. High-hazard work needs a second signature from the permit authoriser. | Phase 5: Set the permit’s validity, Issuer authorises the permit |
| 10. Acceptance | A signature confirming the work, the hazards and the precautions are understood, and that the permit has been explained to everyone working under it. | Phase 5: Brief the work party, Acceptor accepts the permit |
| 11. Extension and shift handover | Signatures confirming the plant is still safe to work on and that new people have been made aware of the hazards and precautions, with a new expiry time. | Phase 7 |
| 12. Hand-back | The acceptor certifies the work is complete. The issuer certifies it is complete and the plant is ready for testing and recommissioning. | Phase 8: Acceptor signs the permit back, Issuer inspects the finished job |
| 13. Cancellation | Certifies the work has been tested and the plant recommissioned. | Phase 8: Issuer cancels and files the permit |
Separate forms for different hazards. HSG250 says separate permit forms may be needed for tasks such as hot work and confined space entry, so each gives enough weight to its own hazards. It suggests colours to tell them apart: red or red-edged for hot work, blue or blue-edged for cold work, green or green-edged for confined space entry certificates, black-edged for breaking containment, and yellow or yellow-edged for high voltage electrical isolation certificates.
Keeping the record. Permits, certificates and risk assessments should stay at site with the issuing authority for at least 30 days after the work is complete, then be archived for a set period so that permits can be monitored and audited. For permit-required confined spaces in the US, 29 CFR 1910.146(e)(6) requires each cancelled entry permit to be kept for at least one year.
The issuer, the acceptor and the area authority are chosen on the first task, and each step is assigned to the person who owns it. The authorisation is assigned to the issuer alone, and nothing after the authorisation step can be completed until a decision is recorded, so the briefing, the acceptance and the work wait for it.
Choose hot work and the hot work checks appear; choose confined space entry and the entry checks appear instead. Gas tests are added when the job needs them, and the handover, suspension and extension steps appear when the work runs past a shift. Rules show and hide each one from the answers given.
The Reports Grid lists every permit in progress and the task each one has reached, and it updates in real time as steps are completed. Photos of locks, gas readings and the signed permit sit on the tasks that produced them, with names and times.
CheckFlow is not an electronic permit-to-work system, and it does not replace your site’s permit form, which stays the signed document displayed at the work site. It runs the steps around the permit, so each one happens in order, by the right person, with the evidence attached. If you plan to move the permits themselves onto software, HSG250 lists what has to be in place first, including controlled electronic signatures, no remote issue without a site visit, paper copies for display at the job and a back-up if the system fails. CheckFlow’s manufacturing checklist software shows how the same approach handles maintenance and safety routines on the shop floor.
Isolations follow the Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) Procedure Checklist, and the job usually starts as a work order in the Equipment Maintenance Workflow. The hazards of the workplace as a whole are assessed with the Health & Safety Risk Assessment Checklist and checked with the Safety Inspection Process for a Manufacturing Facility.
Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) Procedure Checklist
Confined Space Entry Checklist
Health & Safety Risk Assessment Checklist
Safety Inspection Process for a Manufacturing Facility
Equipment Maintenance Workflow Checklist
Describe the process in a sentence and the AI checklist generator drafts the phases and tasks for you.
A permit to work is a formal, recorded process for controlling work that a site has identified as potentially hazardous. The permit itself, on paper or on screen, names the job, the place, the time and the people authorised to do it, and sets out the main precautions. The HSE stresses that issuing a permit does not by itself make a job safe: that depends on the people who prepare, supervise and carry out the work. The permit is how they communicate, from its issue to its cancellation.
Consider one whenever work could harm people, plant or the environment. HSG250 says permits suit non-production work such as maintenance, repair, inspection, cleaning and modification, non-routine operations, and jobs where two or more groups must co-ordinate or hand work over. It lists jobs where extra permits or certificates should be considered, including hot work, work that breaks containment, work on electrical equipment, entry into confined spaces and work at height. Permits are not normally needed for general visitors or routine maintenance in non-hazardous areas, and using them for everything weakens them.
HSG250 sets out 13 essential elements: the permit title, a reference number with cross-references to related permits and certificates, the job location, the plant identification, a description of the work and its limits, the hazards, the precautions and emergency actions, the protective equipment, the issue, the acceptance, extension and shift handover, the hand-back and the cancellation. Signatures should be dated and timed. The table above shows where each element is recorded in this checklist.
The issuing authority issues it: a person authorised and trained to do so, who knows the hazards of the plant, inspects the site and confirms the isolations and precautions are in place. The performing authority accepts it for the people doing the work, signing that they understand the job, the hazards and the precautions. HSG250 says nobody should issue a permit to themselves, and that where the potential for harm is particularly high a second person, the permit authoriser, should see the permit before it is issued.
If work carries over to another shift, a handover tells the incoming shift which permit jobs are outstanding, what state they are in and the state of the plant, and HSG250 recommends that the incoming issuer signs to continue the permit. A suspended permit stays live until it is cancelled, so its isolations may still be in place. Work restarts only after the issuer has checked it is safe and revalidated the permit or issued a new one. If the suspension is indefinite, cancelling the permit may be the better option.
A hot work permit controls work that brings heat or a source of ignition, such as welding, flame cutting, grinding or tools that can spark, into an area where there may be a risk of fire or explosion. HSG250 suggests a red or red-edged form. In the US, 29 CFR 1910.252 requires the person who authorises cutting and welding to inspect the area first and set the precautions, preferably in a written permit, and requires a fire watch in higher-risk locations for at least half an hour after the work ends.
HSG250 says permits, certificates and risk assessments should be kept at site by the issuing authority for at least 30 days after the work is complete, then archived for a set period. Site management should monitor permits in use, the system should be audited regularly by competent people, preferably from outside the site, and a review with site and corporate management should take place at least every three years. For US permit-required confined spaces, each cancelled entry permit must be kept for at least one year.
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