Supporting documents for permit issuers – how to create, assemble and manage them

Issuing a permit to work is not something you do from memory. Before you sign anything, you need to locate, read, and interpret a range of documents that together form the evidence base for your decision. If you cannot find what you need, or if the documents you have do not support the controls on the permit, you do not issue.

Hazard registers

A hazard register records the known hazards in a site or area, the controls already in place, and the residual risk after those controls are applied. When you review a permit application, the hazard register tells you what risks are already known about the work area.

If the application does not account for a hazard listed in the register, that is a problem to resolve before you issue. For example, if the register for a pump house records hydrogen sulphide exposure as a known hazard and the permit application for maintenance work in that area makes no mention of atmospheric testing or respiratory protection, the risk assessment is incomplete.

Hazard registers are living documents. If you identify a new hazard through the permit process, feed it back into the register so it is captured for future work in that area.

Safety Data Sheets

A Safety Data Sheet (SDS) provides detailed information about a hazardous substance: what it is, what hazards it presents, what exposure limits apply, what PPE is required, and what to do in the event of a spill or exposure. You need the relevant SDS whenever work involves or is near hazardous substances, even if the work itself does not directly handle them. If you don’t know how to read a Safety Data Sheet it’s covered in-depth in our Dangerous Goods Handler course. If you’re don’t know about spill control, find out in our Spill Control and Spill Kit training course.

A contractor replacing a valve on a chemical dosing line may not be handling the chemical directly, but they need to know what is in the pipe, what happens if it leaks, and what protective equipment is needed if it does. The SDS provides that information. The Permit Receiver must have copies of the relevant Safety Data Sheets for any substances present during the work.

Drawings and diagrams

This category includes underground service drawings, process and instrument diagrams (P&IDs), and site layout plans.

Underground service drawings are particularly important for excavation work. Before anyone breaks ground, you need to know where water, gas, electrical cables, telecommunications, and stormwater services are located. Relying on memory or assumption is not acceptable; services must be confirmed from current drawings, and where there is any doubt, located by detection equipment or hand digging. WorkSafe’s Guide for Safety with Underground Services sets out what is expected.

Process and instrument diagrams show how plant and equipment are connected, what flows through them, and where the isolation points are. These are essential when issuing permits for work on or near process equipment, because they allow you to verify that the isolations described in the permit actually cut off the relevant energy or material sources.

Site layout plans give you the spatial context for the permit. They show where the work sits in relation to other activities, access routes, exclusion zones, and restricted areas. If you are coordinating multiple permits on the same site, the layout plan is how you confirm that one job does not create a hazard for another.

Operational and maintenance procedures

These include Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS), Site-specific Safety Plans (SSSPs), and Job Safety Analyses (JSAs). If the work is covered by an SOP, confirm that it is current and that the people doing the work have been trained on it.

When a Permit Receiver submits a JSA with their application, review it properly. Check that it is specific to the actual task and location, that the hazards listed are realistic rather than generic, and that the controls are practical and sufficient for the level of risk. A JSA that lists “slips and trips” as the only hazard for work inside an operational boiler house has not been written for the job at hand.

Regulations and Approved Codes of Practice

WorkSafe publishes Approved Codes of Practice and Good Practice Guidelines for managing specific types of high-risk work. These cover areas such as confined space entry (AS/NZS 2865), working at heights, scaffolding, excavation safety, demolition, cranes, asbestos management, hazardous substances, and boiler operations.

You are not expected to memorise these documents, but you are expected to know they exist, know which ones are relevant to the work your site carries out, and be able to refer to them when needed. If a permit involves work covered by an Approved Code of Practice, the controls on the permit must be at least equivalent to what the code requires. If they are not, the permit is deficient.

Permit forms and specialist certificates

A typical permit system includes the main permit form, a JSA form, and specialist certificates for high-risk activities. Common certificate types cover hot work, confined space entry, working at heights, excavation, cranage, isolation, critical safety systems, and transfer of control. Each certificate contains a checklist of controls that must be confirmed before work starts, agreed to by both the Permit Issuer and the Permit Receiver.

Only the certificates indicated on the main permit need to be attached, but if the hazards warrant an additional certificate that the Permit Receiver has not requested, you have the authority to require it. If a contractor submits a permit application for pipe repair work and describes using an oxy-acetylene torch but has not requested a hot work certificate, the application is incomplete regardless of what they have ticked on the main form.

Currency matters

A final point on all supporting documents: they go out of date. SOPs get revised. Drawings are updated when infrastructure changes. Hazard registers are amended when new risks are identified. Safety Data Sheets are reissued when formulations change or exposure limits are updated.

Confirm you are working from current information before you issue. If a drawing may not reflect the actual state of the site, or an SOP has been superseded, find out before you sign. The documents behind a permit are the evidence base for your decision. If that evidence is stale or incomplete, the decision is not sound.