Everything up to this point has been planning, checking, and documenting. Now you need to make sure the people doing the work understand the hazards they face, the controls that are in place, and the rules they must follow. This is the communication phase of issuing a permit, and it is where the paperwork becomes a conversation.
Communicating hazards and controls
You communicate directly with the Permit Receiver, face-to-face. You talk through the specific hazards identified for this job, in this location, on this day. You explain what controls have been put in place and what additional precautions the work team must follow. If specialist certificates are attached, you go through the requirements of each one.
This is a conversation, not a document handover. Sliding a completed permit across a desk and pointing at the signature line does not meet the requirement. Hazards and controls are communicated and confirmed with the personnel undertaking the work. That means the Permit Receiver asks questions, raises concerns, and confirms understanding before signing.
Where the Permit Receiver and the Person in Charge of the Worksite are different people, both need to be part of this conversation. The PICWS is the person who will be on the ground with the crew. If they do not understand the hazards and controls, they cannot supervise the work properly.
The toolbox meeting
The Permit Receiver (or PICWS) then takes this information to the full work team through a toolbox meeting or pre-start briefing before work begins. Every person working under the permit must be briefed on the scope of work, the hazards, the controls, the emergency procedures, and any specific restrictions. Workers sign the permit or an acknowledgement form to confirm they have been briefed.
A toolbox meeting that amounts to “same as last time, sign here” is not a briefing. Conditions change between jobs. A crew that did the same task last week in dry weather is now doing it after overnight rain, on a slope, next to an active loading bay. Those differences must be communicated because the people holding the tools need to know what has changed and what it means for them.
Conditions of issue
After communicating the hazards and controls, you explain the conditions under which the permit has been issued. These are the rules of the permit, and the Permit Receiver must understand and accept them before work begins.
The validity period defines how long the permit is active. In most organisations, a permit is valid for one working day or one shift. Work stops when the permit expires, regardless of how close the job is to completion. If the work runs longer, the permit must be revalidated or reissued at the start of the next period. Revalidation is not a rubber stamp. It requires you to confirm that the hazards, controls, and site conditions remain as they were when the permit was first issued. If anything has changed, a new risk assessment may be needed.
Emergency alarm procedures must be understood by everyone working under the permit. Workers need to know what the alarms sound like, what each type of alarm means, where the assembly points are, and what to do when an alarm activates. In a site emergency, all permits are immediately invalidated. All work stops and the worksite must be left in a safe condition if it is safe to do so. Work does not restart until the emergency is resolved and permits are formally reissued.
Control room notification may be required before work starts and after it is complete. This is particularly important when the work could affect site operations, process alarms, or safety systems. If a maintenance team is working on a fire detection loop in a warehouse and the control room is not notified, an alarm activation during the work could trigger a full site evacuation that was entirely avoidable with a phone call beforehand.
When a permit will be cancelled
You must clearly communicate the circumstances that will cause the permit to be cancelled: site emergency, non-compliance with permit conditions, unsafe working practices, conflicting work in the area, and any change in site conditions not anticipated when the permit was issued.
Cancellation is not a punishment. It is the recognition that the conditions the permit was based on no longer hold, and that the permit is therefore no longer valid. If a crew is working under a hot work permit in a yard and a fuel delivery truck arrives at an adjacent bay that was not expected, the conditions have changed. The hot work stops. The situation is reassessed. If the work can proceed safely with additional controls, a new permit is issued. If it cannot, the work waits until the delivery is complete.
Workers need to understand this before they start, not when the cancellation happens. If the first time someone hears about cancellation triggers is when you are pulling them off the job, the communication has failed.
Signing and distributing the permit
Once the Permit Receiver has confirmed their understanding of the hazards, controls, and conditions, both copies of the permit are signed. One copy stays with the Permit Receiver and must be displayed at the worksite for the duration of the work so it is available for reference by anyone working under it or auditing it. The other stays with you at the permit control point. The permit is recorded on the site register and, where your site uses one, marked on the permit board.
The permit is now live and work can begin.
Why this step matters
The communication phase is where the permit system connects to the people it is designed to protect. A perfectly completed permit with a thorough risk assessment, verified isolations, and every certificate in order will still fail if the workers on the ground do not understand what hazards they face and what is expected of them. The permit document is a record of decisions made. The communication is how those decisions reach the people who need to act on them.
If a worker is injured and the investigation reveals they were not told about a hazard that was identified on the permit, the communication has failed, regardless of what the paperwork says. The permit process is only as strong as the conversation behind it.
Darren has written over 3000 articles about driving and vehicles, plus almost 500 vehicle reviews and numerous driving courses. Connect with him on LinkedIn by clicking the name above
