Falls from height are one of the most common causes of serious injury and death in workplaces. Many are caused not by equipment failure but by a failure to plan and organise the work properly. The permit system treats working…
Isolation failures are among the most common causes of serious injuries and fatalities in permitted work. Equipment that was supposed to be shut down starts up unexpectedly. A valve that was marked as closed is still passing fluid under pressure.…
A permit-to-work system is only as reliable as the discipline behind it. Auditing is how your organisation confirms the system is actually working, not just on paper, but on the ground where the tools are out and the work is…
Most serious incidents in permit-to-work systems do not involve a single permit failing in isolation. They involve two or more activities that were each safe on their own but created a lethal interaction when they ran at the same time…
Issuing a permit is not the end of your involvement. From the moment work begins until the permit is formally closed, you have ongoing obligations to monitor the work, respond to changes, and confirm the worksite is restored when the…
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…
The risk assessment is done, the worksite is prepared, the supporting documents are in order and the safety equipment is ready. Now you bring it together with the Permit Receiver, confirm everything face-to-face, and make the decision to authorise the…
Personal protective equipment sits at the bottom of the hierarchy of controls for good reason. It does nothing to remove a hazard; it only reduces the consequence if a person is exposed. But in high-risk permitted work, PPE is almost…
Some work environments have atmospheres that can injure or kill. Confined spaces, tanks, vessels, pipelines, excavations, and areas near chemical processes can all contain air that is unsafe to breathe or that could ignite. You cannot detect most atmospheric hazards…
Before you issue a permit, the worksite must be ready for work to begin safely. Your role as Permit Issuer is to confirm that preparation has been completed. You do not carry it out yourself, but you are the person…
Not every task requires a permit to work. But every task that does require one must have it in place before work begins. Your job as Permit Issuer is to make the right call on which side of that line…
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…
A permit-to-work system only works when every person involved understands their role and stays within it. The system creates clear lines of accountability: who authorised the work, who planned it, who is supervising it, and who is watching over the…
So you need to issue a permit. First things first: evaluating the hazards and controls proposed by the permit receiver, and cross-checking those against all other hazards at the work site. Every permit decision depends on your ability to identify…
A permit to work is often described as a safety device. It isn’t. A permit is a document describing work that is, in some way, risky. The work is made safe by the controls listed on the permit, by the…
