Permits to Work — Overview

Time-bound authorisations for hazardous activities — request, approve, activate, and close, with templates, requirement checklists, and validity windows.

A permit to work is a time-bound authorisation for a hazardous activity — hot work, work at height, excavation, confined space entry, lifting, or electrical isolation. Each permit is requested from a template, gated by an approval, and only valid within its window.

Permit register with types, validity windows, approval status, and expiring flags — The permit register — validity windows, approval status, and expiring flags

Requesting a Permit

From Safety → Permits, click Request permit. The capture panel steps through:

Template — pick the permit type (each template carries its own requirement checklist and required documents)
Title & validity window — name the work and set valid from → valid to
Hazards & controls — record the hazards and the controls that mitigate them
Approver — assign who signs it off
Documents — attach method statements, certificates, or licences as required

Request permit panel with template, validity window, and hazard controls — Requesting a permit — template, validity window, and hazard controls

The Permit Lifecycle

Permits move through a time-aware state machine that's recomputed whenever you open one:

text

Status	Meaning
Pending	Waiting for approval
Active	Approved and within its validity window
Expiring	Active, but within 24 hours of the end time
Expired	The window passed and it wasn't closed
Closed	Work finished and closed out
Rejected	Not approved — edit and resubmit

The Permit Detail

Opening a permit shows the full picture: a status strip with a live validity countdown, the hazard controls, a requirements checklist, any required documents, and the approval timeline.

Active permit detail with status strip, requirements checklist, and approval timeline — An active permit — status strip, requirements checklist, and approval timeline

Approving, Rejecting, Extending

Approve — the assigned approver signs off; the permit becomes active
Reject — send it back with a reason; your policy can auto-create a safety issue for the requester
Extend — push the end time out before it expires (if the policy allows)
Close — close out an active permit once the work is done

Permits are time-bound

An active permit automatically flags as expiring within 24 hours of its end time and expired once the window passes. Keep an eye on the Hub — expiring permits appear in the needs-attention feed with the exact time remaining.

Next Steps

Safety Policies — control extensions and rejection issues
Safety Hub — where expiring and pending permits surface