A Permit to Work exists to answer one simple question before a job starts:
Is it truly safe to begin this work right now, in this place, with this crew?
On paper, a final signature says “yes.” But whether that “yes” is real depends entirely on what was checked before anyone picked up a pen.
Here are the 5 essential checks every permit must verify before work begins.
1. Are the right people doing the work?
Everyone working under the permit needs the right training, active certificates, and a valid site safety induction.
A certificate that expired last week or an induction done for a different site are easy details to miss during a busy shift handover. Your system should catch these gaps before anyone starts working, not weeks later during a compliance audit.
2. Is the air safe to breathe?
For jobs involving heat, flames, or enclosed spaces, testing the air is critical to safety.
A gas test taken three hours ago doesn’t tell you if the air is safe right now. Air tests need to be fresh, accurate, and repeated regularly on a visible schedule so nobody misses a check.
3. Is all power safely turned off and locked?
If equipment could start up unexpectedly or leak hazardous energy, it must be completely isolated and locked out before work starts.
Every power valve, breaker, or switch must be locked, tagged, and assigned to a specific responsible person. A permit should never go live until every single lock is confirmed in place.
4. What else is happening nearby?
Two jobs that are safe on their own can become dangerous when done at the same time in the same area.
For example: grinding metal near a fuel line, or operating a crane above another working crew. Every new permit must be cross-checked against active work nearby to stop dangerous clashes before they happen.
5. Have the right managers approved it?
Every job type has clear rules about who needs to inspect and approve the work.
No one should ever approve their own permit. If a high-risk job requires two different managers to sign off, one signature is not enough. All approvals should be clearly recorded in order, along with the exact time they were given.
Why paper permits fall short
None of these safety rules are new. The real problem with paper is that all this information lives in different places:
- Certificates are in a filing cabinet.
- Gas test readings are on a clipboard.
- Power locks are recorded in a logbook.
- Active permits are pinned to a control room board.
During a busy morning shift, a supervisor has to assemble all these pieces in their head while a crew waits at the gate. It is easy to miss a detail.
A simpler, safer way forward
A digital safety system brings all five checks together in one view. It instantly alerts you to missing certificates, clashing jobs, or skipped steps before a permit goes live—and automatically saves every record for your audits.
That is the standard we built Validuty to deliver.
Want to see how easy it is to modernize your site’s permit process? Book a quick demo with us.
