Permits to Work for UK Trades — When You Need One and How the System Works (2026)

What a Permit to Work Actually Is

A permit to work is a written document that authorises a specific person or team to carry out a specific high-risk task, in a specific location, for a specific period of time, under a specific set of controls. It is signed by an authorised person who confirms that the area has been checked and made safe to start work, and accepted by the person who will carry out the work, who confirms they understand the hazards and the precautions required.

The point of a permit is coordination and control. On a busy managed site, several trades and contractors might be working at once. A permit system stops one team's work creating a hazard for another — for example, someone welding next to a pipe that another contractor is about to fill with gas. It forces a conversation and a documented sign-off before anything dangerous starts.

What a Permit to Work Is Not

A permit to work is not a substitute for a risk assessment or method statement. This is the most common misunderstanding among tradespeople new to permit systems. The permit sits on top of your RAMS — your risk assessment and method statement — it does not replace them. You still need to have assessed the risks of your own work and documented how you'll carry it out safely. The permit then confirms that the wider site conditions are safe and that the specific hazards of that location have been controlled before you begin.

In practice, the authorised person issuing the permit will often want to see your RAMS before they sign anything. A permit is also not a one-off blanket authorisation: it covers one task, one area and one time window. When that scope changes, the permit no longer applies and you need a new one.

The High-Risk Jobs That Typically Need a Permit

Not every job on a managed site needs a permit. Permits are reserved for activities where the consequences of getting it wrong are severe — fire, explosion, electrocution, asphyxiation, collapse or a serious fall. The exact list varies by site, but the following activities almost always require one.

Hot Works

Any work involving a naked flame, heat or sparks — welding, brazing, soldering, angle grinding, cutting with a disc cutter, using a blow torch on lead or pipework, even bitumen boilers on a flat roof. Hot works are the classic permit activity because the fire risk is immediate and a smouldering ember can ignite hours after you've packed up. A hot works permit will typically require fire watch arrangements, extinguishers on hand, removal of combustibles from the area and a fire watch period after the work finishes.

Confined Spaces

Tanks, ducts, sewers, pits, voids, plant rooms with limited ventilation — any space that is substantially enclosed where there's a risk of a dangerous atmosphere, drowning, or being overcome by gas or fumes. Confined space entry is governed by the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 and is one of the most dangerous things a tradesperson can do. Permits here cover atmosphere testing, ventilation, rescue arrangements and a banksman or top man at the entry point.

Electrical Work and Isolation

Work on or near electrical systems, particularly where live working is involved or where supplies must be isolated. An electrical permit confirms that the relevant circuit has been isolated, locked off and proved dead before anyone touches it. This is where lock-out/tag-out (LOTO) comes in — physically locking an isolator so it cannot be re-energised while someone is working downstream of it.

Working at Height

On many managed sites, certain work at height — fragile roofs, roof edges without permanent edge protection, work near skylights or rooflights, or access to plant on a roof — requires a permit even though the Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply everywhere. The permit confirms that access has been arranged, edge protection or fall arrest is in place and the route up and down is safe.

Excavation and Digging

Breaking ground risks striking buried services — gas, electricity, water, telecoms — and creating an unsupported excavation that can collapse. An excavation permit (often paired with a dig or ground-disturbance permit) requires service drawings, a CAT and Genny scan, and arrangements for shoring or battering the sides on anything deep.

Pressurised Systems and Roof Work

Work on pressurised pipework, steam, refrigerant or compressed gas systems usually needs a permit confirming the system has been depressurised and isolated. Roof work — particularly on fragile or asbestos-cement roofs — is frequently permit-controlled because of the dual fall-and-fragility risk.

How the Permit Process Works, Step by Step

Although the exact paperwork differs between sites, almost every permit-to-work system follows the same sequence. Understanding it means you won't be caught out when you arrive on site.

• Request / application: You (or your supervisor) request a permit for the planned task, describing what the work is, where it is, and how long it'll take. Your RAMS usually accompany the request.
• Hazard assessment and precautions: The authorised person assesses the specific hazards of the location and specifies the precautions — isolations, fire watch, atmosphere testing, edge protection, PPE — that must be in place before work starts.
• Authorisation and issue: A competent, authorised person signs the permit, confirming the area has been checked and the controls are in place. The permit is then issued to you.
• Acceptance: You sign to accept the permit, confirming you understand the hazards, the precautions and the limits of what you're allowed to do.
• Work within scope: The work is carried out strictly within the task, area and time window stated on the permit — nothing more.
• Hand-back / cancellation: When the work is finished (or the time window expires), you hand the permit back. The authorised person checks the area is left safe, then cancels and closes the permit.
• Display and copy on site: A copy of the live permit is usually displayed at the work location, with the original held by the issuing office, so anyone can see what is authorised and who is responsible.

Key Roles — Who Issues and Who Accepts

Two roles sit at the heart of every permit. The issuer — usually called the authorised person or permit issuer — is the competent individual nominated by the site to assess the hazards, specify the controls and authorise the work. They carry responsibility for confirming the area is safe to start. The acceptor is the person who will actually carry out the work, or who supervises the team doing it. By accepting and signing, they take responsibility for working within the permit's scope and following the stated precautions.

On larger sites you may also encounter a permit controller or coordinator who oversees all live permits to prevent conflicts between simultaneous activities. As a subcontractor, you are almost always the acceptor, not the issuer — you don't self-authorise on someone else's premises.

Time-Limited and Scope-Limited by Design

A permit is deliberately narrow. It applies to a specific task, in a specific area, for a specific period — often a single shift or working day, sometimes a few hours. The moment any of those three things changes, the permit no longer covers you. Run over the time window and you need an extension or a fresh permit. Move to a different part of the building and you need a new permit for that area. Decide to do an extra bit of grinding that wasn't on the original hot works permit and you're now working outside your authorisation.

This narrowness is the whole point. It forces a re-check of conditions every time something changes, rather than assuming yesterday's safe is still today's safe.

Isolation and Lock-Out / Tag-Out (LOTO)

Many permits depend on isolation — making sure a source of energy or hazard cannot be switched back on while someone is working on it. For electrical and mechanical work this is managed through lock-out/tag-out. The energy source (an isolator, valve or breaker) is switched off, physically locked with a padlock, and tagged with a label naming the person who applied it and why.

The golden rule is that only the person who applied the lock removes it. If three trades are working downstream of the same isolator, each applies their own lock, and the system stays isolated until the last lock comes off. Proving dead with an approved voltage tester before touching electrical conductors is a non-negotiable part of any electrical isolation permit.

What Goes Wrong

Almost every permit-related incident traces back to one of a handful of failures, and they're worth knowing because they're the things inspectors and site managers watch for.

• Working outside the permit scope: Doing more than the permit covers — extra tasks, a wider area, or a different method — is the single most common breach.
• Failing to hand back or cancel: Walking off site with a live permit means the area is recorded as still under work and the next team can't safely start.
• Working on an expired permit: Carrying on past the time window because the job overran, without getting an extension, leaves you uninsured and non-compliant.
• Removing someone else's lock: Bypassing or cutting off another person's LOTO lock to save time has caused fatalities.
• Treating the permit as the whole safety system: Relying on the permit and skipping your own RAMS leaves real hazards uncontrolled.

How Permits Link to RAMS, COSHH and Method Statements

Permits do not exist in isolation. They form the top layer of a wider safety paper trail. Your risk assessment identifies the hazards of your work and the controls. Your method statement sets out the safe sequence of how the work will be done. A COSHH assessment covers any hazardous substances involved — solvents, adhesives, gases, dust. The permit to work then ties all of this to a specific authorised slot in time and place, confirming the wider site is safe to proceed.

When you turn up to a permit site, expect to be asked for your RAMS and COSHH sheets before a permit will even be considered. Keeping that paperwork current and instantly retrievable is half the battle — tools like Trade2Base let you store RAMS, method statements and COSHH assessments against each job so you can produce them on a phone the moment a site manager asks, rather than digging through emails on the van bonnet.

Quick Reference: Common Permit Types

Practical Advice for Subbies on a Permit Site

If you're a subcontractor turning up to a site with a permit system for the first time, a few habits make the whole thing painless. Find the permit office or authorised person before you start work, not after you've unloaded the van. Bring your RAMS, COSHH sheets and relevant tickets — a confined space, IPAF, or asbestos awareness certificate, for example — because you may not get a permit without them.

Read the permit before you sign it and make sure the scope actually matches the job you intend to do. If the job grows or changes, stop and get the permit updated rather than pressing on. Keep the displayed copy at your work location, and at the end of the day hand the permit back and confirm it's been cancelled — never leave site with a live permit open in your name.

The trades that get a reputation for being easy to work with on managed sites are the ones who treat the permit system as part of the job rather than a nuisance. Keeping your own compliance paperwork organised — certificates, RAMS, insurance, COSHH — in something like Trade2Base means you're never the contractor holding up the permit office while you hunt for a document, and that gets you back on the tools faster.