Permit to work, and what has to be tracked

A permit to work is a written authorisation for a specific job, in a specific place, for a specific time, with conditions attached. In the United States, permit-required confined spaces are governed by 29 CFR 1910.146. Most programmes issue permits carefully and close them casually, which is where the gaps are.

What has to be on the permit

The standard sets out the required content. In practice a permit that is missing any of these will not survive a review.

• •The space, identified specifically, and the purpose of the entry
• •The date and the authorised duration
• •Who is entering, who is attending, and who is the entry supervisor
• •The hazards of the space, and how each one is isolated or controlled
• •Acceptable entry conditions, and the atmospheric test results with the time they were taken
• •Rescue arrangements and how to summon them
• •Communication method between attendant and entrants
• •Equipment required, including testing, ventilation, communications and personal protective equipment
• •Any other permits in force for the same work, such as hot work

The atmospheric testing is a sequence, not a reading

Test before entry, in order: oxygen, then flammable gases and vapours, then toxic contaminants. Then keep testing as conditions require during the entry. A single reading taken at the start, recorded as a tick, is one of the most common findings in a confined space audit.

Closing the permit is a task with an owner

The entry ends when the supervisor terminates it and the permit is cancelled. Two things have to happen and often do not: the space is confirmed clear of people and equipment, and the permit is retained. The standard requires cancelled permits to be kept for at least a year and reviewed annually to check the programme is protecting people.

The annual review is the part almost nobody does

Reviewing a year of cancelled permits shows patterns that no single entry does: the same space needing repeated entries, the same control failing, or entries that should have been eliminated by a change to the equipment. That review is a requirement and it is also the only part of the programme that improves it.

Track permits like work, not like paper

An open permit is a live safety condition. Whoever is responsible for the site at any moment should be able to see, in seconds, which permits are open, where, who is inside and when the permit expires. A folder in an office cannot do that, and neither can a signature book at a gatehouse.

Design entries out where you can

The best confined space programme is one with fewer entries. Every time a permit is issued for a routine task, ask whether the task could be done from outside: a sample point, a viewing port, remote instrumentation. Over a few years this removes more risk than any improvement to the permit itself.

This describes the United States rule. Other countries have equivalent permit regimes.