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    All templatesPermits · 2 pages · Updated 25 September 2026

    Permit to Work Template (Hot Work + Confined Space)

    Two permits in one pack: a hot work permit (fire risk check, 35-foot clear zone, fire watch, extinguisher, 30-minute post-work watch) and a confined space entry permit with isolations, continuous monitoring, a rescue plan, an atmospheric testing log and sign-off for entry supervisor, attendant and entrant.

    What's Inside

    Hot work permit

    • Permit number, location, description of work, valid from and to
    • Fire risk assessment complete, 35-foot clear zone confirmed, fire watch designated, extinguisher type and position
    • Post-work fire watch of at least 30 minutes, with the time finished
    • Sign-off: issuer, performer, fire watch, closeout

    Confined space entry permit

    • Permit number, space identification, description of work, valid from and to
    • Isolations verified (mechanical, electrical, process), continuous monitoring, rescue plan in place
    • Atmospheric testing record: time, O₂ (19.5-23.5%), LEL (<10%), H₂S (<10 ppm), CO (<25 ppm), tester
    • Sign-off: entry supervisor, attendant, entrant, closeout

    Suspension or cancellation on any change in atmospheric readings, loss of communication, equipment failure or alarm; reissue required.

    What requires or shapes this record

    Both permits sit under a permit-to-work system, which HSE's HSG250 describes, and each has its own US rule that lists what the permit must show.

    • HSE, HSG250 Guidance on permit-to-work systems (2005)

      Paragraph 5: issuing a permit does not by itself make a job safe. Figure 1 lists thirteen essential elements of a permit form, among them a reference number with cross-references to other permits or isolation certificates, plant identification, hazards including residual ones, precautions signed by whoever took them, issue, acceptance, shift handover, hand-back and cancellation; paragraph 49 asks for signatures to be dated and timed. Paragraph 20: a suspended permit stays on the permit record, and work restarts only after the issuing authority has revalidated it or issued a new one.

    • 29 CFR 1910.252(a)(2)(iii)–(vii)

      A fire watch is required where appreciable combustibles are within 35 feet of the work, among other conditions, and is kept for at least half an hour after welding or cutting ends. Before work, the person authorizing it inspects the area and designates precautions, preferably in a written permit, and combustibles are moved at least 35 feet away where practicable or else shielded.

    • 29 CFR 1910.146(e)–(f)

      The entry supervisor named on the permit signs it before entry, and it is posted at the entry portal or made available by an equally effective means. It lasts no longer than the task, is cancelled when the work is complete or a prohibited condition arises, and cancelled permits are kept for at least a year. Paragraph (f) lists fifteen items the permit must identify, including the isolation measures, acceptable entry conditions, test results with the testers' names or initials and times, rescue services and how to summon them, communication procedures, equipment and any other permits such as hot work.

    • 29 CFR 1910.146(b) and (d)(5)(iii)

      Test oxygen first, then combustible gases and vapours, then toxic gases and vapours. The definitions treat as hazardous an atmosphere with flammable gas above 10% of its lower flammable limit or oxygen below 19.5% or above 23.5%.

    Each source checked on 25 September 2026. Not legal advice; check the text in force for your site.

    Field by field

    Compared with those lists, the form has no cross-reference field, no communication-procedure field and no equipment list. Write them in the description of work, and put the hot work permit number on the entry permit when both apply, as 1910.146(f)(15) requires.

    Permit #
    Why: The identifier every other document cites, including the isolation certificate.
    Common mistake: Hot work and entry permits for the same job that do not name each other.
    Location / space identification
    Why: HSG250 separates the job location from the plant identification.
    Common mistake: "Tank area" when there are three tanks.
    Description of work, valid from and to
    Why: Sets the limits of the job; an entry permit may not outlast the task, 1910.146(e)(4).
    Common mistake: Open-ended "general maintenance", or validity longer than a shift with no handover signature (HSG250 para 23).
    35-foot clear zone, fire watch, post-work watch
    Why: Straight from 1910.252(a)(2)(iii) and (vii).
    Common mistake: Ending the watch when the welder leaves. "Time finished" is what proves the 30 minutes were kept.
    Extinguisher type and position
    Why: Fire watchers must have extinguishing equipment readily available and be trained to use it.
    Common mistake: "Yes" in the box instead of a type and a location someone could find in a hurry.
    Isolations verified
    Why: 1910.146(f)(8) asks for the measures used to isolate the space.
    Common mistake: A tick instead of a list. Name each isolation point or reference the isolation certificate.
    Atmospheric testing record
    Why: Columns in the order (d)(5)(iii) requires; the O₂ and LEL limits match the 1910.146(b) definition.
    Common mistake: One pre-entry reading and no periodic ones. The H₂S and CO limits are the template's defaults (the CO figure is below OSHA's 50 ppm limit in Table Z-1); set acceptable entry conditions for your space.
    Rescue plan in place
    Why: 1910.146(f)(11) asks for the rescue services and the means of summoning them.
    Common mistake: A tick with no phone number, radio channel or equipment named.
    Sign-off roles
    Why: The entry permit must identify the entrants (by name or through a roster), and the attendants and the entry supervisor by name.
    Common mistake: An entrant list that is not updated when people swap in. Reference the roster board on the permit.
    Suspension / cancellation
    Why: The form's rule is reissue after any change in readings, loss of communication, equipment failure or alarm.
    Common mistake: Treating a suspended permit as dead. HSG250 para 19: it stays live until cancelled, and isolations may still be in place.

    Worked example

    IllustrativeConfined space entry permit, filled (invented site)

    TimeO₂LELH₂SCOTester / note
    07:2020.9%0%0 ppm2 ppmAK, pre-entry test at the manhole and at 1 m depth
    08:3020.8%1%3 ppm2 ppmAK, periodic
    09:4520.6%4%12 ppm3 ppmAK: H₂S above limit, entrant withdrawn, permit CSE-0193 suspended 09:47
    10:1520.9%0%1 ppm1 ppmAK, after 25 minutes of forced ventilation; new permit CSE-0194 issued 10:20

    Permit CSE-0193: process water sump S-3, remove sludge and inspect the inlet screen, valid 07:30–11:30 on 12 May. Isolations: inlet valve V-31 locked closed, pump P-3 locked off at the motor control centre, isolation certificate IC-0877. Rescue: tripod and winch at the manhole, site emergency team on radio channel 3. Disturbing the sludge released H₂S; the isolations stayed on throughout.

    When a spreadsheet stops being enough

    HSG250 paragraph 51 lists what an electronic permit system must guarantee before it replaces paper: password-protected signatures, no remote issue without a site visit, no silent changes to an issued permit, paper copies for display at the job, training so operators do not cut and paste from old permits, and a back-up for software failure or power loss. Those are the questions to put to a vendor.

    Where software earns its cost is permit interaction (paragraph 22): seeing every live and suspended permit on a unit, and the isolations they share, before issuing another. A spreadsheet cannot show that a suspended hot work permit still holds an isolation on the line you are about to break.

    Same rule for every product: tagged “Permit to Work”, “Permits to Work (PTW)” or “Control of Work”, with a sourced permit-to-work or isolation capability in its record, or one the vendor stated to us, labelled as vendor-stated. Documented and conditional capabilities qualify; check the linked scope before treating a module as included.

    Tekmon pays for a sponsored placement (above); its place in this list follows the same rule as every entry. How lists are ordered

    All 21 matching profiles are shown. Documentation review, not hands-on testing or a claim of compliance.

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