Field work

What is a permit to work and when is it needed?

It is a control method in which the conditions for a high-risk job are verified in writing before work starts, opened under a responsible person's signature and closed when the job ends. It is standard practice for hot work, confined spaces, work at height, excavation and energy isolation.

A permit is a gate, not a form

The system makes the start of work conditional on a checklist being completed: are the hazards identified, is the energy isolated and locked, has the atmosphere been tested, are the equipment and competence right, is the emergency arrangement in place. If any answer is not "yes", work does not start. The common permit types are hot work, confined space, work at height, excavation, lock-out/tag-out and breaking into pressurised systems.

The real risk is at closure

Records consistently show that a significant share of incidents happen not when the permit is opened but when the area is handed back. If the permit is closed before guards are refitted, locks removed and residues cleaned, the next shift inherits the hazard. That is why closure is scrutinised at least as hard as issue.

In Optifora the permit is tied to the risk itself and to the field team's competence record: a permit cannot be issued to an unqualified person, and an unclosed permit stays on the dashboard.

Manage this in Optifora

Optifora is not a single program but a compliance platform assembled from modules. The catalogue states which module is ready today and which is on the roadmap.

See what Optifora is