Permits to Work
Coming Q4 2026Raise, authorise and close out permits to work digitally - hot works, confined spaces, working at height, electrical isolation and more. Safety Mate® enforces sign-off before work starts, tracks every live permit on one board and records a complete audit trail from issue to handback.
Why teams switch
Carbon-copy permit books get lost, expire unnoticed and tell you nothing about what's happening across your sites right now. Safety Mate® keeps every permit visible, signed and time-bound - from the moment it's raised to formal close-out.
Raise a permit from a ready-made template, confirm the precautions and isolations that apply, and attach the supporting risk assessments and RAMS - all from a phone or tablet on site.
Named issuers and authorising managers must sign digitally before a permit becomes active, and every required precaution has to be confirmed first - so authorisation is enforced, not assumed.
See every open, expiring and overrunning permit across all your sites in real time, so supervisors and leadership always know exactly what high-risk work is authorised right now.
Raise it right
Start from a template for the type of work - hot works, confined space entry, working at height, electrical isolation, excavation or lifting - then define the scope, location and validity window. The permit carries its own precaution checklist, so nothing gets skipped.
Ready-made permit types with the right precautions, plus custom types to match your safe systems of work.
Checklists for isolations, gas testing, fire watches and PPE must be completed before issue.
Attach the relevant risk assessments and RAMS so issuers authorise with the full picture.
Authorise with confidence
Each permit routes to its named issuer and authorising manager for review. Signatures are captured digitally and time-stamped, the permit is issued with a strict validity window, and the active permit is available to everyone on site - no chasing carbon copies.
Issuers, authorising managers and permit holders are named on every permit.
Permits are issued for a defined window, with alerts before expiry and formal extensions.
Authorise on site from a phone or tablet, or remotely when the right person is off site.
Stay in control
Every active permit appears on one board with its status, location and time remaining. When the work finishes, the permit is formally closed out with handback signatures - and the complete record is filed automatically for assurance purposes.
Filter open, expiring and overrunning permits by site, type or permit holder.
Work areas are confirmed safe and isolations removed before the permit is closed.
Every permit, signature and timestamp is stored and exportable.
How it works
Pick the permit type, define the scope and validity window, and confirm the precautions.
Issuers and authorising managers check the details and sign digitally before work starts.
The live permit is visible to everyone, with alerts before it expires or overruns.
Confirm the area is safe, capture handback signatures and file the complete record.
FAQ
Permit to work software replaces paper permit pads with a digital system for raising, authorising, issuing and closing out permits for high-risk work. Safety Mate® adds authorisation workflows, digital signatures, time-limited validity and a live permit board, so everyone can see exactly what work is authorised, where and until when.
Safety Mate® includes templates for the common high-risk activities - hot works, confined space entry, working at height, electrical isolation, excavation and lifting operations - and you can build custom permit types with your own precaution checklists to match your safe systems of work.
Each permit type has named issuers and authorising managers. A permit can't become active until every required precaution is confirmed and each responsible person has signed digitally - on site from a phone or tablet, or remotely. Every signature is time-stamped and recorded in the audit trail.
Yes. Every permit is issued with a validity window. Safety Mate® alerts permit holders and issuers before expiry, flags overrunning permits on the live permit board, and requires a formal extension or close-out - so work never quietly continues under an expired permit.
Yes. Permits can reference the relevant risk assessments, RAMS and isolation records held in Safety Mate®, so the issuer can check the supporting documents before authorising and auditors can trace the full paper trail for any piece of high-risk work.
Permits to work is available exclusively on Safety Mate® Enterprise plans, which are custom-priced for your organisation. Enterprise includes the full platform - risk assessments, audits, safety events and more - alongside digital permits to work. Contact our sales team or book a demo for a tailored quote.
Explore the platform
Permits to work is coming to Safety Mate® Enterprise plans in Q4 2026. Book a demo to see it first and get a tailored quote.