What is a permit-to-work? The five high-risk permits explained
A permit-to-work is how an organisation says: this specific high-risk job, by these people, under these controls, in this window, and not otherwise. Here is how the system works and when each permit type applies.
Why permits exist
Most work is routine; some work can kill someone if a single assumption is wrong. Permit-to-work systems exist for that second category. A permit is a documented authorisation that forces the dangerous questions to be answered before the work starts: what exactly will be done, what could go wrong, what controls are in place, who approved it, and when the authorisation ends. The permit is not the safety control; it is the proof that the controls were considered and accepted by someone accountable.
The five common permit types
Hot work. Welding, grinding, cutting, brazing: anything producing sparks, flames or serious heat outside a dedicated workshop. Controls typically cover fire watch, clearing combustibles, and a cool-down period after the work ends. Australian practice for welding aligns to AS 1674.1.
Working at heights. Any work with a risk of a fall from one level to another that could injure. There is no magic height threshold in Australian WHS law; the trigger is the risk itself. Controls cover anchor points, edge protection, harness requirements and rescue plans.
Electrical isolation. Work on or near electrical installations where the circuit must be proven dead: lock-out, tag-out, test before touch, and a defined re-energisation step that cannot happen while people are still exposed.
Confined space entry. Tanks, pits, ceiling voids, service tunnels: spaces not designed for occupancy where atmosphere or access creates risk. Controls cover atmospheric testing, standby persons, communication and rescue arrangements.
Excavation and penetration. Digging, trenching and core-drilling, where the hazard is what you cannot see: buried services, structural members, and collapse. Controls cover service location, permits to penetrate, and shoring requirements.
The permit lifecycle
A permit system that works runs the same loop every time: the contractor requests the permit with the work scoped; the authoriser reviews the controls and approves, rejects or attaches conditions; the permit becomes active for a defined window; the work runs under it, pausing if conditions change, such as weather on a heights job; and it is closed out with sign-off from both sides. Every step carries a name and a timestamp, because after an incident the first question is always who approved what, and when.
Paper permits and their failure modes
Paper permit books fail quietly: the permit is signed after the work started, the window expired and nobody noticed, the qualification backing the permit lapsed between approval and the job. None of these are malice; they are drift, and drift is what digital systems are good at eliminating, by making the permit a gate rather than a form.
Permits at schools
Schools bring their own twist: the same roof, switchboard and trench work as any facility, but on sites full of children, with evacuations to account for and work windows shaped by terms and school days. That is the context Onsitr was built for: templates for all five permit types aligned to Australian standards, approval before sign-in, lapse warnings by SMS, and pause and resume for weather holds. It sits within the wider school contractor compliance picture. Whether the people doing that work need a Blue Card is a separate question: see Blue Card requirements for school contractors.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Requirements change; always confirm your obligations against current Queensland Government guidance and your own legal advice.