My employer has asked me to provide a short training presentation to the guys who will be responsible for issuing hot work permits, and I just thought I'd throw it open to the collective knowledge of the many folks here to make sure I haven't missed anything. so I will cover: Why we issue a permit What works should be covered Precautions to be taken Handback procedures Cancellation of permit Over to the experts for anything else I've missed. Cheers Tom

Good points from David, on a similar vein who signs off the HWP?

A permit should be issued by the person normally responsible for the work area, and received by someone accountable for the task(s) to be performed, and any controls linked to that. Before issue, there may need to be other controls in place to ensure risks from hazards not directly associated with the task are also in place, e.g. energy isolations - and the person(s) who implement those controls may also need to sign the permit before issue, to confirm those controls are in place. So I'd expect the issuers to be your Production Managers (or someone working for them after the Manager has reviewed what is planned, confirmed that all relevant hazards have been identified and that the planned controls are suitable, and 'authorised' that the Permit may be issued), and the receivers to be the Maintenance Engineers, perhaps in a role as supervisors of contractors and/or employees who will carry out the hot work tasks. Though, if the work is to take place in an area 'owned' by Maintenance, maybe the Engineers would issue those? Not sure how you yourself could be an issuer - though it might be entirely reasonable for you to confirm that you've checked some key controls are in place before the Permit is issued?

imwaldra as you raised the point, H&S is not my sole role within the company, I am also production area supervisor, hence why I am to be authorised to sign permits. and the maintenance engineers are to be authorised as if we have contractors working outside of office hours (e.g. Saturday Mornings) when the production managers are not working then someone has to be able to issue a permit or the work wouldn't get done. Unfortunately we don't all have the good fortune to work in a large organisation where it would be practicable to shut part of the plant down for maintenance during normal Monday to Friday office hours. Des.Neil that would be much appreciated, I'll PM you an email address tomorrow.