Hot work permit
Welding, cutting, grinding or torch work — the checks, the window, the fire watch, and the closeout.
The job
A permit covers one job, in one place, for one bounded window. If the work moves, or the day ends, it needs a new permit — a permit left open across a shift change is how the watch quietly stops happening.
Before anything is lit
These are confirmed by the person authorising the permit, not the person doing the work. That separation is the whole control.
Fire watch
The watch is the part people skip, and smouldering is the reason not to. Common practice is a continuous watch for at least 30 to 60 minutes after the work stops, then a further check of the area — including the far side of walls and floors — for up to a few hours. Your insurer or AHJ may require longer; use their figure over this one.
Watch entries
No entries yet. Log each time the area is checked.
Closing the permit
0 of 14 checks confirmed · 0 watch entries · saved on this device
Hot work permit #1
Facility · 2026-08-02
| Work | Welding |
| Performed by | — |
| Fire watch | — |
| Authorised by | — |
| Pre-work checks | 0 of 14 confirmed — NOT READY |
Checks confirmed before work
The area
- ☐Could this be done without hot work at all?
- ☐Sprinklers, alarms and detection are in service
- ☐Combustibles moved away, or covered
- ☐Floor and wall openings covered
- ☐The space on the other side has been checked
- ☐No flammable liquids, gases, vapours or dusts present
- ☐If it is a confined space, that permit is in place too
The equipment
- ☐Equipment inspected and in good repair
- ☐Cylinders secured upright and away from the work
- ☐Ventilation and fume control arranged
Protection in place
- ☐Extinguisher or charged hose line at the work area
- ☐A fire watch is assigned and briefed
- ☐How to raise the alarm is known and tested
- ☐PPE appropriate to the work is being worn
Fire watch log
| Time | By | Observation |
|---|---|---|
Closeout
The work is complete, the area has been checked including the far side of walls and floors, and no evidence of smouldering, smoke or heat remains.
| Closed at | — |
| Closed by | — |
A conventional hot work permit in the format insurers and fire marshals expect. Intervals shown here are common practice, not a code citation — your insurer, your authority having jurisdiction, and the applicable standard set the actual requirements, and where they differ from this, theirs govern. Keep completed permits with your other fire-safety records.
The permit is not paperwork, it’s a separation of roles
Hot work is the most common way maintenance starts a fire, and the control for it isn’t skill — it’s procedure. Someone who is not holding the torch confirms the area is safe and sets a bounded window. Someone whose only job is watching stays with the area. The person doing the work concentrates on the work.
A checklist the welder ticks for themselves is the failure mode, not the control. That’s why the signatures on this permit are different people.
The part everyone skips
The watch after the work stops. Ignition is usually delayed — something smoulders out of sight, behind the wall or on the far side of the floor, and surfaces an hour after everyone has packed up and gone. That is the whole reason the watch continues, and it is the single most skipped step on any hot work job.
The tool takes your finish time and shows you the two moments that matter: when the continuous watch can end, and when the final check of the area is due. Your insurer or authority having jurisdiction may require longer than the common practice shown — use theirs.
One job, one place, one window
A permit covers a single job in a single location for a bounded period. If the work moves, or the shift changes, it needs a new permit. A permit left open across a shift change is how the watch quietly stops happening while everyone assumes somebody else has it.
Where it meets the other tools
The job usually arrives as a work order, and if an outside contractor is doing it, their certificate should be current on your COI register before they light anything. The completed permit belongs with your fire-safety records — the log book is where those live, alongside the Compliance Calendar entries for the sprinkler and alarm systems this permit asks you to confirm are in service.
If a system is impaired, that is a different procedure with its own fire watch, and the emergency plan is where the response to an actual fire is written down.
A conventional hot work permit in the format insurers and fire marshals expect. Distances and watch intervals shown are common practice, described as such — not code citations. The applicable standard, your insurer and your authority having jurisdiction set the real requirements, and where they differ, theirs govern. General information, not code or legal advice. Everything runs on your device.