What it does not do.
Said first, because the rest is easier to judge once this is clear.
It is a permit to work, and only that
GL/6 sets out four documents for the safe control of operations: the permit to work, the non-routine operation, the routine operation and the form of authority. This handles the permit to work. The other three are outside it.
The risk assessment stays yours
The method statement, the controls and the competency evidence are the contractor’s. The system records the references, tracks where each control was confirmed, and refuses to proceed without them. It does not write them.
It is not a substitute for a safe system of work
It records and enforces one. The duty holder’s obligations are unchanged.
How it works.
It will not let a permit skip a stage
GL/6 Section 5 sets an order across two people and the system enforces it. The Engineer cannot authorise before he has attended site. The Competent Person cannot sign before he has been briefed. Nobody verifies their own handback. Each refusal names the clause.
Nobody is named on a permit unless the register says so
Competence is a precondition, not a box. The Responsible Engineer grants status; a person without it is not an option on the screen. A registration about to lapse is found months ahead, not the week before.
Nothing is edited after the fact
An act is recorded once, with who did it and the moment the server received it. A correction is a new act that says what it corrects. Whether a permit is live is worked out from the record every time it is read — there is no field that could disagree with what happened.
A control is confirmed at a place, not on a form
Five controls across two excavations is ten confirmations, and the permit shows which have been made and which have not. A tick on a sheet cannot say where somebody was standing.
A day worked without a check shows in red
On paper a missing initial and a day nobody worked look identical. GL/6 5.5.7 asks for an initial at the commencement of each day; the system knows which days the work ran.
The permit is the standard’s own form
Sections A to G, lettered as Appendix 5 letters them, with the seventeen conditions of Box C and the two atmospheres of Box D. It can be read beside the standard.
What it refused.
Five things the system stopped during the build, in the words it used. A feature list cannot show you this.
A permit that would have been authorised before anybody attended site
"Authorised and issued has not been completed. Clause 5 allows no stage to be skipped or taken out of order." The Engineer had prepared it, referenced the RAMS and set the period. He had not arrived. GL/6 5.3.4 puts authorisation and issue on site.
A Competent Person accepting a permit before he had been briefed
5.5.3 has the Engineer brief him; 5.5.4 has him sign afterwards. On paper the two signatures sit side by side and nothing records which came first. Here the second is refused until the first exists.
A deep excavation refused for a competency nobody had checked
"No record held for EXC-SUP." The activity requires it, the register did not hold it, and the permit stopped at eleven stages of nineteen. The refusal is the document worth reading.
A reference the system had been inventing
The SCO desk reference was being generated in sequence. GL/6 A5.4: it is obtained from the Network Controller, and only for work on an operational site within a fixed permanent boundary. Highway work is not that. It now reads N/A, because inventing a reference no operator issued is worse than leaving it blank.
A daily check recorded before the permit existed
The check was at 07:20. The permit was valid from 07:30 and authorised at 09:34. A Competent Person cannot reaffirm compliance with a permit that has not been authorised.
The register behind it.
Cover by role and by unit. A number is how many hold that unit today; amber is how many lapse within ninety days; a dash means the role does not need it.
| Role | Held | SCO-CORE | AUTH-CP | AUTH-AE | EXC-SUP | HOT-WORK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permit Controller | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — |
| Authorising Engineer | 2 | 2 | — | 2 | — | 11 expiring |
| Competent Person | 2 | 2 | 21 expiring | — | 1 | — |
And person by person, worst first — which is the order the Responsible Engineer needs. A lapsed record is not a warning: that person cannot be named on a permit until it is put right.
Sorted worst first, which is the order he needs. A lapsed record is not a warning — that person cannot be named on a permit until it is put right.
Every permit, and where it stands.
The state is worked out from the record each time it is read. There is no field saying “live” that could disagree with what actually happened. Suspended is not something somebody set — it is what the record says when a hazard was found and no act has restarted the work.
The permit it produces.
Sections A to G, lettered as IGEM/GL/6 Appendix 5 letters them. Every field is read from the record; none is typed onto the document.
Excavation 2, Junction of Mill Lane and Victoria Way
| Activity | Tick if applicable to this permit to work | Controls to be applied, and where each was confirmed | Additional documentation required to be attached to this permit to work | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working Near Other Plant | Considered. No activity in this category applies to this permit. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mains and Service Construction | Considered. No activity in this category applies to this permit. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hazardous Activity | Deep or unstable excavation | ✓ |
|
Risk assessment, method statement and permitRA/REP24118/07 rev D MS/REP24118/07 rev CPermission to proceed NC/SOE15229/0114 |
|||||||||||||||
| Entry into a confined space | |||||||||||||||||||
| Work in an asphyxiating or hazardous (toxic) atmosphere | |||||||||||||||||||
| Working at height where fall arrest systems are employed as part of a risk assessment | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hot works — burning, welding or grinding on live or decommissioned plant | |||||||||||||||||||
| Non-routine work on plant or pipe components containing, or which have contained, toxic or flammable material, or on contaminated land | |||||||||||||||||||
| Condition | Applies | Detail | Excavation 1 | Excavation 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Render safe sources of ignition within ──── of the workExcept as specified for permitted hot work. | ✓ | 10 m | Confirmed | — |
| 2 | The following protective equipment to be available and worn: ──── | ✓ | Flame retardant clothing, gloves, high visibility clothing, head protection, gas monitor | Confirmed | — |
| 3 | Breathing apparatus to be worn or available | ✓ | — | Confirmed | — |
| 4 | Fire fighting equipment to be available | ✓ | — | Confirmed | — |
| 5 | Hand excavation only | N/A | |||
| 6 | Work to be carried out in the presence of ──── | N/A | |||
| 7 | Contractors carrying out work covered by this permit to be fully briefed, and their method statements, risk assessments and other relevant documentation to be inspected before they commence work | ✓ | — | Confirmed | — |
| 8 | Notify the gas or distribution network control centre before commencement and on completion of each day’s work, quoting the permit number: ──── | ✓ | 0800 111 999 | Confirmed | — |
| 9 | Live gas area to be fenced off to the satisfaction of the Authorising Engineer | ✓ | — | Confirmed | — |
| 10 | All excavations to comply with company procedures | ✓ | — | Confirmed | — |
| 11 | No pipework to be used for the support of trestles, scaffolding or anything else | ✓ | — | Confirmed | — |
| 12 | The following warning signs to be displayed: ──── | ✓ | Deep excavation, and no entry without a permit | Confirmed | — |
| 13 | Resuscitation equipment to be available | ✓ | — | Confirmed | — |
| 14 | Lifelines and harness to be worn or available | ✓ | — | Confirmed | — |
| 15 | Continuity bond to be used | N/A | |||
| 16 | Voltstick to be used | ✓ | — | Confirmed | — |
| 17 | Other | N/A |
| Substance | Test required | Initial test | Re-test period | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Time | ||||
| General atmosphere The Authorising Engineer or their representative may carry out the test (A5.1 a). | Natural gas | No | |||
| OtherSpecify | No | ||||
| Within plant, excavation or confined space A suitably trained and assessed person must carry out the test (A5.1 b). | Natural gas | No | |||
| OtherSpecify | No | ||||
| Competent Person in charge of work | I have read this permit, understand the work to be carried out and will comply with the conditions to be observed and the attachments. |
Signature
Name
A. Whitfield
Contact number
07700 900418
Date and time
29 Aug 2026 09:46
|
| Authorising Engineer | I am satisfied that the work specified may be carried out subject to compliance with the above conditions and satisfactory test results; that a suitable and sufficient risk assessment has been carried out and is referenced above; and that where appropriate permission to proceed has been obtained from the Network Controller. |
Signature
Name
M. Ashworth
Contact number
07700 900421
Date and time
29 Aug 2026 09:34
|
| Change 1 | Change 2 | Change 3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand Over Complete? | (y/n) | (y/n) | (y/n) | |
| Competent Person in charge of work | Name | |||
| Signature | ||||
| Designation / Company | ||||
| Date & Time | ||||
| Contact number | ||||
| Hand Over Complete? | (y/n) | (y/n) | (y/n) | |
| Authorising Engineer | Name | |||
| Signature | ||||
| Designation | ||||
| Date & Time | ||||
| Contact number | ||||
| Work may continue until | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Time | Signature of Authorising Engineer |
| Not applicable — no extension has been granted. The permit runs to 05 Sept 2026 as authorised. | ||
| Competent Person in charge of work | I have inspected the work covered by this permit and certify that the work has been completed | Signature | |
| Date | 29 Aug 2026 16:40 | ||
| On completion this Permit to Work must be returned to the Authorising Engineer | |||
| Authorising Engineer | Signature | ||
| Date | 29 Aug 2026 17:05 | ||
What the crew sees.
Photographs of the running app, taken during the walkthrough above. Every screen shows one thing to do and the clause behind it.
Each person signs with a finger. The mark is stored with the act and is the same wherever they signed — a typed name proves nothing about who held the device.
Three acts ask for one: the daily check, the handback and a deviation. Each is a claim about the world, and a picture answers it. A photograph demanded on every act is a photograph of the ground.
A signature is drawn, not typed
Each person signs with a finger on the glass. The mark is stored with the act, and the same mark appears wherever that person signed — a typed name proves nothing about who held the device.
A photograph is the record where the claim is physical
Three acts ask for one: the daily check, the handback and a deviation. Each is a claim about the world — conditions unchanged, the plant left safe, this is what I found — and a picture answers it. Every one carries a hash, so the file on the permit is the file that was taken.
It works with no signal
An excavation is often a place with no bars. Acts are recorded on the device and sent when there is signal; the person sees what is waiting to go. Nothing is lost and nothing is invented while it waits.
The Competent Person carries a tablet. The Authorising Engineer usually has a phone, and the same screens fit it.
What is not finished.
Nobody has used it on a live job yet
Every screen is a model of a Competent Person built from the standard and from watching the work described. Until somebody has used one in the rain with gloves on, that is an assumption.
The demonstration data is invented
Permit numbers, addresses, reference numbers and the control wording are illustrative. The excavation pictures are drawn and labelled as drawings — fabricating something that looks like site evidence is the one thing a permit system must never do.
It is not deployed
It runs, it is tested, and it holds up under a morning’s load. Hosting, sign-in hardening, backups and payments are the work between here and a service.
More tools are coming.
Permit Control is the first, and the rest are built on the same spine: one register, one set of people, one record. A contractor who takes this one is not committed to anything else.
Run it alongside your current system for two weeks.
On real permits, with the paper still the permit. No charge, and nothing to install. The only question worth asking at the end is where it stopped somebody doing something they needed to do.
Arrange a trial