Once a permit draft's Scope, People and Checklists are complete, the permit progresses through a fixed on-board workflow. Every formal transition (Authorise permit, Accept permit, Extend permit, Hand back permit, Close permit and Withdraw permit) is signed with the user's password and recorded under Signatures and History.
Step 4 — Review, Request authorisation and Authorise
The Review step of the wizard summarises the permit and lists any blockers under Not ready to authorise with links back to Scope, People or Checklists (for example, unanswered checks, missing entries, an overdue risk assessment, another open permit on the same component, or the holder and officer being the same person).
Once all blockers are resolved:
- Request authorisation — if you are not the named Authorising officer, click Request authorisation (or Request again). This sends a notification to the named authorising officer while keeping the permit an editable draft.
- Authorise permit — if you are the named Authorising officer, click Authorise permit (available on the Review step or on the permit detail page) and confirm with your password.
- Authorising assigns the permit number (such as
PTW-0001), locks in the active revision of the linked risk assessment, sets Valid from to now and Valid until to the chosen validity (8, 12 or 24 hours from now), changes the status to Awaiting acceptance, and notifies the Permit holder.
- Authorising assigns the permit number (such as
Accepting the permit and confirming briefings
Work must not start until the permit is accepted:
- Accept permit — the named Permit holder opens the permit, clicks Accept permit, and signs with their password. If contractors are listed in the Work party, the confirmation statement also records that the holder has briefed those contractors. The permit status changes to Active.
- Work-party crew briefings — any crew member listed in the Work party can open the permit (while it is Draft, Awaiting acceptance or Active) and click I've been briefed and understand the precautions. Confirming a briefing does not require a password and records
Briefed <date/time>next to their name in the Work party card.
Extending an active permit
While a permit is Active (and not yet expired) and its current Valid until time is still below the maximum validity cap for its work types, an eligible authorising officer (the Captain or an officer whose rank can authorise all of the permit's work types, never the permit holder) can extend it:
- Click Extend permit.
- Choose a New end time later than the current end time and no later than the permit's maximum validity cap measured from the original authorisation time (for example, up to 12 hours from authorisation on a 12-hour cap).
- Tick I have inspected the site and the precautions are still in place., click Continue, and sign with your password.
Expiry and risk assessments going out of force
- Expiry warnings and Expired status: Nauticare notifies both the Permit holder and the Authorising officer within 1 hour before Valid until, and again once Valid until passes.
- When the end time passes on an Awaiting acceptance or Active permit, its status displays as Expired (or Expired — never accepted if the holder never accepted it) and it can no longer be accepted or extended.
- An Expired — never accepted permit must be withdrawn by an eligible officer. An Expired permit that was accepted must stop work immediately and be either handed back by the holder or withdrawn by an eligible officer.
- Risk assessment no longer in force: if the linked risk assessment is archived or withdrawn by the company while a permit is open, Nauticare notifies the holder and officer and displays a red Risk assessment no longer in force alert on the permit (
RA not in forcein the register table). An eligible officer can then withdraw the permit.
Handing back, closing and withdrawing
- Hand back permit — when the job ends (whether Active or Expired after acceptance), the Permit holder clicks Hand back permit, states whether The work is Complete or Incomplete (with What remains if incomplete), records whether Tools and equipment and Locks and tags are Removed, Left on site / Left in place, or None used, ticks The site is left in a safe condition., and signs with their password. The status becomes Handed back and the authorising officer is notified.
- Close permit — once a permit is Handed back, an eligible authorising officer inspects the site (a yellow alert warns if any tools, equipment, locks or tags were left on site at hand back), clicks Close permit, ticks I have inspected the worksite and taken back control of it., and signs with their password. The status becomes Closed and any linked component is released.
- Withdraw permit — while a permit is Awaiting acceptance, Active or Expired, any eligible authorising officer can click Withdraw permit, enter a Reason (up to 1,000 characters), tick The site has been made safe., and sign with their password. Work must stop immediately, the status becomes Withdrawn, and the permit cannot be used again.
Downloading the PDF
Click Download PDF on the permit detail page or inside the draft wizard at any stage to download a formatted PDF (<PTW-number>.pdf once authorised, or PTW-draft-<description>.pdf while still a draft) showing the scope, checklists, work party and all recorded signatures in your local time zone.