In brief
At shift change, unfinished hot work, confined space entry or maintenance work is either closed, suspended or handed over face to face; a note saying "next shift will continue" is not a handover. A suspended permit is stopped with a signature after the area has been left safe; before starting work, the new team re-checks gas measurements, energy isolation and fire precautions and revalidates the permit with its own signature.
Why is work permit shift handover critical?
Imagine a three-shift plant in the automotive supply industry. On the night shift, a welding repair starts on the exhaust duct of a paint booth; towards morning the job is left unfinished. The night maintenance team goes home and the permit form hangs on the booth door. The morning team sees the form but does not know which section of the duct was cleaned overnight, when the fire watch left, or which isolator is locked with whose lock. Work permit shift handover is defined precisely to close this gap.
A permit to work system controls hazards at the start of a job; but the permit is valid for the conditions the person who signed it saw at that moment. At shift change, three things change together: the people doing the work, the people responsible for the area and often the environmental conditions. The neighbouring line that was stopped at night starts running in the morning, forklift traffic increases and ventilation runs differently.
The legislation does not prescribe a separate form for shift handover. Art. 4 of Law No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety requires the employer to adapt measures to changing conditions and to monitor whether they are being followed. In places with explosive atmospheres, under Annex 2 of the Regulation on the Protection of Employees from the Dangers of Explosive Atmospheres, where deemed necessary in the explosion protection document, the work permit is given in writing before the work starts by an authorised and responsible person. How shift handover is carried out should be written into the workplace's own permit procedure.
Three options: close, suspend or hand over
Before the shift ends, the permit holder and the permit issuer choose one of three options for every ongoing permit. No permit is left in an "undefined" state.
| Situation | What is done? | Whose signature is required? |
|---|---|---|
| Job finished | Area is checked, equipment collected, energy restored, permit closed | The person who did the job, the permit issuer, the area owner |
| Job paused, will continue next shift | Area is left safe, the permit is suspended | The person who did the job and the permit issuer |
| Job must continue without interruption | Outgoing and incoming teams hand over face to face on site | Outgoing and incoming permit holders and the permit issuers |
In practice, suspending is the safest option. Continuous handover should be limited to situations where the nature of the job means it cannot be stopped (for example, an intervention that must be continued for process reasons). For hot work permits, it is a common rule for the permit to be limited to a single shift and renewed when the shift changes; for details see our article on the hot work permit.
Steps to suspend a permit
Suspending a permit means stopping the job at a safe point and leaving the area ready for the next team. The sequence is:
- Stop the job at a safe point. Do not leave a half-tightened flange, an unsupported part or an open pipe end. If you are at a stage that cannot be stopped, do not hand over until the job is finished, or switch to continuous handover.
- Maintain energy isolation. Personal locks are removed at the end of the shift, but the isolation point is not left unlocked even for a moment. The department or group lock is fitted first, then the personal locks are removed. If a lock box is used, the keys stay in the box.
- Close off and mark the area. Confined space entrances are closed or barriered off; the entry log confirms that nobody is left inside. Openings at height are protected.
- Complete monitoring for hot work. If welding or cutting was done, the fire watch does not leave the area until the monitoring period after the work stopped has been completed.
- Suspend the permit. The time, reason and condition in which the area was left are written in the "suspended" section of the form and signed. A "PERMIT SUSPENDED, NO WORK" tag is placed at the permit point.
Shift handover form and face-to-face handover
The shift handover OHS record is not a line in the production handover log, but a separate section attached to the permit form. A shift handover form contains at least the following information:
| Field | Example content |
|---|---|
| Permit number and job description | Welding repair of paint booth exhaust duct |
| Stage at which the job was left | Section 2 of the duct cut, new part tack-welded, not yet welded |
| Energy isolations | Fan motor isolator and compressed air valve on group lock |
| Last gas measurement | Time of measurement, values, who measured |
| Fire precautions | Extinguisher location, time the watch left, final check |
| Known problems | Paint residue inside the duct, cleaning not completed |
| Handed over by and taken over by | First name, surname, signature, time |
The form alone is not enough. Outgoing and incoming permit holders go on site together, even if only for a few minutes, and see the isolation points and the place where the job was left. In a handover done at a desk, expressions such as "the second section of the duct" can be understood differently; a place pointed at with a finger on site is understood. Take the real timing of shift handovers into account when planning shift systems and fatigue management; it is not realistic to expect a long handover from a tired team at the end of the shift, so plan an overlap period for the handover.
Continuous handover: when the job cannot be stopped
Some jobs cannot be stopped according to shift times. An intervention that must be completed for process reasons, a confined space cleaning that has started, or a repair awaiting the line being brought back into service are examples. In this case the handover takes place while the job is under way, and this is the riskiest moment: for a while there are two teams in the area and it is not clear who is responsible.
Limit continuous handover with these rules:
- Plan the handover in advance. When it is clear that the job will run over into the end of the shift, the permit issuer writes this on the permit form and the incoming shift's permit issuer is informed.
- Information first, then the changeover. Before entering the area, the incoming team reads the permit form and the handover note and talks to the outgoing permit holder on site.
- Critical roles are never left unfilled. The confined space attendant or fire watch does not leave until the person replacing them has actually taken over the role. The entry log is updated name by name.
- Locks change in sequence. Incoming employees fit their personal locks, then outgoing employees remove their own.
- The permit is double-signed. The form shows the time of handover and the signatures of the outgoing and incoming permit holders and the two permit issuers.
If the job is expected to take a very long time, rather than doing every handover continuously, it is often safer to bring the job to a planned pause point and suspend it.
The new team re-checks
A suspended permit does not automatically become valid on the new shift. Before starting work, the new team and the new permit issuer check the following themselves:
- Gas measurement: The measurement is repeated in confined spaces and where flammable substances are present; the previous shift's values are not used for a new entry. For the method see our article on confined space gas measurement.
- Zero energy verification: It is seen that the locks are in place; it is verified, by attempting to start the machine or with a measuring instrument, that the energy really is isolated.
- Fire precautions: Are extinguishers in place, have combustibles been removed from the area, and has any job started in the neighbouring area on the new shift?
- Environmental conditions: The operating status of neighbouring lines, forklift traffic, ventilation, and wind and weather for work at height.
- People: The training, authorisation and required certificates of those who will do the job; who the watch and the rescuer are.
When the checks are complete, the permit issuer signs the "revalidated" section of the form with the time. If conditions have changed markedly since the day the permit was issued, the suspended permit is closed and a new permit is issued.
Common mistakes
- For an ongoing work permit, writing only "continuing" on the form without stating the stage at which the job was left.
- No authorised permit issuer being defined at all for the night shift; the foreman issuing the permit to themselves.
- Leaving a personal lock in place until the next day or handing the key to a colleague.
- Entering a confined space on the basis of the previous shift's gas measurement result.
- Not hanging the suspended permit tag; another team starting work on the same equipment.
- A contractor team not notifying the plant's permit system of its shift change. Our article on contractor induction training and permits guides you on this.
We explained the general framework for shift-based plants in Bursa's OIZs (organised industrial zones) in our article on OHS in shift-based production in Bursa's OIZs. In our OHS specialist service, we add a shift handover section to your permit procedure, designate the authorised persons who will issue permits on the night shift and audit handovers on site. For sector-specific risks see our automotive supply industry page. You can add the annual review date of the permit procedure and handover records to our OHS calendar tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a work permit be valid for more than one shift?
It can, if your procedure allows it, subject to suspension and revalidation being recorded. At every new shift, conditions are checked again and signed. For hot work permits, limiting the permit to a single shift is the safer practice.
Can I leave my personal lock for the next shift?
No. A personal lock is used while its owner is on site and at the job. At the end of the shift, the isolation point is placed under a department or group lock, and then the personal lock is removed; the new team fits its own locks.
Should gas measurement be repeated every shift?
Yes. In confined spaces and areas with flammable substances, the atmosphere can change over time. The new team carries out the measurement itself before entry, and measurement continues throughout the job.
Is a shift handover form mandatory under the legislation?
The legislation does not name a separate form; it requires the employer to adapt measures to changing conditions and to monitor them. The handover record is the most concrete document showing that this obligation is being fulfilled on site.
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Bursa SİSTEMER OSGB Technical Team — written from the field experience of our OHS specialists and workplace physicians. Legal information is valid as of the publication/update date; contact us for an assessment specific to your business.