What's in the template
Three working pages to post at the work location and one guidance sheet.
- A Permit details and validity
- B Work description, who does it, contractor coordination
- C Avoid or move the hot work: can a cold method or a workshop do the job?
- D Precautions: extinguishers, alarm, fire protection systems, equipment and the danger zone
- E Explosive atmosphere, containers, confined space and lockout, with the record numbers
- F Danger zone and fire watch times: the minimum from the rules beside the value you set
- G Fire watch and alarm
- H Authorisation by the permit issuer and the person in charge of the work
- I Final inspection and cancellation after the fire watch
Pages 1 and 2 hold the permit, parts A to I; page 3 holds the fire watch log and the handover list. The guidance sheet explains the steps, when no permit is needed, the fire watch's role and, for each requirement, the German and the Swiss rule side by side; where a country has no rule of its own, the sheet says so.
When do you need it?
Sparks from welding, cutting and grinding travel 10 m and more, and fires often start hours after the work. Outside a workshop set up for hot work, the work needs a written permit: combustibles removed or covered, openings sealed, extinguishers at hand, a fire watch during the work and checks for at least 2 hours after it. First check whether a cold method or a move to the workshop avoids the hot work altogether.
Rules it follows
Germany
- DGUV Information 205-001, Betrieblicher Brandschutz in der Praxis (December 2020), 7.4.7 hot work
- DGUV Information 209-010, Lichtbogenschweißen (March 2017), chapter 8 and the permit in Annex 1
- ASR A2.2, Maßnahmen gegen Brände
- ArbSchG §5, §8 and §12; BetrSichV §10
- DGUV Regel 113-004, Behälter, Silos und enge Räume, Annex 1: hot work in a confined space
- VdS 2047, safety rules for hot work (insurers)
Switzerland
- VKF fire protection guideline 12-15 (1 April 2026) and leaflet 2008-15, fire prevention on construction sites
- EKAS guideline 6509, welding, cutting and allied processes
- Suva 84012, fire protection when welding; VUV Art. 3, 6, 8, 9, 36 and 43
- Suva 1416, work in tanks and confined spaces
Checked against the current editions on 15 October 2026.