Free Electrical Isolation Permit Template (UK, HSE-Compliant)

Electricity kills quickly and without warning. Contact with live conductors causes around 10 workplace deaths and over 2,000 injuries per year in the UK, according to HSE electrical safety statistics. Many of these incidents happen during maintenance or installation when someone assumed a circuit was dead — and it wasn't. An electrical isolation permit template exists to make sure that assumption is replaced by a verified, documented process.

This guide walks through every section an electrical isolation permit should include, explains the legal requirements, and covers the lock-out/tag-out (LOTO) procedure that sits at the heart of safe electrical work.

This guide provides general information based on UK HSE guidance. It does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for assessment by a competent person as defined in Regulation 16 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. Electrical work should only be carried out by persons with appropriate training and competence.

The Legal Framework

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 are the primary legislation. Regulation 12 is the critical one: "Where necessary to prevent danger, suitable means (including, where appropriate, methods of identifying circuits) shall be available for cutting off the supply of electrical energy to any electrical equipment."

Regulation 13 adds: work on or near electrical equipment that is dead must be carried out only when "adequate precautions have been taken to prevent it from becoming live."

In practice, this means:

Isolate the supply
Secure the isolation (lock-out/tag-out)
Prove the circuit is dead at the point of work
Only then begin working

The permit documents that each of these steps has actually been completed. HSE guidance document HSG85 provides detailed advice on safe isolation and the permit system for electrical work.

If you're not familiar with permit-to-work systems generally, our plain-English PTW guide covers the basics, and the general permit to work template shows the standard sections every permit shares.

When You Need an Electrical Isolation Permit

An electrical isolation permit should be used when maintenance or modification work requires circuits to be made dead, when work is done on or near switchgear or distribution boards, when mechanical work requires isolation to prevent unexpected start-up, and when multiple trades are affected by the same isolation.

For simple tasks where a single competent electrician isolates a circuit they control entirely, a formal permit may not be needed. But where multiple people are involved or the consequences of error are severe, the permit provides the documented cross-check that prevents mistakes.

What Goes on an Electrical Isolation Permit (Section by Section)

Permit Header

Permit number
Date and time of issue
Valid from / valid until (single shift maximum — electrical permits should never roll overnight without re-verification)
Site name and specific location
Description of the work requiring isolation
Name of permit holder and their employer

Circuit and Equipment Identification

This section must be precise. Vague descriptions kill people.

Circuit reference number(s) or equipment identification
Location of the isolation point(s) — which distribution board, which switch, which breaker
Voltage and phase information
Drawing or schematic reference (if available)
Description of the equipment being isolated (not just the circuit — the actual machine, panel, or system)

If isolation involves multiple points, list every single one. A motor that is fed from two separate supplies needs both supplies isolated. Miss one and the circuit is still live.

Isolation Details

Record the specifics of how isolation has been achieved:

Method of isolation: circuit breaker locked off, fuse withdrawn, isolator switch locked, supply disconnected — state the exact method for each point
Lock-out details: lock serial number, who applied the lock, where the key is held
Tag-out details: tag wording, who applied the tag, date and time
Multi-lock hasps: where multiple people need to work on the same isolated circuit, a multi-lock hasp ensures the circuit cannot be re-energised until everyone has removed their personal lock

Every person working on the isolated circuit should apply their own lock. One lock per person — no exceptions. If the electrician who did the isolation leaves site, their lock stays on until they return and personally remove it, or a formal lock-removal procedure is followed.

Proving Dead

This is the step that separates a proper isolation from a dangerous assumption. Before any work begins, the circuit must be proved dead at the point of work using a voltage indicator that has itself been proved.

The proving-dead sequence:

Prove the voltage indicator — test it on a known live source (or a proving unit) to confirm it is working correctly
Test the isolated circuit — apply the voltage indicator at the point of work, phase to phase and phase to earth
Re-prove the voltage indicator — test it again on the known live source to confirm it hasn't failed during use

Record on the permit:

Name of the person who proved the circuit dead
Type and serial number of the voltage indicator used
Time the test was conducted
Confirmation the prove-test-prove sequence was completed

HSE guidance GS38 sets out the requirements for test instruments used to check that circuits are dead. Using a non-contact voltage detector ("volt stick") alone is not sufficient — it must be backed up by a direct-contact voltage indicator.

Authorisation and Re-Energisation

The permit holder confirms the isolation is in place. The permit authoriser — who must have electrical competence as defined in Regulation 16 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 — confirms the isolation is secure.

When work is complete: all workers confirm they are clear, all personal locks are removed by the individuals who applied them, the permit holder confirms the area is safe, the authoriser authorises re-energisation, and the permit is formally closed. Re-energisation must never happen until every lock holder has personally confirmed they are clear. No proxy removals. No assumptions.

Common Mistakes on Electrical Isolation Permits

Isolating the wrong circuit. Circuit labelling in older buildings is frequently inaccurate. The permit process should include physical verification — not just reading the label on the distribution board. Prove dead at the point of work, every time.

Single lock for multiple workers. If three electricians are working under one person's lock, and that person re-energises without realising someone is still working, the result can be fatal. One person, one lock.

Skipping the prove-test-prove sequence. Testing the voltage indicator before and after use catches instrument failure. A voltage indicator that reads zero because it's broken is worse than no test at all — it gives false confidence.

Permit stays open across shifts. Conditions change. The person who took the isolation may not be on the next shift. Close the permit at the end of each shift, verify the isolation is still secure, and issue a new permit for the next shift.

No mention of adjacent live conductors. When working in a distribution board, the circuit you're working on may be dead but the bus bars and adjacent circuits are still live. The permit should identify this risk and record the precautions (barriers, insulating shrouds).

Paper vs Digital Isolation Permits

Paper permits work but create two specific problems for electrical isolation. First, the lock-out details (serial numbers, hasp locations, who holds which key) involve precise information that is hard to track on paper when multiple people are involved. Second, the re-energisation sequence requires confirmation from every lock holder — on paper, this often means chasing signatures across a site.

PermitPad is building a digital electrical isolation permit with structured LOTO fields, multi-person lock tracking, and mandatory prove-dead confirmation before the permit can progress. Join the waitlist to try it when we launch.

Key References

Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 — the primary legislation for electrical safety at work
HSG85 — Electricity at work: safe working practices (HSE)
GS38 — Electrical test equipment for use on low voltage electrical installations (HSE)
HSG250 — Guidance on permit-to-work systems (HSE)

What to Do Now

If your team carries out electrical work and you don't currently use an isolation permit, start with the template structure above. The key is precision: exact circuit identification, individual lock-out for every worker, and the prove-test-prove sequence every time. No shortcuts, no assumptions, no "it should be dead."

Not sure if your broader permit system is up to standard? Try the free PTW readiness checker — it scores your setup against HSG250 in a few minutes. Or generate a printable checklist for your next job using the safety checklist generator.