Free Excavation Permit Template (UK, HSE-Compliant)

Every year in the UK, workers are killed or seriously injured by excavation collapses and cable strikes. A trench collapse can bury someone in seconds — soil weighs roughly 1.5 tonnes per cubic metre. An excavation permit template forces a structured check before the ground is broken, covering the two things that cause most incidents: what's underneath and what's holding the sides up.

This guide walks through every section an excavation permit should include and covers the practical checks that keep people alive during groundworks.

This guide provides general information based on UK HSE guidance. It does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for site-specific assessment by a competent person. Excavation work must be planned and supervised in accordance with CDM 2015 and HSG47.

Legal Framework for Excavation Permits

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM) require that excavation work is planned, managed, and monitored. HSE guidance HSG47 is the key practical reference for locating buried services. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.

The permit-to-work is the documented proof these requirements have been met before digging begins. Our guide to permit-to-work systems covers the fundamentals of PTW.

An excavation permit should be used for any trench deeper than 1.2 metres, any excavation near buried services, work in contaminated or unknown ground, and any dig adjacent to structures where ground movement could cause instability.

What Goes on an Excavation Permit (Section by Section)

Permit Header

Permit number
Date and time of issue
Valid from / valid until (one shift or one day — never open-ended)
Site name and specific location of the excavation
Description of the excavation work (dimensions, depth, purpose)
Name of permit holder and their employer
Plant and equipment to be used (excavator type, hand tools, vacuum excavator)

Buried Services Survey

This is the most safety-critical section. Before any digging starts, you must establish what's in the ground:

Utility records obtained: Plans requested from all relevant utility companies via LSBUD or equivalent. Note: plans show approximate routes only.
CAT and Genny survey completed: Record the operator's name, equipment type, and date. CAT scans cannot detect all services — plastic pipes and fibre optic cables may not show up.
Known services identified and marked on the ground: List every service with approximate depth and route. Attach a marked-up site plan.
Safe digging zone established: HSG47 recommends hand digging within 500mm of a known service on either side — no mechanical excavation in that zone.

Ground Conditions Assessment

Record the soil type (clay, sand, gravel, rock, made ground), water conditions (water table evidence, groundwater ingress), adjacent structures within the zone of influence (the zone extends roughly 45 degrees from the excavation base), and recent weather. Heavy rain saturates soil and reduces stability; frost followed by thaw destabilises trench walls. Previous ground use matters too — filled ground may contain asbestos or produce methane.

Excavation Support and Edge Protection

For any excavation deeper than 1.2 metres, support is normally required. Record the method:

Trench sheets and hydraulic struts: The most common method for utility trenches.
Trench boxes: Pre-fabricated steel boxes dragged along the trench as work progresses.
Battering: Sloping the sides back to a safe angle (typically 45 degrees for granular soils, steeper for clay).

Edge protection: guard rails or barriers around the perimeter, stop blocks for vehicles, warning signage, and pedestrian crossing points if applicable.

Provide ladder access at intervals not exceeding 15 metres, secured and extending at least 1 metre above the excavation edge.

Authorisation and Signatures

The permit holder confirms precautions are in place. The permit authoriser confirms they are satisfied the excavation is safe to proceed. The authoriser should have enough groundworks knowledge to assess whether the support method and buried services survey are adequate. Our general permit to work template explains the dual-signature model.

Daily Inspection

CDM 2015 requires excavations to be inspected by a competent person before each shift, after any event affecting stability, and after any fall of material. Record the inspector's name, date, condition of support and trench walls, water ingress, and edge protection status.

Permit Close-Out

When complete: all personnel out, excavation backfilled or left with adequate protection, support removed only after backfilling, services confirmed undamaged, permit signed off by both parties.

Common Mistakes on Excavation Permits

Relying on utility plans alone. Plans show approximate routes. Depths can vary significantly. HSG47 is clear: plans must be supplemented with a CAT/Genny survey and careful hand digging near services. Plans are the starting point, not the answer.

No support in shallow trenches. A trench at 1.0 metre depth can still collapse and trap a worker's legs. While support may not always be required below 1.2 metres, the risk assessment should still consider it. In loose or waterlogged ground, support may be needed at any depth.

Removing support before backfilling. Trench sheets and struts are removed from the bottom up as backfill is placed, not stripped out in advance. Removing support from an open trench is extremely dangerous.

Stockpiling spoil at the edge. Excavated material piled at the trench edge adds load to the ground that the trench walls are trying to support, increasing collapse risk. Keep spoil at least 1 metre from the edge, and further in poor ground.

No emergency plan for cable strikes. If a buried cable is struck, the operator must stay in the cab (if in a machine) or move away without touching the cable (if on foot). The permit should record the emergency procedure and ensure everyone on site knows it.

Paper vs Digital Excavation Permits

Excavation permits involve a lot of specific data — service routes, CAT survey results, support specifications, daily inspection logs. On paper, this information is spread across multiple forms and can be hard to cross-reference. A digital system can link the permit to the buried services plan, attach photos of the CAT survey results, and prompt daily inspections automatically.

PermitPad is building a digital excavation permit with structured service identification fields, daily inspection prompts, and photo capture for ground conditions. Join the waitlist to try it when we launch.

Key References

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 — CDM duties for excavation work
HSG47 — Avoiding danger from underground services (HSE)
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 — risk assessment requirements
HSG250 — Guidance on permit-to-work systems (HSE)

What to Do Now

If your team carries out excavation work, start with the template structure above and adapt it to your typical sites. The non-negotiables are the buried services survey, adequate support, and daily inspections. Everything else is secondary.

For a quick check of your broader permit system, try the free PTW readiness checker. And if you need a printable checklist for your next dig, the safety checklist generator builds one based on your selected work types.