Hot Work Is Often Unavoidable — But Always Manageable
Hot work — including welding, cutting, grinding, brazing and other activities that generate heat, sparks or open flames — is essential in maintenance, fabrication and construction. Yet it also represents one of the most persistent sources of fire hazards in industrial environments. Fire risks associated with these activities are well documented and cannot be ignored.
A Hot Work Permit remains the cornerstone of any effective safety management approach, ensuring that hazards are assessed, controls are applied, and responsibilities are clear before a single spark is struck. But in modern operations, compliance alone is no longer sufficient. Organisations must also seek visibility, real-time risk intelligence and measurable assurance — especially where fire hazards carry severe operational and financial consequences.
Why Hot Work Permits Still Matter
A Hot Work Permit is a formal authorisation process that ensures:
- The scope and location of hot work are defined
- Risks of fire and explosion are identified and mitigated
- Combustibles are isolated or shielded
- Firefighting equipment and fire watches are in place
- Verification and post-work inspection occur before normal operations resume
Permits turn a potentially dangerous task into a controlled, auditable safety process. However they are not a guarantee of safety on their own since they depend on correct execution, oversight and recorded evidence throughout the work lifecycle.
Thermal Imaging: Sharpening Risk Awareness in Hot Work
Traditional hot work controls rely on visual inspection and manual fire watches, which are essential but inherently limited. Thermal imaging technology - a technique that visualises heat signatures through infrared radiation, offers insight into what the human eye cannot see.
When used before, during and after hot work activities, thermal imaging:
- Detects incipient hot spots that may precede fire ignition
- Validates cooling and dissipation of residual heat post-work
- Supports documented evidence of safe conditions for permit handback
- Augments fire watch duties with measurable data, not just visual checks
These capabilities are particularly valuable where hidden heat buildup or conductive heating can persist beyond the visible work zone — situations where traditional inspection may miss the latent risk.
Thermal imaging enhances the diligence process, giving teams a data-informed view of thermal risk during critical moments.
Embedding Thermal Imaging Within the Permit Lifecycle
To maximise value, thermal imaging should be integrated directly into the Hot Work Permit process, not treated as an optional add-on.
In a strategic workflow, thermal imaging can be used in:
- Pre-Work Baseline Scans — Identify existing heat sources before hot work begins.
- Active Monitoring — Validate fire watch inspections with heat maps and real-time images.
- Post-Work Verification — Confirm that no dangerous heat remains before permit handback.
- Compliance Evidence — Attach thermal images directly to the permit history as part of audit records.
By linking thermal imaging outputs with the permit’s digital record, organisations create a verifiable evidence trail that strengthens assurance and demonstrates proactive risk control.
Pisys Permit to Work: Enabling Evidence-Driven Safety
Pisys’ Permit to Work platform supports a modern, digital approach to hot work risk management by allowing teams to:
- Issue and approve hot work permits digitally — from any device, anywhere.
- Attach thermal imaging outputs and documentation directly to permits.
- Track fire watch status and sign-offs in real time.
- Maintain complete audit trails that integrate thermal evidence with authorisations and risk assessments.
- Monitor simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) and conflict risk across work areas.
This evidence-driven approach helps organisations move beyond checklist compliance towards operational assurance and confident risk leadership.
From Compliance to Confidence
For senior leaders and safety professionals, the question is not whether a Hot Work Permit exists, but whether the organisation can prove it worked when it mattered. Thermal imaging, integrated with a robust digital permit system delivers that proof.
It enhances traditional controls with measurable insight, strengthens accountability and helps close the gap between procedure and practice. When combined with Pisys’ digital permit framework, thermal imaging becomes part of a broader, transparent safety ecosystem, one that equips teams to make better decisions, faster.
Fire Risk Control Must Evolve with Evidence
Hot work remains indispensable in industrial operations, but the hazards it introduces require clear authorisation, real-time insight and documented processes.
By integrating thermal imaging into the permit lifecycle and leveraging digital tools like Pisys Permit to Work, organisations reinforce:
- Safer execution of high-risk tasks
- Greater confidence in risk controls
- A culture of measurable safety performance
- Stronger governance and compliance evidence
In an era where visibility drives better decisions, heat maps and thermal evidence should be part of every modern hot work strategy.
Partnering with Pisys for Safer Hot Work
At Pisys, we’ve helped companies across offshore, manufacturing, and construction industries replace outdated paper systems with flexible, secure, and scalable digital solutions. Our Permit to Work software supports all major permit types—including hot work, confined space entry, electrical isolation, and more—within a single platform.
