Editing the risk assessment template

The questions of the risk assessment, the vocabulary of protective equipment and control measures, and the rule set of “which answer leads to what” are not hard-coded: they are your organisation’s risk assessment template, and you can edit it. It drives the assessment’s questions, the live prescription, and the Risk sheet of drafts started without a risk assessment too.

Before you start

• Permission: managing templates and policy — ptw:manage.
• Loosening without a reason: saving a setting looser than the OPEREX recommended value asks for a reason. Whoever holds the ptw:loosen_without_reason right (by default only the System administrator; it can be given to others in the permission matrix) saves without a reason — for setting up the company baseline. The loosening is still recorded: on the Permit settings → OPEREX standard tab’s deviation list, marked Accepted without a reason, by right (a reason can be added there later under Add a justification afterwards), and an audit record is kept of the save. Exception: enabling One-person issue (no requester) still asks for its own reason, even with this right — that reason goes into the chain and onto the paper of issued permits.
• Where to find it: the Permit settings → Risk assessment template tab.

One template per organisation

There is one risk assessment template per organisation — there is no second, selectable template. It is created or replaced by: installing the built-in template (a copy) · JSON import in the editor, then saving · restoring the built-in one. Until you have your own, the built-in content applies; your own copy is created by the install (or by the first save in the editor).

Steps

The tab tells you which template is in use, how big it is, and whether a newer built-in version is available.

1. Install the built-in template, if you don’t have your own yet. Install built-in template creates a copy of the built-in content — today’s behaviour does not change, it just becomes editable. Afterwards the page tells you the next step (refreshing the base permit templates, see the Tip below).

2. Open the editor with the Edit button.

3. Set the Basic settings. The type is decided by the main hazard: hot work · confined-space entry · explosive (Ex) zone. Supplements (lifting, electrical work, excavation, structural change, system breaking, vehicle, at height, simultaneous work) are never separate permits: they are added as the chosen permit’s questions. Permit allocation: One permit — the main hazards decide the type (recommended, factory): one job gets ONE permit, the narrowest type covering its main hazards. Always the combined permit: the type set below is issued; if it does not cover the job’s main hazard, the assessment cannot be approved. A separate permit per main hazard: each main hazard gets its own permit. Base permit (no main hazard): issued for work with no main hazard (in combined mode: the combined permit type). Maximum number of steps, and four switches: Job safety analysis (step table) · Filling in the step table is mandatory · PPE by body part · Filling in the PPE matrix is mandatory.

   Main hazards and covering types (read-only table): which permit type can issue each main hazard — as its own subject, or with a question. The permit template says so (template editor → Parameters → The type’s own main hazard(s) / Further main hazards covered); if no active type covers a main hazard, a warning appears at the top of the page.

   Permit types an assessment may start (collapsible): which active types the assessment can choose from (the recommendation too). If none is ticked, every active type (except the LMRA worksheet). Whether the assessor may deviate from the recommended type is decided by the “The assessment’s permit proposal cannot be overridden” switch under Policy gates.

4. Arrange the question-set boxes on the Layout and preview tab (it opens first). The canvas shows the sections as they appear on the assessment page: every section is a box on the 12-part grid. The box header holds the width (Auto · ⅓ · ½ · ⅔ · 1) and ↵ (starts a new row); Auto derives it from the content (many ticks or non-tick questions → full width). The rest of a row shows as a hatched empty space. Click a box and the section’s full editor opens below — title, On the risk sheet, items —, the same as on the Sections and items tab; the order is set from the editor’s ⋮ menu.

5. Edit the questions on the Sections and items tab. A section: Section key · Section title · Shown on the risk sheet. An item: Item key · Label · Kind (Tickable · Yes / No / N.A. · Pick from a list · Text · Number) · Meaning id · Choice values · Mandatory. New entries come with Add section / Add item.

6. Extend the vocabulary on the Vocabulary tab: Meaning id (protective equipment starts with ppe., a control measure with ctl.) and Label — Add vocabulary entry. The work permit templates’ items refer to the same ids. The Kind column cannot be edited, on purpose: the id’s prefix decides the kind (ppe. = protective equipment, ctl. = control measure). To change the kind, change the id.

7. Write the rules on the Rules tab. Rule key; Condition — ALL true and Condition — AT LEAST ONE true (comma-separated section/item references); the Reason — this is what the user reads under the info icon (i) next to an item, so it is mandatory. The kinds Add effect offers: Permit type marker · Supplementary question · Required equipment / measure · Suggested equipment / measure · At least this many workers · At least this many watchers · Condition on the permit. The effects sit in one table (kind · value · which permit); Which permit left empty applies to the rule’s permit / all.

   The permit type is not prescribed by a rule — the main hazard decides it. The Permit type marker value is picked from two groups: Main hazard (decides the type) (Hot work · Confined-space entry · Explosive (Ex/ATEX) zone) and Other marker. The assessment recommends the narrowest active type that covers the job’s main hazards without bringing an unneeded one; with no main hazard the Base permit (no main hazard) is issued (in combined mode, the combined permit). A Supplementary question ticks the chosen type’s question — on a type without that question it is not added, and the assessment says so. A new permit type is added on the Work permit templates tab; which main hazards it may carry is set on the template editor’s Parameters page (The type’s own main hazard(s) / Further main hazards covered).

   The old Prescribe a permit (legacy) effect can no longer be added as a new effect; where a rule still holds one, the editor shows and keeps it: for a main-hazard type it means that hazard, for a supplementary type it has no effect — use a marker or a supplementary question instead. Bring in built-in entries also removes such built-in effects if they are unchanged.

   If a Missing permit templates card stands at the top of the page, the template may prescribe a type that has no active permit template — no permit can be started from an assessment then. Assign an active template to each (it stands in, e.g. your own copy), or switch the template on.

8. Try it out on the Rule map and try-out tab. On the left, tick what an assessor would tick for a job; on the right you immediately see what follows: the Main hazard, the recommended permit, the ticked supplementary questions, the required and recommended items, the headcount and the conditions. The try-out runs on the edited, not yet saved template (including the list of selectable permit types) with the same evaluator as the live assessment, and saves nothing. The candidate permits are the active templates of all your sites — a live assessment only offers the ones valid for the job’s site. Below it, the Rule map: every rule is a row — IF (the answers, and / or) → THEN (the effects) —, the rows firing in the try-out highlighted and labelled fires.

9. Reorder the rows from the ⋮ menu in the row’s top-right corner: Move up · Move down · Duplicate · Delete. A step that cannot be chosen shows as disabled, with its reason (for example “This is already the first entry.”, “A base section of the risk sheet cannot be deleted.”).

10. Saving is automatic. A few seconds after each change the page saves by itself — the status line at the bottom says what is happening (“Changed — it will be saved automatically in a few seconds.” · “Saving…” · “Risk assessment template saved (v….).”). With an invalid field nothing is saved (“Invalid field — nothing is saved automatically until you fix it.”); the list names the errors under the heading “… error(s) to fix”. The Save button saves at once.

One more step after installing

The risk assessment’s “floor” (the items pre-ticked on the permit) rests on the references (ref) of the work permit template items. If your work permit templates were installed earlier, the references only reach them after Refresh base permit templates — after installing, the page says so and offers the button too. Until then, a permit started from an assessment has no pre-ticked items.

The Basic settings: how many permits one assessment creates, which one is the base permit, how deep the job safety analysis goes, and which types cover the main hazards.

A real rule: welding or grinding makes the main hazard hot work, ticks the hot-work supplementary question, requires a fire watch and an extinguisher, and asks for at least 2 workers.

The Layout and preview tab: the sections sit on the grid as on the assessment page; the selected box’s editor opens below.

The try-out: welding + crane → hot work permit, with the lifting supplementary question, required and recommended items and at least 2 workers — nothing saved.

If it worked

After saving: “Risk assessment template saved (v….).” — the Own, v… badge in the header shows a version one higher, and the questions of new assessments are built from it immediately. If a requirement has no effect anywhere today, the page says so after saving: “Saved — but … requirement(s) have no effect anywhere today.”, itemised under Details (for example “no active work permit template item refers to this meaning id”).

Common problems

What you see	Why	What to do
“Fix the errors first — an invalid template cannot be saved.”	The editor’s live check found an error.	Fix what the “… error(s) to fix” list names.
“The reason is mandatory: without it the suggestion would be a silent constraint the issuer cannot understand.”	A rule has no reason.	Write down why it prescribes what it prescribes (a legal reference is fine too).
“Someone else saved in the meantime (current version: v…). Reload the page so you do not overwrite their work.”	Parallel editing.	Reload, and re-apply your change.
“This editor cannot display this kind of effect — saving keeps it UNCHANGED.”	The effect (for example a preparation task) cannot be shown on the form.	Not an error. If you want to change it, use the Edit as JSON panel.
On the risk assessment’s panel: “Combined mode is set but no “Combined permit type” is configured …”	In combined mode the combined permit type is mandatory.	Set it in the Basic settings.

Worth knowing

• Approved assessments do not change. Every assessment carries the template snapshot taken at approval (on the permit’s card: Questionnaire version). Editing today affects future assessments.

• Sections “Shown on the risk sheet” also appear on the Risk sheet of a draft started without a risk assessment; they may only contain tickable items. The keys of the Risk sheet’s two base sections are fixed — their items are freely editable.

• Bring in built-in entries: if, in the Built-in version row, the available version is higher than yours, this button brings in the NEW built-in sections, items, vocabulary entries and rules — it does not overwrite your edits. Today’s built-in version is 5. The button also catches up on version changes you skipped, each once, when the version boundary is crossed:

  • Version 3 (2026-09-25): suggested equipment or measures for hazards that had no suggestion before (for example a hot surface, ionising radiation, a biological agent, gas cylinders, manual lifting, a slippery surface, frost), and extended suggestions on four existing built-in rules (toxic substance → atmosphere testing, ventilation · flammable substance → ventilation · corrosive substance → emergency shower · dust → dust suppression). All of them are suggestions: they show as “suggested” on the sheet and can be removed without a reason;
  • Version 4: for the one-permit mode, the built-in crane, electrical, excavation and structural rules also give out their marker or supplementary question (box);
  • Version 5 (2026-09-27, four main types): the main hazard decides the type and a supplementary hazard is a question — so the Prescribe a permit (legacy) effects and the dead marker/question effects are removed from the built-in rules. Only an effect that is byte-identical to the built-in one is removed; an effect you rewrote stays. If every effect of a built-in rule is removed, the rule itself goes too.

  Whatever the button brings, you can remove afterwards — the next import does not put it back. The messages say separately how many existing built-in rules received new suggestions (“… existing built-in rule(s) received new suggestions …”) and how many outdated effects were removed (“… outdated factory effects were removed …”).

• The built-in reason texts were updated (2026-09-25). A few built-in rule reasons became shorter, neutral professional sentences. In your own template the unmodified built-in reasons switched to the new text automatically — so the Own, v… badge may show one version higher even if you did not edit anything. Reasons you rewrote yourselves are untouched, and approved assessments keep the text they were approved with.

• Back to built-in: asks for confirmation, because your own sections, vocabulary entries and rules are lost; risk sheets already filled in are kept.

• Edit as JSON: the whole template can be copied out, loaded from a file or pasted in. Loading only replaces the draft — without saving it affects nothing.

Related

Creating a risk assessmentHow the user sees the questions built from the template.

Work permit templatesThe references (ref) on the items, and refreshing the base templates.

Rolling out the risk assessmentThe order of switching it on in an organisation.