EcoOnline, a leading global provider of safety and sustainability software, has announced the worldwide rollout of its ePermits platform — a comprehensive digital solution for managing work permits. Central to modern Control of Work standards, ePermits streamlines and standardises the process of planning, authorising, and overseeing personnel involved in high-risk operations, whether they are employees, contractors, or new starters. Having been trusted by major multinational organisations across the UK and Ireland for over two decades, ePermits is now available to companies globally.
Digitising the permit process for improved performance
Traditional, paper-based permit management systems and spreadsheets can be inefficient, inconsistent, and prone to error. The global construction sector alone accounts for almost 7% of the world’s total economic output — worth more than £10 trillion annually — with a heavy reliance on external contractors. In the UK, over 600,000 self-employed contractors work within the construction industry, each requiring stringent permit procedures to ensure their readiness to perform complex tasks safely. A well-structured permit process is essential for both worker protection and operational success, helping to build better-trained teams, improve productivity, and minimise costs linked to regulatory breaches and insurance claims.
ePermits replaces outdated manual systems with a real-time, mobile-friendly digital solution available in more than 20 languages. It ensures that only trained, inducted, and approved individuals are authorised to carry out high-risk work. From onboarding new workers to maintaining full visibility of all contractors, ePermits embeds regulatory compliance throughout every stage of the process, aligning with frameworks such as those issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and other leading international safety standards.
Key features of ePermits
EcoOnline is a featured vendor in Verdantix’s 2025 Smart Innovators: Control of Work (CoW) Software report, gaining high marks for permit-to-work functionality, which includes:
- Readiness for high-risk environments: Purpose-built to manage complex, interdependent permit types (e.g. hot work, confined space, isolation), critical in sectors where safety-critical errors can have severe outcomes.
- End-to-end Control of Work: Integrates safety rules, RAMS (Risk Assessment Method Statements), competence checks, and SIMOPS (simultaneous operations) detection, ensuring risks are identified and controlled before work begins.
- Active enforcement rather than record-keeping: Actively enforces compliance by blocking permit progress until all conditions (training, PPE, insurance, safety measures) are satisfied.
- Configurability without complexity: Balances best-practice workflows with configurable rules, forms and safety precautions, so organisations can adapt the solution without losing standardisation.
- Always audit-ready: Mobile, paperless workflows with timestamped audit trails and alerts simplify inspections and demonstrate compliance with confidence.
Customers adopting ePermits experience measurable operational improvements for both managers and contractors. One global facilities management services customer reports that where managers previously spent two to three hours a day manually managing permits, it now takes less than ten minutes of their day. And for contractors, permit applications have reduced from 30 minutes to a matter of minutes. Teams also benefit from greater transparency and control over who is on site, thanks to enhanced contractor information and visibility in the solution.
“Digitising the permit-to-work process turns safety from a reactive, time-consuming checkpoint into a proactive advantage,” said Matt Matsui, COO at EcoOnline. “As ePermits expands globally, it builds on our mission to protect people and the planet—ensuring that every worker, wherever they are in the world, whether an employee or contractor, is approved and ready for the job they’ll undertake.”
Learn how EcoOnline’s mobile-enabled ePermits is making high-risk work safer, faster and easier to manage.
