Permit to load
Also called Permit to use
A formal, documented authorisation confirming that a temporary works item has been constructed, checked and approved, and may now be loaded or brought into use. Issuing the permit is normally the responsibility of the temporary works coordinator, following the required design check and any necessary inspection.
In practice
The permit is the point at which responsibility formally transfers — from the people who designed and built the item to the people who are about to load it. It is issued after the check and after inspection of what was actually built, which is why a permit signed in advance of the works being complete, or against a design that has since changed, is worse than none: it records a control that did not happen.
Where this comes from: UK contractor practice under a temporary works procedure; permit formats and who may sign are set by that procedure.
Where it matters on site
Matting under a crane rarely feels like something needing a permit, which is exactly why it is worth asking whether the set-up has one. A working platform certainly does. Where a crane is being set up on a certified platform, the permit for that platform describes the plant it covers, and a heavier machine than the one it was issued for is a new case, not a variation.