What is a DABS, and how do you run one?

A daily activity briefing, often called a DABS, is a short meeting at the start of each shift. It tells everyone what work is happening that day, where it is happening, who is doing it and what could hurt them. When it's done well, it is both the plan for the day and the start of the day's records. When it's done badly, it is just a sheet that everyone signs and nobody reads.^[1]

No law says you must hold a DABS by name. It is common practice on UK sites, and it is one of the main ways a site meets its legal duty to plan, manage and coordinate the work under the construction safety regulations, known as CDM 2015.^[2] The Health and Safety Executive says site inductions should explain how workers will be kept briefed as the job goes on, and on most sites the daily briefing is a big part of that.^[3] On the railway the rules are stricter. Network Rail's safety standard puts one named person in charge of each job, and that person must help plan the work and control its risks.^[4]

The briefing is usually given by the site manager, the works manager or a supervisor. It tells people which RAMS (risk assessment and method statement) and which permits apply to each task, but it doesn't replace them. It also isn't the same as a toolbox talk. The briefing is about today's plan, while a toolbox talk covers one safety topic in more depth.^[1]

Plan it the day before

The briefing is only as good as the plan behind it. On most sites, that plan is agreed the afternoon before at a short meeting of the people who run the work, usually the construction manager, the engineers, the project manager and the supervisors. They go through each area and agree what will be done tomorrow, who will lead each task and what each task will need.

What goes on the briefing sheet

Every site's form looks a little different, but they all cover the same ground. The sheet should show what is different today, where each gang is working, where their work could clash with someone else's, and which deliveries, machines and permits the work depends on.^[1]

• The date and the area, and who is giving the briefing.
• Each task, who is leading it and how many are in the gang.
• The RAMS reference for each task, so anyone can find the risk assessment and method statement that cover it.
• Permits, such as permits to dig, hot works permits or lifting permits, and whether each one is in place.
• Machines, with who is driving each one and what it is being used for.
• Deliveries, with times and where they will be unloaded, so nobody is surprised by a lorry at the gate.
• Clashes between gangs. These are places where one gang's work affects another's, such as a shared access route, a crane lift over people working, or an exclusion zone.
• Today's toolbox talk topic and the biggest risk of the day. This is the one thing everyone should be thinking about when they walk away.
• The weather forecast, if it changes what can be done.

Giving the briefing

Brief the gangs at the start of the shift, before any work starts, either where they will be working or in the welfare cabin. Keep it short and about today. What has changed since yesterday matters more than what is the same.

1. Go through each task, who is leading it and where it is.
2. Explain the biggest risk and how it is being controlled.
3. Point out any clashes with other gangs, any deliveries and any permits.
4. Ask questions to check that people have understood. “Where is the exclusion zone for the lift?” tells you more than “Everyone happy?”
5. Everyone who has been briefed signs the sheet. Anyone who arrives late must be briefed before they start work, and sign as well.

When the plan changes

It will. If a task is dropped or a new one starts, brief the people it affects before they begin, and write the change down. Put it in the site diary too, because it is exactly the kind of thing someone will ask about later.

How the briefing links to your other records

The tasks on the briefing are the same tasks that the day's hours are booked to on the labour allocation sheet, and the same ones the diary reports on at the end of the shift. When all three use the same list of tasks, the day's records agree with each other, and any question about one of them can be answered from the others.