Generating a crew brief and safe work plan
A crew brief is a site-specific safety document that your painters read (and sign) before starting work. Depending on your locale, it's called a Safe Work Method Statement (AU SWMS), Job Hazard Analysis (US and CA JHA), Risk Assessment & Method Statement (UK RAMS), or Site-Specific Safety Plan (NZ SSSP). Same document, different names.
How it's generated
From the project hub, tap Generate crew brief. Surfacely pulls:
- The hazards you captured during area assessments
- Access methods (scaffold, EWP, ladder) from your hire + assessment data
- Auto-derived hazards the painter didn't tag — spray inhalation, working at height, lead paint (by locale year), asbestos, silica dust, etc.
- A 5×5 risk matrix per hazard
- The locale-appropriate template wording for your country
Editing the brief
The generated brief opens in an editor. You can:
- Add site-specific rules (parking, access hours, emergency meeting point)
- Adjust the auto-derived hazards
- Add controls for anything flagged
- Choose the on-site emergency contact number (tel-linked for the crew)
PDF + portal
The brief generates as a PDF with QR code. Share it with the crew via email, or print it for site display. Mint a sign-off portal link and the crew can sign digitally from their phones — each signature captured with timestamp and IP.
Why it matters: in most markets a signed SWMS/JHA/RAMS is a legal requirement before work starts. Generating one by hand takes 30–60 minutes per job. Surfacely does it in 30 seconds and ensures you never go on site without one.
Tip: regenerating the brief after a scope change doesn't destroy the old one — it's marked superseded but kept in history. Signatures on the old version stay where they are; the new version starts fresh.