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Using safe methods

This page walks through how to navigate sections, fill in a method, mark it as complete, and handle reviews when a method falls due.

From the SafetyBrik dashboard, open the Safe Methods card (/safety/safe-methods). You'll see a card for each SFBB section (Cross-contamination, Cleaning, Chilling, Cooking, Management, Customer information).

  • Click a section card to open the section page at /safety/safe-methods/:section
  • The section page lists every method in that section with a status badge
  • Click any method to open the detail page at /safety/safe-methods/:section/:method

Every page has site tabs, and the site you are on travels with you from the pack to a section to a method (it's part of the page address, ?location_id=), so a link someone sends you opens the right site's copy. If you switch site on a method page with answers you haven't saved, SafetyBrik asks "You have unsaved answers. Switch site and discard them?" Answers never carry over to another site's copy of the method.

If your sites can't be loaded, each page says "We couldn't load your sites." with Try again.

Closed sites​

A site that has been switched off or removed keeps its pack under a read-only "Station Road (closed)" tab, with "Station Road is closed. Its records can be read and printed but not changed." Its pack, sections and methods open as they were, with your answers, but nothing can be changed: the answers can't be edited, and there is no Mark as Complete, Mark as Not Relevant, Confirm Review or Prove this method. A change sent from a page left open is refused with "This site is closed, so its records can be read and printed but not changed."

A closed site that never started a pack says "No Safe Methods pack was kept for this site." If Brikly can't check just then which of your sites are closed, a closed site's pages say "We couldn't load this site's safe methods." with Try again.

Each section is colour-coded to match the SFBB pack so it feels familiar to anyone who has used the paper version.

Filling in a method​

A method detail page has a few parts:

  1. Status bar - shows whether the method is not started, in progress, completed, or due for review. On the seven temperature-control methods (Cooking Safely, Reheating, Hot Holding, Chilling Down Hot Food, Chilled Storage, Freezing and Defrosting), a Last proved badge shows when the method last passed a check in Prove It, and Prove this method opens the Prove It form already filled in. Other methods don't show either.
  2. Safety points - the numbered points you respond to. Most are short text or yes/no answers describing how your business handles that step.
  3. Collapsible sections - SFBB-style guidance: Check It, Think Twice, What to Do if Things Go Wrong, How to Stop This Happening Again and Manage It. Where a method asks questions under Check It (Handwashing, Chilled Storage, Cooking Safely and Reheating), the answer fields are right there and the section opens automatically, so these methods can be completed like the rest.
  4. Action buttons - Save Changes, Mark as Complete, and Mark as Not Relevant.

When every required response is filled in, Mark as Complete becomes active. An answer of only spaces doesn't count. Completing the method records the date and sets a next-review date. Saving answers updates the pack's progress straight away.

On a completed method you can still change an answer, but not empty it: "A completed safe method needs every answer, so '(question)' can't be left empty. Change the answer instead of clearing it." Each answer you change on a completed method is in the audit log as Safe method answer changed, with the question and what it said before and after.

Not relevant is fine

If a method genuinely doesn't apply to your business (for example, hot holding when you only make food to order), use Mark as Not Relevant and add a short reason. EHOs prefer a documented "not relevant" with reasoning over a blank field, and the reason is printed in the EHO Report Pack ("Not relevant: we only make food to order").

Marking a method relevant again​

A method marked not relevant says "This method is marked not relevant to your business: (reason)". If things change (you start hot holding, say), anyone who can edit the pack can click Mark as relevant again. It asks:

Mark as relevant again? Hot Holding comes back into your safe methods pack. Your answers are kept, and it needs completing again.

Your earlier answers are still there, and the method is back to in progress (or not started, if it had no answers), ready to check and complete. The change is in the audit log as Safe method marked relevant again. Until then, answers or completion sent for it from a page left open are refused with "This method is marked not relevant. Mark it as relevant again to change it."

Reviewing a completed method​

Methods aren't fill-and-forget. SafetyBrik tracks a next review date for every completed method. Seven days before that date, the method shows Review Due and Confirm Review becomes available, so you can review it in good time. Once the date has passed it shows Review Overdue.

You get two reminders for each review date, never more: one when the 7-day window opens, and one the day after the date has passed. Several methods at one site that come due together are one reminder, for example "5 safe methods due for review at Station Road", and Review Safe Methods opens that site's pack. A single method's reminder ("Safe method review due: ...") opens the method at its site. Confirming a review sets a new date and starts again. After the second reminder, the dashboard's Safe method reviews overdue alert is the reminder. A site that has been switched off or removed gets no review reminders.

A review can't be recorded before its review opens. One sent from a page left open is refused with, for example, "This method isn't due for review yet. Its review opens on 27 Aug 2027."

To review:

  1. Open the method
  2. Read through your existing responses and check they still describe how you actually work
  3. Edit anything that has changed
  4. Add optional notes in the review box (for example: "Updated to reflect new dishwasher")
  5. Click Confirm Review

Confirm Review saves the answers you edited first, then records the review, so the review always confirms the answers as they now stand. If your answers can't be saved, nothing is reviewed and the page says why.

The review is logged in the Review History at the bottom of the page, with the date and any notes. This gives you an audit trail showing the method has been kept current. The EHO Report Pack prints each method's last review, with who did it and its notes, and the next review date (marked overdue once it has passed).

A method is reviewed once a day. Clicking Confirm Review twice records one review. A different review sent the same day from another tab is refused with "This method was reviewed earlier today. Reload the page to see that review."

Safe method training​

SFBB asks you to record that each member of staff has been shown your safe methods. In SafetyBrik that record lives in two places:

  • The Training tab on the Safe Methods page (/safety/safe-methods?tab=training): a grid of everyone with safe method training on file against every safe method, with the date each person was trained and their initials, and an Overdue refreshers list underneath
  • The Training card on each safe method's page: everyone with safe method training on file, with Trained on, Initials and a status (Up to date, Overdue, Refresher not needed, or Not trained for someone trained on other methods but not this one)

Both list people once their first safe method training is logged, so someone with none yet, a new starter say, isn't on either and isn't shown as Not trained. Log their training when you show them your safe methods. With no training logged at all, both say "No training recorded yet."

Training on any site's copy of a method counts: a method's Training card shows each person's training on that method at every site, and training again at any site clears an overdue refresher. Dates read, for example, "12 Apr 2026". If the training can't be loaded, both say "We couldn't load the training records." with Try again.

Logging training​

Owners, admins and members can log training: Log training on the Training tab, Log training for this method on a method's card, or click an empty cell on the grid. Viewers can read the training but not change it.

  • Employees - choose people from your Employees list, each with their initials. Training is recorded only for people on that list. With nobody on it, the form says "Certificates and training are recorded for people on your Employees list. Add your team on the Employees page first.", with a link to the Employees page. If the list can't be loaded, it says "We couldn't load your Employees list." with Try again. Two people with the same name are told apart by their main site, then their email. The Training grid, its Overdue refreshers and Archived training lists, a safe method's Training card and the Certifications grid tell them apart the same way.
  • Safe methods - one or more, with Select all for each section
  • Trained on - the date. It can't be after today: "The training date can't be after today. Check the date and try again."
  • Refresher due (optional) - when they should be trained again. It can't be before the training date: "The refresher date can't be before the training date. Check both dates and try again."
  • Trained by and Notes (optional)

The form says what is missing before it saves, for example "Choose who was trained." or "Add the initials of everyone trained." Each save is in the audit log as Safe method training logged.

Editing, archiving and restoring training​

Click a trained cell on the grid, or a trained row on a method's card, to open Edit safe method training. Everyone who can log training can change the date, the trainer, the trainee's initials, the refresher date and the notes, with the same date rules. Each change is in the audit log as Safe method training updated, with what changed.

Training is never deleted. Owners and admins can Archive a record logged by mistake. It asks "Archive this training?", and says the record "comes off the training matrix and out of the EHO Report Pack. You can restore it from Archived training." Members can't archive or restore.

When anything is archived, Show archived (N) appears on the Training tab. Anyone can tick it, viewers included, to see the Archived training table, greyed out with an Archived badge. Owners and admins can Restore a record from there. Archiving and restoring are in the audit log as Safe method training archived and Safe method training restored.

Overdue refreshers​

A refresher is overdue once its date has passed, following the same rules as the EHO Report Pack:

  • Training on the same method again, at any site's copy, clears it
  • A refresher isn't overdue for someone who has left. They stay on the grid with their training
  • A refresher isn't overdue for a method marked not relevant where the person works

Where a refresher date has passed but doesn't count for one of these reasons, the method's card shows Refresher not needed rather than Up to date.

Closed sites​

Training recorded at a site that has been switched off or removed is read only: it can't be edited, archived or restored ("Site closed" shows in place of Restore), and any change is refused with "This site is closed, so its records can be read and printed but not changed." A closed site's method pages show the Training card read only, with no Log training for this method. On the Training tab for all sites, each method's column is an open site's copy of it, so training logged there is recorded against an open site.

Audit logging on edits​

Every change to a method is recorded in the audit log:

  • On a completed method, each answer that changes is logged as Safe method answer changed, with the method, the question, what it said before and what it says now, who changed it and when
  • Completion, review confirmation, "not relevant" decisions and marking a method relevant again all carry the user, timestamp and any notes
  • The review history is visible directly on the method page

This audit trail is what turns SafetyBrik from a tick-box exercise into actual evidence of due diligence.

Permissions

Only users with edit permissions on SafetyBrik can change responses, mark methods complete or not relevant, mark them relevant again, or confirm reviews. Viewers can read the pack but cannot make changes.

Customer information and allergens​

The Customer information section is where SFBB asks you to document how customers find out what's in your food - especially the 14 regulated allergens. SafetyBrik takes this further with a dedicated allergen feature.

Your safe method here should reference where customers see allergen information (menu, app, verbal, written sheet). The detail behind it - which dishes contain which allergens, ingredient by ingredient - lives in the allergen matrix, which auto-syncs from your CostingBrik recipes.

One source of truth

Because the allergen matrix is generated from your costed recipes, you don't have to maintain a separate allergen list. When a recipe ingredient changes, the matrix follows.