Certificate types
Before you can log training, SafetyBrik needs to know what kinds of certificates you care about. Open the catalogue with the Certificate types button on the Certifications page (it lives at /safety/certifications/cert-types).
Owners and admins can change certificate types: switch Mandatory, add your own types, edit, make inactive and remove them. Members and viewers can open the page and read it, with Yes or No in place of the switches and "Only owners and admins can change certificate types."
There are two kinds of certificate type.
Built-in certificate types
These ship with SafetyBrik out of the box and cover the certificates almost every UK food business needs - Level 1/2/3 food hygiene, allergen awareness, manual handling, first aid, and so on. Each one comes with a sensible default renewal period.
You can't rename or delete a built-in type, but an owner or admin can decide whether it is mandatory for your team. Toggle the Mandatory switch on or off:
- Mandatory on - the certificate type appears as a column on the Certifications matrix and counts towards your mandatory coverage percentage.
- Mandatory off - the certificate type is still available to log against an employee, but it does not appear on the matrix.
Each switch is in the audit log as Mandatory certificates changed ("Now mandatory" or "No longer mandatory").
Most cafés will leave Level 2 food hygiene and allergen awareness mandatory and turn the rest off until they need them.
A Level 3 Food Hygiene & Safety certificate counts for Level 2, so a supervisor or manager with Level 3 doesn't also need a Level 2 on file. See Staff training.
Your certificate types
Owners and admins can add your own certificate types - useful for in-house training, brand-specific qualifications, or anything that is not in the standard list. For example: barista certification, knife skills, COSHH awareness, late-shift training.
To add one, under Your certificate types:
- Fill in:
- Name - the name shown on the matrix and the certificate form
- Renewal months (optional) - how long a certificate stays valid, in whole months from 1 to 120. Leave it blank if this kind of certificate never expires
- Click Add certificate type
"(name) added." confirms it. A blank name is refused with "Give the certificate type a name.", and a renewal period outside 1 to 120 with "Renewal months must be a whole number from 1 to 120, or left blank."
Each of your types has Mandatory and Active switches, and:
- Edit - change the Name or Renewal months ("(name) saved."). A renewal period can be changed here but not removed.
- Remove - asks "Remove (name)?" first, and says what will happen, as it may not delete the type. A type no certificate uses is deleted: "Certificate type deleted." A type that any certificate uses, archived ones included, is made inactive instead: "Certificates use this type, so it has been made inactive. It no longer appears when you add a certificate."
An inactive type shows Edit and its Active switch only: its Mandatory switch is greyed out and there is no Remove. Turn it back on to change Mandatory or to remove it.
Every change is in the audit log: Certificate type added, Certificate type updated (with what changed) and Certificate type removed (saying whether it was deleted or made inactive).
Inactive certificate types
A type that is inactive (made inactive with its Active switch, or by Remove while certificates use it) is greyed out with an Inactive badge. It no longer appears on the matrix or when you add a certificate, and its certificates stop counting: not for mandatory coverage, the safety score, the dashboard alerts or Missing rows. They stay on file:
- On each person's page, under a card for the type marked "(no longer in use)", where they can still be viewed, edited, archived and restored
- In the EHO Report Pack, where each person's latest certificate of the type is still printed, after the rest, labelled "(no longer in use)". It is never shown as Missing or in red, and never counted as a lapse. This applies to a pack printed again for an earlier period too
Turn the Active switch back on to make the type active again.
Setting validity periods
The Renewal months value drives every expiry date in the system. Common defaults:
| Certificate type | Typical validity |
|---|---|
| Level 2 food hygiene | 36 months (3 years) |
| Allergen awareness | 24 months (2 years) |
| First aid at work | 36 months (3 years) |
| Manual handling | 24 months (2 years) |
When you log a training record, SafetyBrik takes the issued date and adds the renewal months to fill in the expiry date. You can change it on the form if a particular certificate has a different validity. See Recording training.
How expiry warnings surface
Once a certificate is on file, SafetyBrik watches the expiry date and surfaces it in these places:
- The Certifications matrix colours the cell amber as it approaches expiry and red once it has lapsed.
- The Expiring in 30 days tile on the Certifications page counts every certificate about to lapse across your team.
- The dashboard alerts on mandatory certificates that have expired or expire within 30 days, for example "Sam Taylor: Level 2 Food Hygiene expires in 12 days". When a Level 3 certificate is what counts for Level 2, the alert names it, for example "Sam Taylor: Level 3 Food Hygiene & Safety has expired (it counts for Level 2 Food Hygiene & Safety)".
- It feeds into the Staff Training Records section of the EHO Report Pack, which shows each person's latest certificate as at the pack's last day, with an expired one marked Expired in red.
Turning a certificate type's mandatory flag off does not delete the records you already have - it just stops counting that certificate towards your coverage score. Existing records stay attached to each employee.