How to run a daily activity briefing (DABS)

Updated 29 September 2026

A daily activity briefing, or DABS, tells everyone on a shift what is being done today, where, by whom, and what could hurt them doing it. Done well, it is the plan for the day and the start of the day's record. Done badly, it is a signature on a sheet nobody read.

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: the construction manager, the engineers, the project manager and the supervisors. They go through each area and settle what will be done tomorrow, who will lead it, and what it needs.

What goes on the sheet

  • The date and the area, and who is giving the briefing.
  • Each activity, who leads it and the size of the gang.
  • The RAMS reference for each activity, so anyone can find the method statement and risk assessment it is being done under.
  • Permits: to dig, for hot works, to load, or whatever the work needs, and whether they are in place.
  • Plant, with its operator and what it is for.
  • Deliveries, with times and where they will be unloaded, so nobody is surprised by a wagon at the gate.
  • Interfaces: where one gang's work affects another's, such as shared access, a crane lift over a working area, or an exclusion zone.
  • The toolbox talk topic and the key risk today, the one thing everyone should leave the briefing thinking about.
  • The weather forecast, if it changes what can be done.

Giving the briefing

Brief the gangs at the start of the shift, before work starts, at the workface or the welfare. Keep it short and specific to today: what is different from yesterday matters more than what is the same.

  1. Go through each activity, who leads it and where.
  2. Cover the key risk and how it is being controlled.
  3. Point out the interfaces, deliveries and any permits.
  4. Ask questions back. “Where is the exclusion zone for the lift?” tells you more than “Everyone happy?”
  5. Everyone briefed signs for it. Anyone who arrives late is briefed before they start work, and signs too.

When the plan changes

It will. If an activity is dropped or a new one starts, brief the people it affects before they begin, and write the change down. The change belongs in the site diary as well: it is exactly what somebody will ask about later.

What the briefing feeds

The activities on the briefing are what the day's hours are booked against on the labour allocation sheet, and what the diary reports on at the end of the shift. When all three start from the same list of activities, the day's record agrees with itself, and a question about any of it can be answered from the others.