Start a document
Start a blank document, or a SWMS, plan, policy or procedure with its sections ready, complete it step by step, and link it to other documents.
Documents you write in SafetyDocs start from New in Documents.
- Open Documents. Open a folder first if the document belongs there.
- Choose New, then what to start:
- Blank document: a title and an empty page.
- SWMS: the details, an overview, high-risk construction work, planning and preparation, hold points, training and licences, worker duties, monitoring and review, site-specific notes, legislation and codes of practice, PPE, the hazard table, permits, plant and equipment, hazardous substances, supervisory arrangements and the sign-on register. It opens with Complete document on, to take you through what it still needs.
- Management plan: purpose, scope, roles and responsibilities, hazards, consultation, training, monitoring and references.
- Policy: purpose, scope, the policy statement, responsibilities, what happens if it isn't followed, review and references.
- Procedure (SOP): purpose, scope, before you start, numbered steps, after the job, references and a sign-on register.
- The document opens. Give it a title and fill in each section.
Each one is tagged with its type, which shows under the title.
Complete a document, step by step
Complete document takes you through what a document still needs, in order. Each item is one of three things:
- Add input: something to write, such as the overview or the hold points. The grey words in an empty section say what goes there.
- Choose: a decision, such as the high-risk work, the PPE or the legislation for the state the work is in.
- Review: something written for you to check, such as the PPE a new SWMS starts with, or each hazard in a template.
It starts by itself on a new SWMS and on a copy of a library template. On any other document you can edit, choose Complete document at the top to start it.
- The yellow bar at the bottom of the page names the item you're on and how many are left. Use the arrows to move between items.
- Choose Add input, Choose or Review on the bar. The page switches to editing and opens that part of the document.
- Make your changes, then choose Next, or Skip for now to come back to it later. Next on a review marks it checked.
- For a section you write in, choose Mark as done when you've finished it.
- Choose View all to see every item, and Go to next to carry on.
Only the item you're on is highlighted. Not every section is needed: choose Remove to take a section out, or Undo to bring it back. Choose Close walkthrough to hide it, and Complete document to bring it back. Progress is saved as you go.
Checking an item doesn't change what the document says, so it doesn't make a new version or ask anyone to sign again. Writing in a section does, as any edit does. When you choose Publish with items still open, SafetyDocs tells you how many, but you can still publish.
List the legislation it follows
The references section of a new SWMS, plan, policy or procedure is a list of the Acts, regulations and codes of practice the work follows, picked from SafetyDocs' legislation list. You can't type one in.
- If your organisation's address names a state or territory, the list starts with that state's "always add" entries ticked. A note under the list says so while you edit.
- Otherwise, choose Edit legislation and pick the state or territory the work is in.
- Tick or untick entries in the side pane, search the whole list, or add another state or territory.
- On a SWMS, Standards are hidden in the pane because the list marks them not applicable for SWMS. Remove that filter to show them.
To add the list to another document, choose Insert, then Legislation.
Adding or removing an entry changes what the document says, so it counts as a change when you publish. The filters and the note don't.
Link to another document
A policy can say which procedure to follow, and a plan can point to the SWMS for the work.
- Put the cursor where the link should go.
- In the text bar, choose More, then Link to a document.
- Search for the document by name and choose it.
The link reads as the other document's title, opens it for anyone who can see it, and prints as a link in the PDF.
Number figures and tables, and refer to them
A picture you add is checked for viruses first. You see it straight away, and anyone else sees it once it's been checked. You can keep editing meanwhile, but you can't publish until every picture has passed. A picture that doesn't pass shows a message saying so: replace it, then publish.
A picture or table with a caption is numbered in the order it appears in the document: pictures as Figure 1, Figure 2, and tables as Table 1, Table 2. One without a caption has no number, so a logo or an icon never changes the numbers.
- To caption a picture, select it and type under it, or choose Edit image.
- To caption a table, put the cursor in it and choose the caption button on its bar.
To refer to one in the text:
- Put the cursor where the reference should go.
- Type / and choose Link to a figure or table. Or, in the text bar, choose More, then Link to a figure or table.
- Choose the figure or table.
The reference reads as the figure's number, such as "see Figure 3", and changes when you add, move or delete figures before it. Click it to go to the figure. In the PDF it links to the figure.
If you delete the figure or table, or remove its caption, the reference says so, such as "(table removed)". Delete the reference or link to another.
Adding or removing a reference, or changing a caption, changes what the document says, so it counts as a change when you publish.
Documents from a system
When your organisation adds a system from Templates, its documents link to each other already, and every link opens your own copy. Each document also shows the system it came in and its other documents under its title. You can delete that line like any block.