The BRAG status system
BRAG — Blue, Red, Amber, Green — is the four-colour traffic light SteadyOn paints onto every hazard, incident, action, and inspection. This page explains why it works the way it does. For the exact rules per entity, see BRAG colour rules.
Why four colours, not three
Section titled “Why four colours, not three”Most traffic lights use three colours: green for “fine”, amber for “watch out”, red for “act now”. A binary green / red is even simpler. SteadyOn uses four because both of those alternatives mislead.
- Green hides “we don’t know yet”. A hazard that’s never been assessed defaults to green if you only have green/red. That’s the exact opposite of what you want — a never-assessed hazard is the most worrying kind.
- Three colours can’t tell “closed” from “managed”. A closed incident isn’t the same as one currently going well. Lumping them together blurs the picture.
Blue solves both: unassessed, not applicable, or closed. The green / amber / red triad then has just one meaning each — currently fine, currently warning, currently bad.
Computed, not typed
Section titled “Computed, not typed”BRAG is never something a user sets directly. SteadyOn looks at the actual state of the row — risk level, due date, status, score — and calculates the colour at render time. The user can’t lie to it; neither can a manager who wants the dashboard to look better.
This keeps the dashboard honest. If a manager wants something to go green, they have to actually fix the underlying state — close the action, complete the inspection, lower the residual risk.
Why amber matters
Section titled “Why amber matters”Amber is the most useful colour, even though it gets the least attention. Red tells you what’s already wrong. Amber tells you what’s about to be wrong unless you do something. A team that acts only on red is firefighting; a team that acts on amber is managing.
Default thresholds are tuned so amber gives you a useful runway:
- An action goes amber 14 days before due. That’s enough time to reschedule a contractor or order a part.
- An inspection goes amber 7 days out. That’s enough time to find a cover.
- A hazard review goes amber 14 days before the date.
You can tune these for your appetite — see Adjust BRAG thresholds.
How the dashboard uses BRAG
Section titled “How the dashboard uses BRAG”The Dashboard surfaces BRAG in three places:
- Per-entity stat cards show the BRAG breakdown — how many reds, ambers, greens, blues — for each module.
- Today’s Focus lists every red and amber item across the four BRAG-bearing modules (hazards, incidents, actions, inspections), newest first, with a one-line reason for each.
- Sidebar count badges show the red count next to each module’s nav entry.
The combination is designed so a manager can open the dashboard at the start of the day, glance at the stat cards, and read down Today’s Focus to know what to do. No clicking required to set the priority.
Why amber/green don’t show in sidebar counts
Section titled “Why amber/green don’t show in sidebar counts”Only red counts appear in the sidebar. The reason: counts are a nag, and a nag for ambers becomes white noise. Reserve the badge for act now and it stays meaningful.
If you want to see the amber count, click into the module — the list page shows the BRAG breakdown across the top filter bar.
Per-entity logic
Section titled “Per-entity logic”Each module has its own BRAG rules tuned to what matters for that kind of work. See:
- BRAG colour rules — the exact rules.
- Risk assessment — what feeds into hazard BRAG.
- The CAPA workflow — what feeds into action BRAG.