What goes in it
- Plant events and abnormal conditions, such as a trip, a pump changeover or a leak found on a round.
- Readings and checks, with the time they were taken.
- Decisions, and the reason for them.
- Instructions for the next shift, and standing instructions still in force.
- Work in progress, open permits and equipment out of service.
- Open items: anything someone still needs to follow up.
A useful entry says what happened, what was done about it and what is still open. “P-101 tripped” is a start. “P-101 tripped at 02:40 on high vibration, P-102 started, P-101 isolated, maintenance called” is something the 06:00 shift can act on.
Who uses it
Control room operators and shift supervisors write most entries. The incoming shift reads it before and during handover. Day staff, such as operations managers, engineers and maintenance planners, use it to see what happened overnight.
After an incident it is one of the first records people ask for. It is kept in power, oil and gas and other 24/7 process industries, wherever a plant runs across shifts.
Paper and digital operations logbooks
Some sites still keep a hardback book on the control room desk. It is simple and always there, but it is hard to search, it can only be read in one place, and open items get lost a few pages back. Information is often copied by hand into a handover sheet and a daily report.
A digital operations logbook keeps the same record in software. Entries are timestamped and searchable, open items carry forward from shift to shift, and the same entries can feed the handover and reports. People with access can read it from other locations.
Software doesn't make entries good on its own. The site still needs agreed rules about what to record and how. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also says support equipment such as logbooks and computer displays should be designed around what operators need.
Related terms
- Shift log, shift logbook
- The same record in most plants. The name a site uses is usually habit.
- Electronic or digital shift log, e-logbook, eLog
- An operations logbook kept in software rather than on paper.
- Operator logbook
- Often the same record. On some sites it means a logbook kept for one area or one operator’s role.
- Control room logbook
- The operations logbook kept in the control room. Field teams and other functions may keep their own logbooks alongside it.
- Shift handover
- The transfer of information and responsibility between shifts. The operations logbook is the main written source for it. See What is shift handover?.
- Registers
- Structured lists kept alongside the logbook, such as overrides, isolations and long-term inhibits.
Questions
What is the difference between an operations logbook and a handover report?
The logbook is written through the shift, as things happen. The handover report summarises what the next shift needs to know: plant status, open work and anything unusual. In a digital system the handover can be built from the logbook entries, rather than written from memory at the end of the shift.
Who should write in the operations logbook?
Whoever has the information, usually the operator or supervisor responsible for that area. Agree who records what, so entries aren’t missed or written twice.
How do you move from a paper logbook to a digital one?
Start with one area. Agree what each entry needs, who reads it and what must carry forward to the next shift. Pilot it, then extend it. Keep the paper history for as long as your site requires.
Opralog is our operations logbook software for control rooms and shift teams. See how it works on the control room logbook page, or use our free shift handover checklist.
When the US Chemical Safety Board investigated the 2005 BP Texas City explosion, it found no policy for shift communication or shift turnover, and an instruction given by phone was not in the logbook.