The law now requires an SMS. We are the SMS.
Every small commercial workboat must hold a Safety Management System by 13 December 2026 - Workboat Code Edition 3, law since 2023. SMS Workboat builds yours, and keeps every record ready for the day the surveyor steps aboard.
Founding Skippers: free while we finish it, then a permanent founder’s discount below our public price, on your first boat · 10 boats.
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MV Guardian — your dashboard, built from the records you keep.
No demo to book, no hidden pricing, no sales call. The whole product’s right here - have a look.
Government backed
Supported by Innovate UK - the UK government’s innovation agency.
AI recognised
Our AI vision is part of NVIDIA’s Inception program for AI startups.
The honest version
The deadline is real. The panic isn’t.
Yes, UK law now requires a safety management system on every small commercial workboat, by 13 December 2026. That part’s real. But the panic around it (the countdown clocks, the scare emails) isn’t coming from the law. It’s coming from people trying to sell you something. Here’s the calm truth, straight from the guidance you’ll actually be measured against:
Yours is meant to be small.
“…proportionate to the size, complexity and risk profile of their operations.”MGN 710, §1.2
It’s not meant to be a burden.
“…practical and effective without being unnecessarily burdensome.”MGN 710, §1.2
You can start it before it’s finished.
“…specific items in the assessment may reflect ongoing development, as full implementation of all the necessary systems is underway.”MGN 710, §3.8 (about the self-assessment)
The surveyor samples. They don’t grade you.
“Sampling is intended to be brief and focused; it does not assess the effectiveness of the SMS.”MGN 710, §4.3
So ignore the three-minute “compliance scorecards” and the countdown timers. No quiz can tell you your SMS is compliant. A real survey doesn’t even assess that. What counts is that you’ve started, and that you’re honest about where you are.
Being started and honest is enough. So start today.
No panic, by design
Built the same way.
We didn’t just tell you not to panic. We built the whole product around it. SMS Workboat is designed to be honest and proportionate: the same calm, plain-spoken approach the Code actually asks for.
It shows what you’ve done, never grades you.
No pass, no fail, no “compliance score.” Just a clear view of what you’ve recorded and what’s still open. Nova, the built-in assistant, will never tell you you’re compliant. That’s the surveyor’s call, not an app’s.
Every “done” is one a surveyor could trust.
When something needs a look, it says so, plainly. It would rather show you an honest amber than a comforting green that isn’t earned. Nothing here is dressed up to look finished when it isn’t.
Start small. Build it up.
A one-boat operation’s SMS is meant to be small, so setup is four plain areas, not a wall of forms. Do what you can today, and come back and add the rest. It’s built to be started, not finished in one sitting.
Your surveyor gets exactly what they sample.
When the examination comes, you hand over your self-assessment and the evidence behind it, in their language, the way they actually check it. No last-minute scramble, no separate folder to build.
An honest message deserves an honest tool. This is one.
See the actual product
Real screens - no illustrations, no mockups. This is what you get.
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Certificates, with expiry reminders.
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A maintenance log that derives its own due dates.
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Risk assessments from templates you confirm.
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Your designated person ashore.
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Snap a certificate - Nova reads the details.
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Every signed record, in one register.
No sales call. No “book a demo.” No catch.
Drive it right now.
Everyone else makes you book a call and take their word for it. Ours you can drive right now - a demo boat, fully set up, click anything.
It is not a video and it is not a guided tour on rails. It is the actual product with a real boat's SMS already built - the certificates, the risk assessments, the drill records, the self-assessment, and Nova answering Code questions in plain English. Poke at all of it - there is nothing you can break. What you see on this page is the shape of it; there is more underneath once you’re aboard.
Dummy data · no sign-up · nothing to install · two minutes.
Nova handles the compliance, you handle the boat.
It retrieves and cites the Workboat Code, flags what’s coming due before it slips, and tells you honestly when a call isn’t the software’s to make. It never rules a verdict - that stays with your surveyor.
“This isn’t a pass/fail - your surveyor or Designated Person decides that. What I can do is show you exactly where you stand.”
Nova retrieves and cites the Code; it never rules a verdict. The refusal is the feature - you can trust what it does say.
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Ask Nova “will I pass?” - she refuses to rule a verdict, and shows where you stand.
It surfaces what’s coming due
Expiry and next-due dates surface before they slip - “your liferaft service is due next month - want it on the calendar?” One tap to add it.
It cites the actual Code
Answers come back with their section reference - Appendix 8, section 12 for maintenance - the same citation the product shows, so you can check its working.
It never rules a verdict
Whether you pass isn’t for it to answer - that’s your surveyor or Designated Person. It shows you where you stand; the decision stays human.
It walks you through your pack
“Show me the fire-fighting records” - Nova goes straight to them and cites what you’ve got, so a survey visit is a walk-through, not a scramble.
The depth is the difference
Because it’s captured properly, your SMS can read itself back to you.
Every record goes in as structured data from the first day — not a scan of a form, not a note in a folder. That’s what lets the product do things a filing cabinet never could:
Records that can’t be quietly changed.
Every signed record carries a cryptographic signature. Change a signed record after it’s signed and it shows as altered — so a “done” is one your surveyor can trust.
Your whole SMS as a timeline.
Your SMS is a running timeline, not a pile of PDFs — scroll the history, and pull an evidence pack for any window: a survey, an incident review, a new insurer.
A periodic review that reads your own record back.
When your 3-yearly review comes round, it pulls the review together from what you’ve actually logged — what’s recurring, what’s due, what’s changed — each point citing the record behind it. You edit it and sign it. It never says whether you pass.
One certificate, many items.
Snap a service certificate covering five extinguishers and it tracks each unit’s own serial and next-due date — the certificate renews on the earliest one.
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Your 3-yearly review, drafted from your own records — each point citing the record behind it. You sign it.
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Your whole SMS as a timeline — and an evidence pack for any window.
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One certificate, five extinguishers — each unit tracked on its own date.
Anyone can store your paperwork. This understands it.
The moments your SMS meets the world
You invite them once; they sign in on their own phone - no app to download - scan the wheelhouse sticker to sign onto the boat, and put their signature on the risk assessment before you leave the berth.
Hand the inspector a link - 4 hours, one boat, read-only, no app. You can see when it’s been opened, and kill it any time. They get the same tabbed view you do — certificates, maintenance, risk assessments, drills, each computed live from your records, not a PDF you assembled the night before. If something’s missing, it shows as missing. Surveyors trust records that don’t pretend.
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A read-only link for the inspector - one boat, 4-hour expiry, revoke any time.
Keep working when the signal drops - record drills, snap evidence, sign crew on.
It saves on board and syncs itself when you’re back in range. A photo you snap offline reads “On board” - not “Saved” - until the server confirms it. Honesty you can see.
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Every boat's readiness at a glance - and what's needed where.
Starts with one boat. Grows into a fleet.
One boat means zero fleet clutter - just your boat. Add a second and the fleet office appears: the overview, the what’s-needed-where feed, the boat switcher, crew, per-boat QR and inspector links. The features arriving free as you grow are the fleet discount - which is why the price stays flat, £49 per boat.
- Fleet overview, worst-first
- What’s needed where - one tap to fix
- Per-boat QR stickers + inspector links
Photograph the fix, done.
Snap → review → caption → saved. The evidence writes itself around the photo. And when a certificate lands, Nova reads the details from the picture so you just confirm them.
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Photograph the fix - review - save.
Free while we finish it together. Then a permanent founder’s discount - always below our public price.
Free to test, then founder pricing that stays below our public rate, on your first boat. Ten boats join as founding skippers, use it for real, and shape what it becomes.
What we ask: real use on a real boat · honest findings · a conversation when we need one.
£49 a month per boat. Everything included.
No tiers, no per-user charges, nothing gated behind a “Pro” plan.
Your annual self-assessment
Produced from your records.
Your whole SMS as PDFs
Download the document pack any time.
The inspection pack
Ready any day of the year.
Founding Skippers: free while we finish it, then a permanent founder’s discount below our public price, on your first boat · 10 boats.
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