A method for operating a safety system having a control unit, a bus, a plurality of bus nodes connected to the control unit via the bus and a plurality of participants connected to the control unit via the bus nodes, wherein at least one participant is designed as a temporary participant. The method involves the steps that the temporary participant is notified in the safety system by the temporary participant being connected at a bus node to the safety system via the bus, the temporary participants is recognized by the control unit, the temporary participant is integrated into the safety system by the control unit and the temporary participant is activated at least once. A further aspect of the invention relates to a safety system for an elevator system for carrying out the method and to an elevator system having the safety system.