RAMS stands for risk assessment and method statement. On a UK construction site it is the document a contractor sends before starting a job to show the risks of the work and how the work will be done safely. This guidance covers Great Britain; Northern Ireland has separate legislation.
What a RAMS is
A RAMS is two documents that do one job together.
- The risk assessment says what could cause harm, who could be harmed and how, the controls in place, and anything else that needs doing before work starts.
- The method statement says how the job will actually be done: the order of work, the equipment, who does what and how the controls are used at each step.
The two have to agree. A risk assessment that lists a fall from height is only useful if the method statement explains how people will be protected before they get to the edge. A RAMS is written for one job on one site. A generic document with the site name changed is not a RAMS for that site.
Is a RAMS a legal requirement?
No law requires a document called a RAMS. What the law requires is the thinking behind it.
- Every employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks of their work under regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Employers with five or more employees must record the significant findings.
- Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015), contractors must plan, manage and monitor their work so it is carried out without risks to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable. HSE's guidance for contractors explains these duties.
- On a project with more than one contractor, the principal contractor must plan, manage and monitor the construction phase and coordinate the work. A construction phase plan is needed for every project.
- Some work must have its arrangements written down. CDM regulation 20 requires the arrangements for demolition or dismantling to be recorded in writing before the work begins. Other regulations set their own planning duties, for example for lifting operations, asbestos and confined spaces.
A RAMS is the usual way a contractor shows the principal contractor that this has been done. Most principal contractors make an accepted RAMS a condition of starting work, so in practice you will rarely start a job without one. That is a contract or site rule, not a legal one, and it matters: a RAMS that satisfies the paperwork but not the risk assessment duty does not protect anyone.
When you need one
Ask for or write a RAMS when:
- the principal contractor or client asks for one before work starts;
- the work is higher risk, such as work at height, lifting operations, excavations, confined spaces, demolition, hot works, work near live services or work on or near asbestos;
- the work affects other trades, the public or people using the building;
- the job, the site or the method changes. A RAMS describes one way of doing the work. If that changes, the RAMS should be revised and the crew briefed again.
Low-risk routine tasks do not always need a full RAMS. The risks still need to be assessed and controlled; the record should be proportionate to the risk.
What goes in a RAMS
There is no prescribed layout. A useful RAMS usually covers:
- Scope and location. The work, where it is, its boundaries, access and any restrictions from the principal contractor.
- Hazards and controls. Each significant hazard, who it affects, the controls and who checks them. Start by avoiding the hazard, then work through safer alternatives before relying on PPE.
- Sequence of work. Set-up, each stage, inspections, changeovers and how the area is left safe or handed back.
- People and competence. Who supervises, who does specialist tasks and the training, skills or permits they need.
- Plant, equipment and materials. What is used, how it is inspected and any substances that need their own assessment.
- Emergency and rescue. What happens if something goes wrong at this location. "Call 999" is not a rescue plan for work at height or in a confined space.
- Briefing and revision. Who briefs the crew, how changes are passed on and which revision is current.
For the checks a reviewer makes against each of these, see what a good method statement (RAMS) contains.
Who writes it and who checks it
The contractor doing the work writes the RAMS, because the contractor knows how the job will be done. The best ones are written with the supervisor and the people who will do the work, who usually know where the method falls down.
The principal contractor, usually the site manager or a member of the site team, then checks it against the work package, the construction phase plan and what else is happening on site. A competent person decides whether it is acceptable, asks for changes if it is not, and records which revision was accepted.
Accepting a RAMS does not move responsibility. The contractor still owns the method and its controls, and the principal contractor still has to monitor that the work follows them.
Common reasons a RAMS is sent back
Most RAMS that come back leave a practical question unanswered:
- It could describe another site.
- The controls don't follow the hazards.
- The method lists tasks but gives no order.
- Nobody is named for the critical decisions.
- The revisions, dates and approvals don't agree.
Why a method statement (RAMS) gets sent back explains each one and what to ask for.
Checking a RAMS against a published standard
Reviewers often check RAMS against their own experience, which makes two reviews of the same document hard to compare. The PlanOps RAMS Review Standard sets out the checks, how each one affects the score and what a document-only review cannot see. You can use it on paper with the checklist.
A review of the document alone cannot tell you whether the RAMS matches the site, the programme or the work around it. A competent person still makes that call.
If you have a RAMS to hand, you can check it against the standard free, with no sign-up needed.