Main contractors ask for RAMS before you set foot on site. Here is what the document needs to cover — and how to keep yours consistent job to job.
RAMS stands for Risk Assessment and Method Statement — a single document that shows you have identified the hazards of a job and set out how you will carry the work out safely. On commercial and construction sites, you often cannot start without one.
It is two parts in one: the risk assessment (the hazards, who could be harmed and the control measures) and the method statement (the step-by-step safe system of work).
Keep job paperwork, certificates and invoices together in one app.
The risk assessment lists each significant hazard — working at height, electricity, dust, manual handling — with who could be harmed and the control measures that reduce the risk to an acceptable level.
The method statement then describes, in order, how the job will actually be done safely: the sequence of work, the equipment, the isolation and testing, and how each control from the risk assessment is applied on the ground.
Generic RAMS get rejected. The document should reflect the real hazards of the actual job and site, not a copy-paste that could describe anything. At the same time, a consistent format saves you rewriting it from scratch every time.
Keep your standard method statements and risk templates together with the job so the paperwork, the certificates and the invoice all live in one place.
Risk assessments are a legal requirement, and if you employ five or more people they must be recorded. Method statements are not always a legal requirement, but main contractors and principal contractors routinely require RAMS before allowing you on site.
The competent person responsible for the work — usually you or your company — prepares them, because they need to reflect how you will actually carry out that specific job.
Detailed enough to cover the significant hazards of the actual job and show a safe method of work. Proportionate to the risk — a short job with low risk needs less than complex work at height or near live services.
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