How do you write a method statement and risk assessment (RAMS)?
RAMS is a risk assessment plus a method statement for one task. The law requires the risk assessment. HSE treats the method statement as a useful way to record and pass on the precautions. Keep both specific to the job and brief the people doing the work.
What the law requires and what is good practice
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, every employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to their employees, and to other people affected by the work. An employer with five or more employees must record the significant findings, and any group of employees the assessment shows to be especially at risk. The assessment must be reviewed if there is reason to think it is no longer valid, or if the work changes significantly.
A method statement is different. On its work at height page, HSE calls method statements widely used in construction and a useful way to record the hazards of a task and pass the precautions on. HSE presents it as a tool rather than a set legal form, so treat it as good practice. Your client or principal contractor may still ask for one before you start, so check your subcontract and the site rules. If you are self-employed, check HSE to see whether the duties apply to you.
HSE's five steps to risk assessment
HSE sets the process out as five steps:
- Identify the hazards: look at how the work is done, the plant and substances used, and who could be hurt, including visitors and the public.
- Assess the risks: decide how likely harm is and how serious, who might be harmed, and what you already do about it.
- Control the risks: remove the hazard if you can. If not, reduce the risk so far as is reasonably practicable, for example by redesigning the job or changing materials or equipment.
- Record your findings: the hazards, who might be harmed, and what you are doing about it.
- Review the controls: check they work, and look again after changes or any accident or near miss.
What a method statement covers
On work at height, HSE says a method statement should be clear, no longer than it needs to be, and use simple sketches where they help. It should avoid vague or general wording, and the equipment should be named and ready before work starts. It is for the people doing the work and their supervisors.
As good practice, cover these for the task in question:
- The order of work, step by step, including who does what.
- Plant, tools and access equipment, and who is trained to use them.
- The people: numbers, supervisor, and any training or tickets needed.
- PPE and any other controls from the risk assessment.
- Permits, such as hot work or permit-to-work, and who issues them.
- Emergency arrangements: first aid, fire, rescue, and who to call.
Link it to the construction phase plan. HSE says a contractor must plan, manage and monitor the work done by themselves and their workers.
Keep it specific to the job
HSE is blunt about this. On its risk assessment examples page it says that copying an example and putting your company name on it would not satisfy the law and would not protect your employees. HSE also says not to rely purely on paperwork, because controlling the risk in practice is the priority.
Write each RAMS for the actual task: the building, the access, the ground, the neighbours, the other trades nearby. A stock "roofing" document that ignores the fragile roof light at the back fails people.
Brief it to the people doing the work
Under the same regulations, employers must give their employees clear and relevant information on the risks the assessment found and on the measures that control them. Training is also required when people take on a new system of work.
In practice, go through the RAMS with the crew before they start, in plain words, at the place of work. Check they have understood it, and have them sign it. HSE says workers should know what to do if the method has to change, so make the rule simple: if the job or the conditions change, stop and agree a revised method before carrying on.
Sources
- HSE: Risk assessment, steps needed to manage risk
- HSE: Risk assessment template and examples
- HSE: Assessing all work at height (method statements)
- HSE: Planning for construction work
- legislation.gov.uk: Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3
- legislation.gov.uk: Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 10
- legislation.gov.uk: Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 13