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What is RAMS in construction?

Last checked 24-10-2026. A plain guide, not legal advice: check the official guidance below for your job.

RAMS stands for risk assessment and method statement. The risk assessment is the legal duty: what could go wrong on a task, and what you will do about it. The method statement sets out how the work will be done, in order, and is what main contractors ask to see.

What RAMS stands for

RAMS is site shorthand for risk assessment and method statement: two documents for one task, usually issued together. Our guide on how to write a method statement covers writing one; this page is the overview.

The risk assessment: the legal duty

Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to their employees and to other people affected by the work. A self-employed person has the same duty if their work is of a prescribed kind, and that list includes any work on a construction site.

An employer with five or more employees must record the significant findings. Below that regulation 3 does not require a written record, but a main contractor will still ask for one.

The method statement: how the work will be done

A method statement is not a named legal document: neither those Regulations nor the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) uses the term. On its work at height pages HSE calls it a useful way to record the hazards of a task and pass the precautions on, kept no longer than it needs to be.

CDM 2015 is the background to the request. A contractor must plan, manage and monitor its own work, and where several contractors are on a project, each must follow directions from the principal designer or principal contractor and the parts of the construction phase plan that apply to it. HSE's planning guidance says obtaining risk assessments and method statements from contractors will help, which is what a main contractor is doing when it asks for yours.

What goes in each

The risk assessment, following HSE's template:

  • The task, the place, the date and who made it.
  • The hazards, and who might be harmed and how: your crew, other trades, the client, the public.
  • The controls in place, any further action, who does it and by when.

The method statement:

  • The order of work, step by step, who does each part, and the supervisor.
  • Plant, tools and access equipment, and who is trained to use them.
  • Emergency and rescue arrangements, welfare, and the site rules from the construction phase plan.
  • What to do if the method has to change.

For hazardous substances such as cement, solvents or cutting dust, add a separate COSHH assessment and refer to it. A RAMS template saves layout time, but fill it in for this job.

Who signs it, and briefing the crew

The duty sits with the employer, or the relevant self-employed person, not a job title. HSE says you can do it yourself or appoint a competent person to help. As good practice, let someone who has seen the site write it, have a second person read it, and have the author and the person in charge sign it, with a date and revision number.

Then brief the crew. Employers must give employees comprehensible and relevant information on the risks found and the controls, and under CDM 2015 a contractor must give each worker appropriate supervision, instructions and information, including the risks from the assessment. Usually you go through it in plain words at the place of work, check it is understood, and have everyone sign on, including anyone who joins later. A toolbox talk can repeat the key points.

When to review it, and why it gets sent back

Regulation 3 requires a review if there is reason to suspect the assessment is no longer valid, or if there has been a significant change. It sets no fixed interval. HSE lists changes to staff, process, substances or equipment as reasons to review, and says to consider one after an accident or near miss. If the site, method or people change, stop, agree the new method, issue a new revision and brief it again.

Usual reasons a main contractor sends RAMS back, from practice rather than any rule:

  • It is generic: a stock document, or another job's address left in. HSE says copying an example and adding your name would not satisfy the law.
  • No order of work, or vague controls such as "take care".
  • No named supervisor, training or tickets, or emergency arrangements.
  • It ignores the construction phase plan, other trades or the neighbours.
  • No date, revision or signature, an old revision, or a missing COSHH assessment.

Sources

Tools that help

RAMS PRORAMS for builders: risk assessments and method statements from 104 ready-made construction tasks, made site-specific, signed and kept with the job.Construction phase plan PROThe CDM construction phase plan every job needs, domestic too: team, dates, site rules, welfare, fire, the significant risks, RAMS and the F10 check.Toolbox talks PROA library of 53 toolbox talks to give on site, made your own, signed on screen by everyone there and kept in a register with the job.

More guides

Who is who under CDM 2015?Client, designer, principal designer, principal contractor, contractor and worker under CDM 2015: what each does and when the principal roles are needed.When do you need an F10?When a construction project must be notified to HSE on an F10 under CDM 2015, who sends it, when, and what goes on site. A plain guide for builders.Construction phase plan for a domestic jobEvery construction job needs a construction phase plan under CDM 2015, domestic work included. What it is, who writes it and what to put in it.

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