Construction
How construction risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) work, when to notify the HSE, and the key health and safety documents on a site.
Kisiel Group
4 March 2021
How do you stay safe on site? Construction sites carry more risks than most workplaces, so extra care is needed for the health and safety of everyone involved. Risk assessment is about assessing and minimising risk, and on a construction site anticipating hazards and putting strategies in place to prevent accidents is a much higher priority than in an office.
RAMS stands for Risk Assessments and Method Statements, two different parts of site health and safety.
The risk assessment considers all health and safety risks. The method statement shows how those risks will be managed, to meet your legal responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
You have a legal responsibility to protect anyone who works on or visits your site, and any member of the public who might be affected by the works.
The person responsible for health and safety develops the risk assessment, and they must be competent, with sufficient knowledge or experience. There are four stages:
A risk assessment can be a simple document, but it must be comprehensive. It summarises the risks found during a site visit, identifies who could be at risk and sets out control measures to reduce the risk.
Templates can help, but the analysis will vary for every site and must include all the risks and hazards identified.
If five or more people work for you, the significant findings must be written down. Written assessments also make it easier to communicate through:
Look at every aspect of the works, including:
Consider everyone who may visit or pass the site:
Categorise each identified risk as high, medium or low. Here is an example of the criteria for assessing each risk.
Keep the risk assessment in plain English so everyone on site understands it. For each risk, state the control measure, who is responsible for putting it in place and who monitors it. Check that each measure is proportionate to the level of risk.
Method statements help plan how the site will comply with health and safety requirements and how the control measures will be carried out.
A construction site changes at each phase of a project, so the risk assessment must be updated to reflect new risks, and updates communicated to everyone on site.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) must be notified before work starts on a notifiable project, online using form F10. You will need:
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, known as CDM, apply to all construction projects. The client has overall responsibility for health and safety arrangements, supported by the principal designer and principal contractor.
You must submit an F10 if the project:
A document showing how health and safety is planned, organised and monitored throughout the project, so that everyone works together to minimise risk.
A file containing the health and safety information needed for future work on the building, handed to the client at the end of the project.
Records of the examination of lifting equipment used on site, such as cranes, slings, hoists and forklifts: any equipment used for lifting or lowering loads.
Regular, recorded inspections of items including scaffolding, ladders and excavations.
The part of RAMS that sets out how identified risks will be managed on a specific site. It makes sure safe working methods are clearly communicated to the people doing each task, especially higher-risk work, so tasks are planned and resourced properly.
There must be a clear procedure for injuries and accidents, and details recorded on an accident or incident form. Deaths, certain injuries and dangerous occurrences must be reported to the HSE under RIDDOR (the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations).
The HSE is not an emergency service. If immediate medical help is needed, follow the site’s emergency procedures.
As a client you don’t need to carry out the risk assessments yourself, but you do need to understand your responsibilities. A good principal contractor will have this expertise within its project management team.
Tell us about it. You will speak to the people who make the decisions.
