How to write RAMS, step by step

This guide builds one set of RAMS for a real job: stripping and replacing concrete interlocking tiles on the rear slope of a two storey semi-detached house. The eaves are about 5 m above a patio, there is one plastic rooflight, and the neighbours share the garden path. A supervisor and two roofers will do it over three days.

There is no official RAMS form. The law cares about the content: a suitable and sufficient risk assessment (MHSWR reg 3) and the planning and information duties in CDM 2015 reg 15.

Visit the site. HSE lists what to watch for: asbestos and other contaminants, overhead power lines and underground services, ground conditions, public rights of way, and nearby schools, footpaths or roads. On a project with more than one contractor, ask the principal contractor for the site rules and the parts of the construction phase plan that apply to you, because you must follow them (reg 15(3)).

For the roof: check the age of the house and the asbestos survey, where a scaffold can stand, whether the rooflight is fragile, how waste will come down, and how the neighbours will be kept safe.

One or two lines that say what the RAMS covers and what it does not. Example: strip and replace concrete interlocking tiles, battens and membrane on the rear roof slope; chimney and front slope excluded. A reviewer should be able to tell at a glance whether the RAMS matches the job.

HSE asks you to think about how people work, how plant and equipment are used, what substances are used, and non-routine work. For each hazard, say who could be harmed and how.

Two sets of rules decide the order. MHSWR Schedule 1 sets the general principles of prevention: avoid risks, evaluate those you cannot avoid, combat them at source, replace the dangerous with the less dangerous, give collective protection priority over individual protection, and give workers proper instructions. Many sites remember this as ERIC PD: eliminate, reduce, isolate, control, PPE, discipline.

For work at height, the Work at Height Regulations 2005 reg 6 are more specific: do not work at height if it is reasonably practicable to do the work safely another way; if you must, prevent a fall using an existing safe place or suitable work equipment; and where a fall is still possible, use equipment that minimises the distance and consequences, plus training and instruction.

HSE guidance on roof work says sloping roofs need scaffolding to stop people or materials falling from the edge, with edge protection at the eaves. Secured ladders and roof ladders are only for work measured in minutes. Treat roofs and rooflights as fragile until a competent person confirms they are not. For dust, HSE says COSHH requires you to protect workers from hazardous construction dust.

• Eliminate: cut tiles at ground level where possible, so cutting does not happen on the roof.
• Collective protection: full scaffold with double guardrail and toe board at the eaves; rooflight covered with a secured, labelled cover.
• Isolate: barrier the shared path and agree times with the neighbours; waste down a chute into a covered skip.
• Engineering: disc cutter with water suppression or on-tool extraction.
• Procedures: strip and re-tile in sections; no work in high wind; tile packs lifted by hoist, not carried up a ladder.
• PPE: FFP3 mask (face fit tested) for cutting, eye protection, gloves, safety boots.

HSE asks you to decide how likely harm is and how serious it could be. A 5 by 5 matrix is a common way to show that, though no law requires one. Multiply likelihood by severity: 1 to 4 Low, 5 to 9 Medium, 10 to 14 High, 15 to 25 Very high. Print the key on your RAMS.

For the eaves edge: Possible (3) x Fatal (5) = 15, Very high, before controls. With a full scaffold, Very unlikely (1) x Fatal (5) = 5, Medium. Severity stays the same; only the likelihood drops. Many principal contractors will not accept work starting at High or Very high residual risk.

HSE describes a method statement as setting out in a logical sequence exactly how a job is carried out safely, including all the control measures. Write numbered steps in the order the work happens, and say how each step is done, with what equipment, and which controls are in place at that point. Add a simple sketch of the scaffold and exclusion zone if it helps.

• 1. Scaffold erected by a CISRS carded scaffolder, inspected and handed over before anyone accesses the roof.
• 2. Rooflight covered and the cover fixed and labelled.
• 3. Path barriered and neighbours told the working hours.
• 4. Strip tiles one section at a time from the ridge down, sending waste down the chute.
• 5. Replace battens and membrane in the same section before moving on.
• 6. Hoist tile packs to the loading bay; cut tiles at the ground level cutting station with water suppression.
• 7. Fix new tiles, ridge and verge; clear the roof and gutters of offcuts each day.
• 8. Scaffold struck only after a final roof check.

CDM reg 15(7) and (8) require competent people and appropriate supervision. Name the supervisor and their training, list the crew's cards, and say how often the supervisor is on site. List plant with its inspection status. Set out first aid, the nearest A&E, how the alarm is raised and how a casualty is brought down from the scaffold, because reg 15(9)(b) requires workers to be told the procedures for serious and imminent danger.

Have it checked and approved, send it to the principal contractor before work starts, and brief the crew on site. Get every worker to sign the briefing record. Review it whenever something significant changes (MHSWR reg 3(3)), record the revision, and re-brief.

Principal contractors and HSE inspectors usually check these first.

• The scope matches the job and the site.
• Every significant hazard has a control, with collective measures before PPE.
• The method sequence matches the risk assessment, and says how, not just what.
• Residual risks are acceptable and the matrix key is shown.
• Asbestos, fragile surfaces, rescue and plant inspections are covered where relevant.
• Names, cards, supervision, revision history and briefing signatures are present.