What Is a RAMS? Risk Assessment Method Statements

A risk assessment method statement (RAMS) pairs the hazards of a job with the steps to do it safely. Here is what a RAMS is, when it's required, who writes one, what to put in it, and how to check one you've been sent.

Ask a contractor for their paperwork before they start work on your site and, more often than not, the answer comes back as one word: RAMS. It is one of those terms that gets used constantly in construction, facilities and maintenance, and rarely explained. If you manage buildings or bring contractors on site, it helps to know exactly what a RAMS is, when you can ask for one, and what a good one looks like.

Free RAMS template

Download a blank, usable RAMS template you can fill in for a real job. Use it as structure only, because every section still needs to be specific to the task and site in front of you.

• Download the free RAMS template (PDF)
• Download the editable RAMS template (Word)

The PDF is print-ready and the Word version is editable. Both include a scoring guide, the hierarchy of control, and a one-page acceptance checklist for whoever receives the finished document. Neither is legal advice, and a completed form with the wrong site name is not a safe system of work.

What is a RAMS?

A RAMS is a single document that combines a risk assessment with a method statement for a specific piece of work. The risk assessment identifies what could cause harm during the job and how likely it is; the method statement sets out, step by step, how the work will be carried out safely. Put them together and you get a practical brief that tells everyone involved what the hazards are and exactly how the task will be managed from start to finish.

It is used most heavily for higher-risk or non-routine work: working at height, hot works, confined spaces, demolition, electrical isolation, lifting operations and similar tasks. A RAMS is not a legal document type in its own right; it is the industry's shorthand for two legal duties, assessing risk and planning safe work, packaged into one readable file.

What does RAMS stand for, and how does a risk assessment differ from a method statement?

RAMS stands for Risk Assessment Method Statement (sometimes written as Risk Assessment and Method Statement). The two halves answer different questions, which is why they are usually produced together but should never be confused.

A risk assessment answers "what could go wrong, and how bad could it be?" It lists the hazards of the task, who might be harmed, the likelihood and severity, and the controls that reduce the risk to an acceptable level. A method statement answers "how, precisely, will this job be done?" It describes the sequence of work, the equipment and materials used, the people involved, and the safety measures applied at each stage.

The relationship is straightforward: the risk assessment identifies the controls, and the method statement shows those controls being applied in practice. A method statement without an underlying assessment is just a plan; a risk assessment with no method statement leaves the safe system of work undefined. A RAMS ties the two so the controls you promised on paper actually appear in the way the work is done.

When is a RAMS required?

What the law actually requires is that you assess significant risks and plan work so it can be carried out safely. There is no single regulation that says "produce a RAMS", and a RAMS or method statement is not mandated by name for work in general. A written RAMS is simply the proportionate way most contractor, construction, high-risk and client-controlled work meets those two duties in one document, which is why it is so commonly expected on commercial and construction sites even though it is not a legal requirement in its own right.

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, every employer must carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, and record the significant findings if they employ five or more people. For construction work, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) require contractors to plan, manage and monitor work so it is carried out safely, which for anything non-trivial usually means a written method statement backed by an assessment. Principal contractors also produce a construction phase plan, and individual RAMS feed into it.

In day-to-day terms, you should expect a RAMS when: the work is high-risk (height, hot works, confined spaces, work that could disturb asbestos, heavy lifting); a contractor or sub-contractor is carrying out the work on your premises; a client, principal contractor or insurer asks for one as a condition of access; or the task is complex enough that "everyone knows how to do it" is not a safe assumption. Lower-risk, routine tasks may only need a standard risk assessment rather than a full RAMS. The test is proportionality, not paperwork for its own sake.

Who is responsible for writing a RAMS?

The organisation carrying out the work is responsible for writing the RAMS, which usually means the contractor or their employer, not the client whose site they are visiting. Whoever controls how the task is done owns the method, so they are best placed to describe it and to assess its risks.

That does not let the client off the hook. If you are the duty holder for a site, you are responsible for checking that any RAMS you receive is relevant to the actual job, current, and specific to your premises rather than a generic template with the wrong site name on it. On construction projects, the principal contractor coordinates and reviews the RAMS submitted by each contractor and makes sure they fit together, so one trade's method does not create a hazard for another.

A RAMS should be written, or at least signed off, by someone competent: a person with the knowledge, training and experience to understand the hazards and specify realistic controls. It should then be briefed to everyone doing the work, and they should sign to confirm they have read and understood it. A document nobody on the tools has seen is not a safe system of work.

What should a RAMS include?

A good RAMS includes enough detail for someone unfamiliar with the job to understand the hazards and follow the safe method. Use this as a checklist:

• Document control: the reference, the revision number, who prepared and approved it, and the next review date. Without a revision, nobody can tell which version is live.
• Task scope: exactly what work is included, and what is excluded and who covers it instead.
• The risk assessment: hazards identified, who might be harmed, likelihood and severity before controls, the controls themselves, and the residual likelihood and severity once those controls are in place.
• The method statement: the sequence of work, step by step, in the order it will actually happen, with each step naming the control that applies.
• People and competence: who is doing the work, who is supervising, and for named competent persons, what competence is being relied on and when the evidence expires. A list of names on its own tells a reviewer nothing.
• Plant, equipment and materials: what is being used, including inspection or certification status where relevant. Everything listed here should appear somewhere in the method statement.
• Control measures: the personal protective equipment (PPE), permits to work, isolations and lock-off, exclusion zones and any other safeguards.
• Who else is affected: building occupants, other trades working nearby, the public, and anyone whose work interacts with yours. This is one of the most common reasons a client sends a RAMS back.
• Emergency and rescue arrangements: first aid, fire and evacuation, and specifically what happens if someone is hurt and cannot get out unaided. Rescue is the row most often left as one word.
• Completion and handback: how isolations are removed, how the area is left, what is incomplete, and who the work is handed back to.
• Welfare and environmental considerations: where relevant to the task and site.
• Briefing and sign-off: the author, the approver, the review date, and space for the operatives to confirm they have been briefed.

If the work involves hazardous substances, the RAMS should reference the relevant COSHH assessment rather than duplicate it. Knowing what is on site and how it is controlled is a job in itself, as we covered in COSHH compliance starts with knowing what you've got on site.

Many teams work from a RAMS template to make sure nothing on that list is missed. A template is a useful backbone, but a RAMS is only valid when it is genuinely specific to the task and site in front of you, not a generic form with the address swapped. Use a template for structure, then do the real thinking for the actual job.

Scoring risk, and the order controls belong in

Most RAMS score each hazard twice: once for the job as it would be without your controls, and again with them in place. Score likelihood and severity on the same scale, usually 1 to 5, and multiply them. The second score, the residual, is the one that decides whether the work is fit to proceed. An initial score in the high band is normal and is not a reason to stop.

What matters more than the arithmetic is the order the controls come in. Working down the hierarchy of control:

1. Eliminate. Avoid the task, or design the hazard out.
2. Substitute. A less hazardous method, substance or piece of plant.
3. Engineering controls. Guardrails, isolation, extraction, mechanical handling.
4. Administrative controls. Sequencing, exclusion zones, permits, supervision, training.
5. PPE. The last line, and only ever alongside everything above it.

A RAMS that reaches for PPE first has skipped the work. Hard hats and harnesses protect one person and depend on that person wearing them correctly; a guardrail protects everyone who steps onto the roof whether they thought about it or not.

Most controls reduce how likely the harm is and leave severity where it was. A guardrail does not make an eight-metre fall less serious, it stops the fall happening. Severity does legitimately fall where a control reduces the consequence itself, for example lowering the working height, breaking a load into smaller pieces, or working at reduced voltage. If your residual severity is lower than your initial severity, be ready to say which control did that.

RAMS example: rooftop extract fan replacement (construction / facilities)

The clearest way to structure a RAMS is to run the two halves in order: assess the risks first, then describe the method that controls them. Here is a filled-in example for replacing a rooftop extract fan on a commercial building, the kind of job that sits between construction handover and ongoing facilities maintenance.

Job: Replace AHU-3 extract fan, Plant Room Roof, Riverside Office, Bristol Dates: 14 to 15 August 2026 Author: Site supervisor (competent person for working at height and electrical isolation)

Risk assessment (summary):

Method statement (sequence):

1. Brief the crew on this RAMS and confirm sign-off before leaving the compound.
2. Establish the ground-level exclusion zone and post a banksman.
3. Isolate the fan supply at the local isolator, prove dead, apply lock-off and complete the electrical permit.
4. Position the MEWP at ground level and rig the hoist at roof level. Check certification and safe working load on both before use.
5. Access the roof and inspect the permanent edge protection before starting work.
6. Disconnect duct and electrical terminations. Lower the old unit mechanically.
7. Raise and fix the replacement unit. Reconnect duct and terminations.
8. Confirm guards and covers fitted, tools and people clear of the plant, and authorisation to reinstate.
9. Remove lock-off, reinstate supply, functionally test by a competent person, and record the result against the asset.
10. Clear tools, reinstate access, close the permit, and hand back to the client contact.

Emergency and rescue: Named first aider on site, nearest A&E identified. If an operative is injured on the roof and cannot use the internal stair, raise the alarm and call 999 immediately. Do not attempt to move the casualty down the stair. The MEWP already positioned for the lift gives the emergency services a recovery route.

Structured this way, anyone reading it can see not just what will be done, but why each precaution is there. That connection between the identified risk assessments and the practical steps is what separates a genuine safe system of work from a form filled in to get through the gate. On sites where contractor work is constant, such as construction and facilities, keeping that link intact across dozens of jobs is the real challenge. Use the free RAMS template above as the blank structure for your own jobs.

How to review a RAMS you have been sent

Almost everything written about RAMS is written for the person producing one. If you are the client, the duty holder or the principal contractor, the job is different. There is a document in your inbox, work starts on Monday, and you have to decide whether to accept it.

Ten minutes with these questions gets you most of the way:

• Is it about your site? The commonest failure is a competent document written for a different building. Look for controls that do not match your premises, plant that is not there, or a scope written entirely in the abstract.
• Does the method match the assessment? Read the sequence against the hazard table. Every step should trace back to a control, and a step with no matching control usually means a hazard was missed rather than that the step is trivial.
• Is PPE doing work it should not be? If the primary control for a fall risk is a harness, ask what happened to the first four levels of the hierarchy.
• Are the residual scores credible? Look for scores that drop implausibly far, and for anything still sitting in a high band with the work due to start anyway.
• Is the competence real, and in date? Names are not competence. Ask what qualification or experience is being relied on, and when the certificate expires.
• Is there a rescue plan? Specifically for anyone who could be hurt and unable to get out unaided. It is the section most often reduced to a single word, or missed entirely.
• Does it account for everyone else? Your occupants, your other trades, the public, and your own site rules.
• Is the revision current? Check it supersedes whatever you already hold, and that the version on site is the version you accepted.

You have three answers available, not two: accept it, accept it with conditions, or return it for revision. "Accepted with conditions" is the most useful of the three and the one people most often forget they can use, because a reviewer who feels stuck between approving something they have doubts about and blocking Monday's work will usually approve it. Write the condition down, and make sure it reaches the crew rather than sitting in a reply nobody reads. The acceptance page in the template above is built for exactly this.

Keeping RAMS current

The hardest part of RAMS is not writing one; it is keeping the right version live, briefed and evidenced as jobs, people and sites change. A RAMS approved three months ago for a slightly different task, or briefed to a crew who have since been swapped out, quietly stops being a safe system of work even though the paperwork still exists.

This is where a live approach beats a folder of PDFs. Purpose-built risk assessment software keeps each assessment tied to the work, the people and the location, so reviews are prompted before they lapse, briefings are acknowledged and recorded against a name and a date, and the current version is the one people actually see on site. It matters just as much for the RAMS you receive as for the ones you write: a contractor's PDF can be brought in as a record in its own right, with its own revisions, expiry and acknowledgements, so accepting Rev 4 does not mean overwriting Rev 3 in a shared drive and hoping everyone noticed. The document stops being a snapshot from access day and becomes something you can rely on for as long as the work is going on.