What is RAMS in construction?
RAMS stands for Risk Assessment and Method Statement: the paired document setting out what could go wrong on a task, who could be harmed, and how the work will actually be carried out so that it does not happen. It is normally submitted as one bundle and accepted by the principal contractor or site management before the crew starts.
RAMS is industry shorthand, not a legal term. No UK regulation uses the word. What sits behind it is real enough: Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, and CDM 2015 requires construction work to be planned, managed and monitored. This page is general buyer education, not legal advice.
- RA is what could go wrong. MS is how the job will be done. They are written and read together.
- RAMS appears in no UK regulation. The duties behind it come from MHSWR 1999 and CDM 2015.
- Where an employer has five or more employees, the significant findings of the risk assessment must be recorded.
- PPE is an individual protective measure, so it sits near the bottom of the hierarchy of control.
- RAMS is where a PPE specification becomes contractual. Read it before you price the kit, not after.
The risk assessment half
The risk assessment identifies the hazards, decides who might be harmed and how, and sets the controls. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires it to be suitable and sufficient, reviewed if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change, and, where the employer employs five or more employees, recorded.
Controls follow the general principles of prevention in Schedule 1 to those regulations. There are nine, at (a) to (i):
- Avoiding risks
- Evaluating the risks which cannot be avoided
- Combating the risks at source
- Adapting the work to the individual, especially the design of workplaces, the choice of work equipment and the choice of working and production methods
- Adapting to technical progress
- Replacing the dangerous by the non-dangerous or the less dangerous
- Developing a coherent overall prevention policy covering technology, organisation of work, working conditions, social relationships and the influence of factors relating to the working environment
- Giving collective protective measures priority over individual protective measures
- Giving appropriate instructions to employees
PPE is an individual protective measure, so it sits near the bottom. An assessment reaching for gloves before elimination, substitution and engineering controls will usually be sent back.
The method statement half
The method statement is the sequence: how the job is done, in what order, with what plant, by whom, and with what controls at each step. It is written for the crew, not for a filing cabinet. A workable one names:
- The task, its location and its boundaries
- The sequence of operations, step by step
- Plant, equipment, access and any lifting operations
- Roles, supervision, and the qualifications required for each part
- Permits required - hot works, confined space, excavation, live electrical
- PPE and RPE by standard and, where it matters, by marking
- Emergency arrangements, rescue plan and the point at which work stops
RAMS is where PPE becomes contractual
This is the commercial point, and the one buyers most often miss. General site rules are loose: hi-vis, hard hat, safety boots. A method statement is specific, and specific wins.
- If the method statement names a standard or a marking, that is the specification you buy to, whatever the induction said.
- Consumption is decided here too. Disposable coveralls per shift rather than reusable quietly multiplies the order by the number of shifts.
- Cross-sector work is the recurring trap. Rail hi-vis on or near the line is orange under RIS-3279-TOM. General construction is conventionally yellow, but that is site convention rather than a standard: EN ISO 20471 permits yellow, orange-red and red background material. A crew working both needs both.
- Respiratory selection follows the COSHH assessment the RAMS references, not a catalogue category, and face fit testing is per person and per model.
Read the RAMS before you price the PPE. A bid built on general site rules and then delivered against the method statement is how a fixed price stops being fixed.
RAMS, the construction phase plan and permits
Related documents doing different jobs.
- The construction phase plan is a CDM 2015 document covering the whole project: health and safety arrangements and site rules, taking account of work involving the particular risks in Schedule 3. Where there is more than one contractor the principal contractor draws it up; where there is only one, that contractor does. RAMS sit underneath it, task by task.
- A permit to work authorises one specific high-risk activity under stated conditions, and routinely calls for kit outside general site issue.
- The health and safety file is a CDM document about the finished structure, prepared by the principal designer. It is not an archive of RAMS.
Common questions
Are RAMS a legal requirement?
Not under that name. No UK regulation uses the term RAMS. The risk assessment behind it is required by regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 in all cases, and must be recorded where an employer has five or more employees, and CDM 2015 requires construction work to be planned, managed and monitored.
Who writes the RAMS?
The contractor doing the work, because only they know how they intend to do the job. The principal contractor reviews and accepts them and coordinates where two crews' methods interact. RAMS written by someone who will never be on site tend to be generic, which is the failure mode reviewers look for.
How often should RAMS be reviewed?
Whenever there is reason to suspect the assessment is no longer valid, or there has been a significant change in what it relates to. That is the test in regulation 3(3) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. In practice: a change of method, sequence, plant, location or crew.
What is the difference between RAMS and a COSHH assessment?
A COSHH assessment covers exposure to a named hazardous substance and is required in its own right under the COSHH Regulations 2002. RAMS covers the task. Where a task involves a hazardous substance the RAMS should reference the COSHH assessment rather than repeat it, and the glove is selected against the named substance.
Related
Back to the Procurement & compliance glossary · All glossary terms
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