Planning & documents
What are RAMS (risk assessment and method statement)?
RAMS is the pairing of a risk assessment, which identifies the hazards of a task and the controls for them, with a method statement, which sets out step by step how the task will be done safely.
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<img src="https://buildoptix.co.uk/glossary/rams/diagram.svg" alt="RAMS — diagram from BuildOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://buildoptix.co.uk/glossary/rams">What are RAMS (risk assessment and method statement)?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://buildoptix.co.uk">BuildOptix</a>
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</figure>The two halves answer different questions and are commonly collapsed into one. The risk assessment says what could go wrong and what will be done about it; the method statement says how the job actually runs, in order, with the controls in place.
They are written for the operatives doing the work, not for the file. A method statement nobody has read is a document about a job rather than a description of it, and the briefing is what turns one into the other.
They have to match the site as found. A method statement that assumes a clear working area, or an exclusion zone that cannot exist because of where the delivery route runs, needs revising before the work starts rather than being worked around.
What goes wrong in practice
- Generic documents recycled between jobs, describing a site the operatives are not standing on.
- Signed by operatives at induction without being briefed, so the signature records attendance rather than understanding.
- Not revisited when the method changed on site, leaving the record describing a job that was not done.
- Written by someone who has not seen the work area.