Key facts
- Risk assessment: what could go wrong, who it could hurt, and what will be done about it. Legally required for every work activity.
- Method statement: the order in which the work is done, by whom, with what, and with which permits and checks in place.
- RAMS: both, in one document. It is what a principal contractor or client means when they ask for "your RAMS" or "your safety documentation".
- A risk assessment can cover a recurring activity; a RAMS is written for a specific job on a specific site.
- If a client asks for a method statement on its own, they still expect the risk assessment it was built from to be attached.
Side by side
The two documents answer different questions and are read by different people.
| Risk assessment | RAMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Identify hazards and decide the controls | Show how the job will be done safely with those controls in place |
| Legal basis | Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3 | Risk assessment as left, plus the duty to plan, manage and monitor work under CDM 2015 and the safe-system-of-work duty in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 |
| Content | Hazard, who is harmed, initial risk, controls, residual risk | Everything in the risk assessment, plus scope, site, personnel, plant, sequence of works, permits, PPE, emergency arrangements and sign-off |
| Scope | Can be generic to an activity (e.g. use of a MEWP) or specific to a job | Always specific to one job on one site, with dates |
| Who asks for it | HSE, insurers, auditors, employers' internal systems | Principal contractors, clients, facilities managers, before work starts on their site |
| Who reads it | Managers and safety advisers | Site managers when reviewing; operatives at the briefing |
| When it changes | When the activity, equipment or people change, and at periodic review | Whenever the job, site, method or crew changes, before work continues |
Do you need both?
For work on your own premises with your own staff, a suitable and sufficient risk assessment is the legal minimum, and a written safe system of work is good practice for anything with a significant hazard. For work on somebody else's site, in construction or maintenance, you need a RAMS, because the client needs to see not only that you have identified the risks but how you intend to control them in their building, alongside their people.
A RAMS is not extra work on top of the risk assessment. The risk assessment is the first half of it; the method statement is the second half, and it is largely a restatement of the controls as a sequence of actions.
Related documents that are not a RAMS
Several other documents travel with a RAMS and are sometimes confused with it.
- COSHH assessment: the hazards of a specific substance (a solvent, a resin, a cleaning chemical). Referenced from the RAMS, not a replacement for it.
- Permit to work: a site-issued authorisation for a specific high-risk task on a specific day. The RAMS says a permit is required; the site issues it.
- Construction phase plan: the principal contractor's plan for the whole project under CDM 2015. Each contractor's RAMS must fit within it.
- Toolbox talk: a short briefing on one topic. The RAMS briefing is specific to the job; a toolbox talk is general.
- Point-of-work risk assessment: a dynamic check by the operatives on the day for anything the RAMS could not foresee. It supplements the RAMS, not replaces it.
Questions
Sources
The legislation and HSE guidance this guide is based on. Legislation links go to the revised text on legislation.gov.uk.
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3 (risk assessment) · legislation.gov.uk
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2 (general duties of employers) · legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 12 (construction phase plan and health and safety file) · legislation.gov.uk
- CDM 2015, regulation 15 (duties of contractors) · legislation.gov.uk
- COSHH 2002, regulation 6 (assessment of the risk to health) · legislation.gov.uk
- Risk assessment: a brief guide to controlling risks in the workplace (INDG163) · Health and Safety Executive
- Working with substances hazardous to health: a brief guide to COSHH (INDG136) · Health and Safety Executive
This guide is general information about UK health and safety practice. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace a competent person's assessment of your own work.
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