What does RAMS stand for?

Risk Assessment and Method Statement. The first identifies the significant hazards and the controls for them; the second sets out, step by step, how the work will actually be carried out.

Is a RAMS a legal requirement?

The risk assessment half is: regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment, recorded where five or more people are employed. There is no statutory requirement for a method statement or for the combined RAMS format, but principal contractors require one as a condition of working on site.

The contractor doing the work, because they are the ones who know how it will be done. A principal contractor reviews and accepts it, but writing it for you would mean assessing a method they are not carrying out.

How often should a RAMS be reviewed?

Whenever the method, the site conditions, the people or the equipment change, and after any incident or near miss. Put a revision number and date on the front page so it is possible to tell which version was briefed.

Free template

RAMS template

A RAMS is two documents in one: an assessment of the significant risks, which regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires to be suitable and sufficient, and a method statement setting out how the work will actually be done. Nothing prescribes a layout, but a principal contractor knows what is missing. The part that turns it from a document into a control is the briefing record at the back, signed by the people doing the work before they start it.

Last reviewed 10 September 2026 by Estimark. This page states periods and rates set by statute or by standard contract terms. Those move, and this date is when somebody last read the page against its source rather than the day the site was built.

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Risk Assessment and Method Statement

The job

Contractor

Site / project

Client / principal contractor

Description of works

Prepared by

Date / revision

Risk assessment

One row per significant hazard. Score before controls and again after, so the assessment shows what the controls are for rather than asserting that everything is low risk.

Hazard	Who is at risk	Risk before	Control measures	Risk after

Method statement: how the work is done

A sequence, in order, in the language of the person doing it. This is the section a principal contractor reads, and generic wording is the usual reason a RAMS is sent back.

Step	What happens	Who does it	Equipment / controls

Access, plant and materials

Access and egress

Plant and equipment

Substances (COSHH) and where the sheets are held

PPE required

Emergency arrangements

First aider and location of the kit

Nearest A&E

Emergency and evacuation procedure

Accident reporting, including RIDDOR

Briefing record

The signatures are the part that proves anything. An unbriefed RAMS is a document, not a control.

Name	Company	Date briefed	Signature

Prepared to meet the duty to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3.

What has to be in a RAMS?

A RAMS is two documents in one: an assessment of the significant risks, and a statement of how the work will be done so those risks are controlled. Nothing prescribes a layout, but a principal contractor knows what is missing.

The risk assessment has to be suitable and sufficient under regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and recorded where five or more people are employed.
The method statement is a sequence, in order, specific to this job on this site. Generic wording is the usual reason one is sent back.
Scoring risk before and after the controls is what shows the controls are doing something.

There is no statutory form for a RAMS and no statutory content list. This is what the assessment duty requires plus what a principal contractor expects, which are different things and are labelled differently here.

Who has to sign it, and when?

Everybody doing the work, before they start it. The briefing record is the part that turns a document into a control, and it is the first thing asked for after an incident.

Brief on the actual method, not by handing somebody a PDF to sign. A signature against an unread document proves the opposite of what it is meant to.
Re-brief when the method changes. A revision number and date on the front page is how anybody knows which version was briefed.
Keep the signed copy. On a phone, with photographs, timestamped, is easier to produce two years later than a folder in a van.

When does CDM 2015 add to this?

Always, on construction work. The notification duty and the written construction phase plan are separate obligations, though, not something a RAMS satisfies.

A project is notifiable where construction work lasts longer than 30 working days with more than 20 workers simultaneously, or exceeds 500 person days.
Every project needs a construction phase plan, notifiable or not. A RAMS is an input to it rather than a replacement for it.
Where there is more than one contractor, a principal contractor and principal designer have to be appointed in writing.

Common questions

What does RAMS stand for?: Risk Assessment and Method Statement. The first identifies the significant hazards and the controls for them; the second sets out, step by step, how the work will actually be carried out.
Is a RAMS a legal requirement?: The risk assessment half is: regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment, recorded where five or more people are employed. There is no statutory requirement for a method statement or for the combined RAMS format, but principal contractors require one as a condition of working on site.
Who writes the RAMS?: The contractor doing the work, because they are the ones who know how it will be done. A principal contractor reviews and accepts it, but writing it for you would mean assessing a method they are not carrying out.
How often should a RAMS be reviewed?: Whenever the method, the site conditions, the people or the equipment change, and after any incident or near miss. Put a revision number and date on the front page so it is possible to tell which version was briefed.