Knowledge Centre

RAMS, risk assessments and method statements — what's the difference?

If you've ever been asked for "your RAMS" on site and weren't 100% sure what that actually meant, you're not alone. Here's the short version:

• Risk assessment — identifies the hazards in a task and what you're doing to control them.
• Method statement — describes, step by step, how the job will actually be carried out safely.
• RAMS — the two combined into one document. It's what most principal contractors ask for before you're allowed on site.

A good RAMS isn't a box-ticking exercise — it's the document a site manager reads in thirty seconds to decide whether they trust you to work safely. That's why generic, copy-pasted RAMS get rejected: they don't describe your job, on that site.

Our Editable RAMS Packs are built trade by trade so you're customising specifics, not starting from a blank page.

What paperwork do you actually need before starting a job?

It depends on the job, but most domestic and small commercial work in the UK needs some combination of the following before you pick up a tool:

• A site-specific risk assessment
• A method statement (RAMS) if the principal contractor requires one
• A COSHH assessment if you're using anything hazardous — adhesives, sealants, cleaning products
• Proof of insurance and, on larger sites, a CSCS card or trade equivalent
• A signed site induction record

Domestic jobs rarely need the full set — a one-page risk assessment is often enough. Commercial and healthcare sites are stricter, and main contractors will usually tell you exactly what they want before you turn up. The trick is having templates ready so it's a five-minute edit, not an evening's work.

The flooring contractor's paperwork checklist

Flooring has its own paperwork quirks that generic H&S guidance misses. Before a commercial or healthcare flooring job, you're typically looking at:

• A COSHH assessment covering adhesives, primers and levelling compounds
• Moisture testing records — subfloor readings matter for both the warranty and the paper trail
• A manual handling assessment for roll goods and boxed tile, especially on upper floors
• A method statement covering access, egress and dust control in occupied buildings — critical on care and healthcare sites where residents or patients are still on site

If you work in healthcare or care sector flooring specifically, build the "occupied building" version of your RAMS once — infection control, quiet hours, restricted access routes — and you'll rarely need to write it from scratch again.

COSHH in five minutes

COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health — the regulations covering anything you use on site that could harm you if you breathe it in, get it on your skin, or swallow it. That covers more than most people think: adhesives, sealants, paints, cleaning products, dust from cutting tile or timber, and exhaust fumes all fall under COSHH.

A COSHH assessment doesn't need to be complicated. For each hazardous substance you use, you should know:

• What it is and how you're exposed to it (breathing it in, skin contact, etc.)
• What the manufacturer's safety data sheet says about the risks
• What you're doing to reduce the risk — ventilation, PPE, dust extraction
• What to do if something goes wrong — first aid steps, who to tell

If you're using the same handful of products on every job, your COSHH assessments barely change — which is exactly why having them written once, properly, saves you doing it from memory every time.

RIDDOR: what you have to report, and when

RIDDOR (the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) is the law that says certain workplace incidents must be reported to the HSE. Most tradespeople will thankfully never need to use it — but it's worth knowing the broad categories so you're not caught out:

• Deaths and specified injuries — fractures, amputations, loss of sight and similar serious injuries, reported without delay.
• Over-seven-day injuries — where someone is off work or can't do their normal duties for more than seven consecutive days as a result of a workplace accident.
• Dangerous occurrences — near-misses serious enough to have caused harm, even if no one was actually hurt — scaffold collapses, for example.
• Occupational diseases — certain diagnosed work-related conditions, including some linked to vibration or dust exposure.

Reporting is done online through the HSE's RIDDOR system, usually by whoever is "in control" of the work — often the employer or the site's principal contractor. The exact rules can vary by situation, so this is general guidance, not a substitute for checking the current HSE guidance for your specific case.

Why "I'll do it later" is costing you money

Paperwork is the easiest thing to push back when you're busy — there's no client chasing you for a risk assessment the way they chase you for a finished job. But "later" has a cost that doesn't show up until it matters:

• A site turns you away on the morning of the job because your RAMS aren't ready — a day's labour, gone.
• An insurer asks for documentation after an incident, and you're reconstructing it from memory.
• A bigger contractor won't add you to their approved subcontractor list without a paperwork system already in place.

None of this requires you to become a compliance expert. It requires having a template ready before you need it, so "doing the paperwork" becomes a ten-minute edit instead of a blank page at 9pm.

What separates a RAMS that passes from one that gets rejected

Site managers reject RAMS for a handful of predictable reasons — almost never because the trade doesn't know their job, but because the document doesn't prove it. The usual culprits:

• Generic hazards that could apply to any trade, rather than the ones specific to the actual task
• No site-specific detail — address, access route, nearby occupants, anything that shows you've actually looked at the job
• Controls that don't match the hazard — listing "wear gloves" for every risk regardless of what it actually needs
• No sign-off trail — missing names, dates, or a review date if the job runs over multiple days

A template solves the structure and the hazard-control matching. The site-specific detail is still on you to fill in — which is exactly why it should take minutes, not hours, once the structure is already right.