Trades / General building
Risk assessment and method statement for general building work
A builder's RAMS has to cover several trades' worth of hazard in one document, because that is what the job actually is. Extensions, steels and openings are where it gets read closely.
£29 per document. Written for your job in two to three minutes, as an editable Word file and a PDF. Free preview first.
What a general building RAMS has to cover
Not every job needs all of these, and the document only carries what your job actually involves. These are the ones that come up for builders.
- Structural openings and steel beams: temporary support, the order of work, and who designed it
- Working at height on scaffolds, towers and roofs across the whole job
- Excavation for foundations, and the services that run through the garden
- Asbestos in the existing building, and stopping work when something unexpected turns up
- Silica dust from cutting blocks, bricks and concrete
- Deliveries, plant and materials in a domestic street
- Occupants living in the property while the work goes on
Jobs you can pick
Ten common general building work jobs, or describe your own in a sentence or two. Either way the document is written around what you describe, including the site, who else is about and how long it takes.
- Single-storey extension
- Knock through with a steel beam
- Brickwork and blockwork
- Build a garden wall
- Repoint brickwork
- Garage conversion
- Loft conversion
- Build a porch
- Form a new window or door opening
- Build a garden room or outbuilding
- Something else — describe it yourself
The legislation cited for general building work
This is the complete list your document may cite — 14 entries, kept by hand for builders. The system cannot cite anything outside it, and a document that tries is rejected and written again. Each one only appears in your RAMS if it applies to the job you describe.
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
- General duties on employers and the self-employed to protect workers and anyone else affected by the work (ss.2–3), and on workers to take reasonable care (s.7).
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
- Requires a suitable and sufficient risk assessment before work starts (reg 3) and operatives given adequate information and training — this RAMS records the significant findings.
- Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992
- PPE must be suitable for the risk, correctly fitted, maintained and provided free of charge (including to limb (b) workers since the 2022 amendment), and used as the last line of defence.
- Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013
- Deaths, specified injuries, over-seven-day injuries, occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences arising from the work must be reported to HSE.
- Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981
- Adequate first-aid equipment and a trained first-aider or appointed person must be available for the duration of the work.
- Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015
- Building work must be planned, managed and monitored with welfare provided (Schedule 2), and temporary works must keep structures stable during alterations (reg 19).
- Work at Height Regulations 2005
- Scaffolds, towers, ladders and work at open edges, voids and roof level: prevent falls with collective protection first.
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
- Mixers, disc cutters, breakers and dumpers must be suitable, guarded, maintained and used by trained operatives.
- Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998
- Hoists, telehandlers and cranes lifting blocks, steel beams and materials need planned lifts, competent operators and current thorough examinations.
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
- Blocks, bagged cement, lintels and beams are heavy: use lighter blocks where possible, mechanical aids and team lifts.
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002
- Cutting blocks, bricks and slabs releases silica dust; wet cement and mortar cause burns and dermatitis — water suppression, extraction, RPE and gloves.
- Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012
- Alterations to pre-2000 buildings can disturb asbestos — check the asbestos survey before drilling, cutting or removing any fabric (reg 5).
- Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
- Disc cutters and breakers typically exceed the 85 dB(A) upper exposure action value: hearing protection and reduced exposure.
- Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005
- Breakers, SDS drills and disc cutters cause hand-arm vibration: assess against the 2.5 m/s² A(8) action value and keep below the 5 m/s² A(8) limit.
Why a fixed list instead of asking the model
Ask a language model which regulations apply to general building work and you get a confident list, some of it right and some of it regulations that were replaced, renumbered, or never existed. On a document that reaches a principal contractor, a wrong citation is worse than no citation — it is the first thing a competent reviewer spots.
So the list above is given to the system as the only thing it may cite, and every document is checked against it afterwards.
Other trades
Your general building work RAMS
Pick the job, describe the site, read the free preview. £29 only if you want the rest.
£29 when you unlock it. Nothing to pay until you have read the preview.