Trades / Scaffolding
Risk assessment and method statement for scaffolding
Scaffolding RAMS get read by the people whose own trades depend on the scaffold being right. Yours has to cover erection, alteration and dismantling as three different jobs, and say which configuration it is built to.
£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 scaffolding 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 scaffolders.
- Falls during erection, alteration and dismantling, and the advance guard-rail system that prevents them
- TG20 compliance or a bespoke design, and the compliance sheet that proves it
- Ties, foundations and ground bearing, and what happens when a tie is removed by another trade
- Dropped tube, fittings and boards, and control of the area below
- Public highway work: lighting, guarding and pedestrian protection
- Manual handling of tube and boards, passed hand to hand at height
- Inspection after erection, after anything affecting stability, and every seven days
Jobs you can pick
Ten common scaffolding 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.
- Scaffold for re-roofing a house
- Scaffold for rendering, painting or cladding
- Chimney scaffold
- Scaffold for an extension or new build
- Scaffold over a pavement or road
- Temporary roof (weather cover)
- Birdcage scaffold for inside work
- Mobile tower scaffold
- Alter or extend an existing scaffold
- Take down and remove a scaffold
- Something else — describe it yourself
The legislation cited for scaffolding
This is the complete list your document may cite — 13 entries, kept by hand for scaffolders. 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
- Scaffold erection, alteration and dismantling is construction work: it must be planned, managed and monitored, with operatives inducted and supervised.
- Work at Height Regulations 2005
- Scaffolds must be erected, altered and dismantled by trained people under competent supervision to a plan (Schedule 3), and inspected after erection, after events affecting stability, and at least every 7 days (reg 12).
- NASC SG4:22 Preventing Falls in Scaffolding
- Non-statutory industry guidance: the accepted safe system for preventing falls during erection, alteration and dismantling — collective protection such as advance guard-rails before personal fall protection.
- NASC TG20:21 Good Practice Guidance for Tube and Fitting Scaffolding
- Non-statutory industry guidance: a tube and fitting scaffold must match a TG20:21 compliant configuration (with compliance sheet) or have a bespoke design.
- Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998
- Gin wheels, hoists and ropes used to raise tube, fittings and boards are lifting equipment: plan lifts, secure loads and keep thorough examinations current.
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
- Scaffold fittings, spanners and battery impact wrenches must be suitable and maintained, with damaged tube, boards and fittings quarantined.
- Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
- Tube, boards and fittings are handled repetitively and at height: assess loads, pass materials in controlled lifts and use mechanical aids where practicable.
- Highways Act 1980
- Applies where scaffolding stands on or over a public highway (s.169): it must be lit at night and arranged to protect pedestrians and traffic (England & Wales).
Why a fixed list instead of asking the model
Ask a language model which regulations apply to scaffolding 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 scaffolding 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.