RAMS · Free tool · 8 min read

Free RAMS template for UK trades

Copy the template, or use the quick generator below to build a printable draft in about two minutes. Either way: a RAMS is only worth anything once you have made it specific to your site.

By Connor McKay, founder of Trade PA · 4 August 2026

What a RAMS actually is

RAMS stands for Risk Assessment and Method Statement, and it is really two documents in one. The risk assessment answers: what could hurt someone on this job, who is at risk, how likely and how bad, and what are we doing about it. The method statement answers: what is the safe sequence of work, step by step, with what kit and what competence. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations you must assess risks; the combined RAMS format is what principal contractors and clients ask to see before they let you on site, especially under CDM 2015.

One thing worth knowing before you download anything: principal contractors reject generic RAMS on sight. A template with the site address changed and nothing else reads as exactly what it is. The template gets you the structure; the ten minutes you spend making it true for this job is what gets you on site. (A full post on what gets RAMS rejected is coming to this blog later in the year.)

The template

Copy this into a document, or use the generator below and it fills the same structure for you.

RISK ASSESSMENT AND METHOD STATEMENT 1. PROJECT DETAILS Contractor: [your company, contact, phone] Client / Principal contractor: [name] Site address: [address] Description of works: [what you are doing] Start date and duration: [dates] Working hours: [hours] Prepared by / date: [name, date] 2. PERSONNEL AND COMPETENCE Who is doing the work, relevant qualifications and cards (e.g. ECS, CSCS, Gas Safe), supervision arrangements. 3. RISK ASSESSMENT For each significant hazard: Hazard: [e.g. work at height, live circuits, dust] Who is at risk: [operatives, other trades, occupants, public] Risk before controls: [likelihood x severity, e.g. 4 x 4 = 16 High] Control measures: [what you will actually do] Risk after controls: [e.g. 2 x 4 = 8 Medium] 4. METHOD STATEMENT (SEQUENCE OF WORK) Step-by-step: arrival and sign-in, isolation and permits, the work itself in order, housekeeping, completion checks. 5. PLANT, TOOLS AND MATERIALS What is being used, inspection and certification status (e.g. PAT dates, tower scaff inspection). 6. PPE What is mandatory for this task, beyond site minimums. 7. COSHH Any hazardous substances, and where the assessments are. 8. EMERGENCY ARRANGEMENTS First aider, hospital route, fire points, site emergency procedure, contact numbers. 9. SIGN-OFF Prepared by, reviewed by, operative briefing record (names, signatures, date).

Quick RAMS draft generator

Fill in the basics and this builds a printable first draft using the structure above, with sensible starting controls for the hazards you tick. It runs entirely on this page, nothing is uploaded, and it is deliberately basic: a draft to edit, not a finished document. Review every line against the real site before anyone works to it.

Your company Client or principal contractor Site address Description of works Hazards on this job (tick all that apply)

Making it good enough to pass

Name the actual site conditions. "Access via rear alley, ladder restriction on front elevation" beats a page of boilerplate.
Match controls to hazards honestly. If you list work at height and your control is "take care", expect the document back within the hour.
Keep the method statement in real sequence. A PC reads it to check you have thought the job through. Out-of-order steps say you have not.
Brief it and record the briefing. The signature block is not decoration; it is the evidence the RAMS left the folder and reached the people doing the work.
Date it and version it. Site changed? The RAMS changes.

And if you would rather say "Eve, draft the RAMS for the dormer roof job" and get a site-specific draft built from your actual job details to check and sign, that is exactly what Trade PA does. Same principle applies there too: the AI drafts, you verify. Your name is the one on the sign-off.

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