How to write method statement is answered by where you start: the risk assessment. Its controls are the method's content. Write the setting-up steps that put each control in place before the work, the doing steps that name the control where it applies, and the making-safe steps that remove them in the right order at the end; then add the plant, the permits, the PPE and the emergency arrangements; then brief it to the crew and have them sign. The HSE's guidance, cited below, gives risk assessment as five steps: identify hazards, assess the risks, control the risks, record your findings, review the controls, and says that if you employ 5 or more people you must record your significant findings. The risk assessment and method statement tool on this site builds the method from the assessment, free and without an account.
Start from the controls
List the assessment's hazards by number with their controls. Each control has to appear at a step; that list is the checklist for the method. A method written without it is a description of the usual way of working, and the usual way is what the assessment was supposed to change.
Write the steps in three groups
Setting up: exclusion zone, isolation, platform, permit, inspection recorded. Doing: the work in order, one action per step, the control named by hazard number where it applies, the plant and PPE named where they change. Making safe: the reverse, with the exclusion zone last. The tool on this site prints the three groups.
Add what surrounds the steps
Plant with inspection status, permits, PPE per step, the emergency arrangements with the rescue plan for height, and the header with the task, site, dates, author, reviewer and version. Under CDM, cited below, the site manager checks these against the site's plan.
Brief it, sign it, keep it
Read through with the crew, take their questions, change what they find wrong, then have them sign the version briefed. Keep it against the job with the assessment and the review date. DailyLogDesk Pro keeps it; the free tool prints it.
Questions people ask about how to write method statement
How detailed should each step be?
Enough that a competent operative new to the site can follow it; the tool prints the reading time as the check.
Who should write it?
The person who knows the task, with the crew who will do it, from the assessment.
Is the tool free?
Yes, without an account.