A method statement and risk assessment belong in one file for one task, and what holds them together is the cross-reference: each hazard in the assessment has a number, each control has the hazard's number, and each method step that applies a control carries that number. It is a small discipline and it is the difference between a RAMS that can be checked and one that can only be read. The risk assessment and method statement tool on this site prints the two with the numbers carried through, free and without an account.
Number the hazards
Hazard one, the fall; hazard two, the dropped object; hazard three, the services. Each row in the assessment carries its number, its people at risk, likelihood, severity, control and residual risk. 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.
Carry the number into the method
Step four: erect edge protection, controls hazard one. Step five: set the exclusion zone, controls hazard two. A reviewer can run down the method and see every hazard's control applied somewhere; a hazard whose number never appears in the method is a control that was assessed and never applied.
One file, one header, one version
The header names the task, site, dates, author and reviewer; the version changes when either half changes, and the crew signs the version they were briefed on. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, cited below, requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of their employees, and regulation 3(6) requires an employer with five or more employees to record the significant findings and any group of employees especially at risk.
What the paid product adds
The signed file kept against the job, the review reminder, and the incident reports linked to the RAMS they trigger a review of. From the vendors' own pricing pages, cited below: SafetyCulture lists its Premium plan at $29 per seat per month billed monthly or $24 billed annually, with a free plan for small teams; Contractor Foreman lists its Basic plan at $49 per month for one user. DailyLogDesk Pro is $29 per month for the whole site team.
Questions people ask about method statement and risk assessment
What if the method needs a control the assessment missed?
Add the hazard to the assessment, number it, and reference it at the step. That is the review working.
Should the crew see the assessment or just the method?
Both, briefed together; the method is what they follow, the assessment is why.
Is the tool free?
Yes, without an account.