A RAMS definition in one sentence: a risk assessment and method statement is the document a contractor produces for one task on one site, in which the risk assessment finds the hazards and decides the controls and the method statement places each control at a step of the work, signed by the crew before the task and approved by the site where there is one. 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 prints one, free and without an account.
The assessment
The legal record: 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. Rows for the site's hazards, numbered, with who is at risk, the control and the residual risk.
The method
The industry's way of applying the assessment: steps in order with the controls attached by hazard number, the plant, permits, PPE and emergency arrangements around them. Every control in the assessment appears at a step, or the definition is not met.
The signatures
The crew's, on the version briefed, with the date. What turns the definition into a record. The crew's, on the version briefed, with the date, after the questions have been taken and the wrong step changed. A signed RAMS is evidence that the controls were known; an unsigned one is a plan nobody has agreed to follow.
The approval
On a managed site, by the principal contractor against the construction phase plan under CDM, cited below. DailyLogDesk Pro keeps the approved, signed RAMS against the job; the tool prints it. 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 rams definition
Where does the term RAMS come from?
The UK construction industry, from the two documents sites began asking for together.
Is RAMS used outside construction?
Anywhere a task's controls are written as steps: events, facilities, utilities.
Is the tool free?
Yes, without an account.