RAMS templates are worth keeping when there is one per task type and dangerous when there is one for everything. A contractor who does working at height, excavations, hot works and lifting keeps four templates, each with that task's usual hazards and controls pre-filled and the site-specific parts, the location, the services, the interfaces, the emergency arrangements, left blank on purpose. 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 the template for any task from its figures, free.
One per task type
Working at height carries the fall, the dropped object, the rescue plan. Excavations carry the collapse, the services, the access. Hot works carry the fire, the permit, the fire watch. Each template holds its own hazards and controls so the assessment starts from the right list; a single template starts from nobody's.
What stays blank
The site address, the location on site, the live services found, the other trades, the ground, the access, the emergency arrangements and the rescue plan. Those are the site's, and filling them is what turns the template into the RAMS. A template filed with those blank is the document a principal contractor returns.
What the law requires of the result
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. The template is a starting point for that record; the finished RAMS is the record.
Keeping templates and documents apart
The template is a file; the RAMS is a record against a job, signed by the crew, with a version and a review date. DailyLogDesk Pro keeps the finished RAMS per job; the tool on this site prints from your figures each time, which is the safest template there is.
Questions people ask about rams templates
How many templates does a small contractor need?
One per task type they do repeatedly; four to eight is common.
Can I buy RAMS templates?
You can; the site-specific half is still yours to write, and that is the half the approver reads.
Is the tool free?
Yes, without an account.