What is a RAMS is a document for one task with two halves and a signature block. The risk assessment half finds the hazards of the task on the site and decides the controls. The method statement half places each control at a numbered step of the work. The crew signs it after the briefing. On a managed site the principal contractor approves it before the task starts. 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 from your task, free and without an account.
The assessment half
Rows for the site's hazards, each with who is at risk, how, likelihood, severity, control and residual risk, and the significant findings as a block. 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 method half
Steps in order, one action each, the role named, the control from the assessment attached by hazard number, plus plant, permits, PPE and emergency arrangements. The method is built from the assessment, so a control that has no step is visible as a gap.
The signature block
The author, the reviewer, and the crew's signatures with the date on the version briefed. The block is what turns the document into evidence. A RAMS with no signatures is a plan; with them it is evidence that the controls were briefed and known.
Who asks for it
The principal contractor under CDM, cited below; the client; the inspector after an incident. DailyLogDesk Pro keeps each 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 what is a rams
Is a RAMS one document or two?
One, with two cross-referenced halves, is what approvers expect.
Do I need a RAMS for a one-day job?
The assessment half regardless; the method half wherever the site or the client expects it.
Is the tool free?
Yes, without an account.