RAMS stands for Risk Assessment Method Statement and is an important document that has to be completed in line with the health and safety legislation to identify tasks that are to be carried out.
When you are reviewing health and safety in the workplace, you may come across RAMS documents. RAMS are often required for those working in the construction industry, and they are often included alongside health and safety policies.
Risk assessments are used by a wide range of organisations to recognise any potential hazards in the workplace and assess the severity and likelihood of the risks happening.
This is especially important for high-risk environments, such as the construction industry, to help reduce health and safety risks.
RAMS can help any business looking to improve its overall health and safety and risk management. However, they are most popular in the construction industry because you are working day in and day out with dangerous tasks.
In this blog, we will be exploring what RAMS documents are, the differences between risk assessments and method statements, the benefits and why businesses use them. For more information, read on!
What is a Risk Assessment?
A risk assessment is where you identify hazards in the workplace and come up with solutions on how to prevent or eliminate them completely.
Risk assessments are required in all workplaces by law to ensure you remain compliant with the Management at Work Health and Safety Regulations 1999.
Anyone in the workplace can complete a risk assessment, whether it be you or one of your employees. Risk assessments are the key to a safe workplace.
But, how do you complete a risk assessment? Keep reading to find out!
How to Complete a Risk Assessment
Although there are no set rules on how you should complete a risk assessment, there are some principles you should follow to make sure you are doing it correctly. Completing a risk assessment is quite straightforward and only requires a few steps to do so:
Step 1: Identify the Hazard/ Hazards
The first step to completing a risk assessment is identifying the hazards and who may be affected by it.
There are many ways you can identify hazards in the workplace, such as asking your employees or carrying out regular checks.
Step 2: Identify Who Could be Harmed and How
The next step to completing a risk assessment is identifying who could be affected by the hazard and how. This could be anyone from members of the public to workers.
Step 3: Evaluate the Risks and Come up With Measures to Control Them
Once you have successfully identified the hazards in your workplace, you then want to identify the risks. Many people get confused about the differences between risks and hazards, however, there are some things that set them apart.
A hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm, whereas the risk is the severity and likelihood of the hazard occurring.
Step 4: Record What You Find and Implement it Into Your Workplace
Next, you want to record your findings and implement them in the workplace. If you have 5 or more employees in your workplace, then it is a legal requirement that all your findings are written down.
Here you should have ways that you can eliminate or reduce hazards from occurring.
Step 5: Review and Update Your Risk Assessment
Finally, you need to make sure that you are regularly reviewing and updating your risk assessment where necessary. Workplaces change all the time, which is why it is important to regularly review your findings.
What is a Method Statement?
Now that you have a better understanding of what a risk assessment is, let’s explore what a method statement is.
A method statement is used to describe in a step-by-step manner how a certain task should be done. Method statements should expand on the control measures identified in the risk assessment.
Method statements are completed after risk assessments, but you should make sure that your method statement is completed before starting work.
What is The Difference Between a Method Statement And a Risk Assessment?
A risk assessment is where you identify hazards in the workplace and come up with solutions on how to prevent or eliminate them completely.
A method statement goes into detail by describing detailed steps on how to complete the job while avoiding the risks associated with it to ensure you complete the job safely.
So, it’s clear that method statements should follow risk assessments to ensure that everyone working in a high-risk environment is safe at all times.
Risk assessments and method statements are the most common types of health and safety documents required when completing an activity.
Although risk assessments and RAMS are both health and safety documents, they are different types of documents that are often found together.
Overall, a risk assessment's purpose is to tell you what risks there are in your organisation and how to control them, whereas a method statement tells you how and in what order work should be carried out.
What is the Purpose of RAMS Documents?
The main purpose of RAMS documents is to identify steps that need to be carried out for a specific activity or task in a safe and efficient manner. The main purpose of risk assessments is to record and identify any hazards in the workplace.
RAMS are put in place to protect people and workplaces and are built on information outlined in various risk assessments. The risk assessments and method statements are most commonly used by the construction industry.
Companies create this document once they have completed a risk assessment; however, method statements may not be required for all risk assessments, only high-risk ones.
Simply put, RAMS documents are mainly required if there is a risk that other appropriate control measures can’t completely eliminate.
Working in the construction industry comes with a range of health risks, which is why workers must wear the correct protection and abide by the health and safety rules.
What Are the Benefits of Using RAMS Documents?
Risk assessments and method statements can help make your organisation a safer place, reassure staff members and improve business performance. Some of the benefits of using RAMS documents include:
- Safe decision making
- Improve efficiency and productivity
- Reduces absences due to injuries or sickness
- Protect and safeguard your business's reputation
These are just some of the many benefits of implementing risk assessments and method statements in your workplace. Incorporating both of these into your workplace means that workers and staff are more likely to complete tasks safely.
Contact Beaconrisk
Here at Beaconrisk, we offer a range of e-learning services, accreditation courses and health and safety advice to help keep your workplace safe.
We provide expert workplace health and safety support to help save you time and money, so you can focus on what you do best without any stress or disruptions.
If you would like any information on the services we offer, don’t hesitate to contact us at 0151 647 8658. We are more than happy to help!