COMPLIANCE & RISK ASSESSMENT THE ROLE OF RAMS
The role of risk assessments in
identifying and managing harm or ill-health within work activities is well understood, but it is
easy to overlook the importance of method statements within this process.
A method statement extends the risk assessment to allow site, client or task-specific detail to be added into your safe way of working (known as a safe system of work). Done well, method statements are a planning tool to manage safety throughout a job right from the start.
For any business that employs five or more people, written risk assessments are a legal requirement. Although method statements aren’t a legal requirement, the HSE suggests they are an effective and practical way to help plan, manage and monitor work, and they are becoming a standard expectation in many high-risk workplaces.
Today, it is not unusual for method statements to be requested at the tender stage of a contract. When work is then awarded, there is an expectation for risk assessments and method statements to be shared before work starts to demonstrate further due diligence.
Where high-risk activities are concerned (such as demolition and structural works), method statements also offer an opportunity to develop logical and robust working methods, with an aim to reduce the chances for serious incidents to occur.
WHY DO WE NEED RAMS? Latest Labour Force Survey figures show that 441,000 people sustained an injury at work in 2020/21. Added to this, 142 employees lost their lives at work. However, a look at HSE prosecutions suggests that many accidents were preventable had correct assessment, planning and control measures been put in place and communicated.
In July 2021, a manufacturer was fined after being found in breach of section two of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 after an employee had three fingers permanently severed while cleaning and attempting to remove a blockage from a piece of machinery. The HSE found that although the cleaning of the equipment was a daily process, the company had failed to identify and eliminate the dangers involved in accessing some of the moving parts of the machinery. In addition, no risk assessments had been undertaken, control measures put in place, and detailed communication provided to workers who used it. The investigating HSE inspector
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Alex Minett, Head of Products and Markets at CHAS, looks at the value of method statements in managing workplace health and safety and offers some advice for getting your risk assessment method statements (RAMS) right.
commented: “This incident could so easily have been avoided. Employers should ensure they carry out an assessment of the risks and put in a safe system of works for the operation of all machinery, including tasks such as cleaning. Employers should also ensure that adequate information, instruction and training is provided to all who use it.”
CREATING HIGH-QUALITY RAMS Method statements clearly have an important role to play in managing workplace health and safety but they can be difficult to get right. In fact, creating appropriate method statements is one of the biggest barriers to contractors successfully completing the CHAS health and safety assessment process.
While there are no hard and fast rules for what to include and exclude from method statements, there are some common mistakes to avoid. These include:
Repurposing old method statements. Method statements that include details of previous jobs show
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