Permit · HSE HSG168
Hot work permit
Welding, cutting, grinding and torch-on work: the precautions checked before it starts, the fire watch during and after, and hand-back.
Free download · Editable PDF
Free RAMS template
A risk assessment and method statement for one activity on one site, as an editable PDF you can type into or print. Eight pages, built around the real sequence of work and a briefing record signed against the revision. Free to use and reuse.
- Format
- Editable PDF
- Pages
- 8
- Built on
- MHSWR 1999, regulation 3
- Cost
- Free, always
What is in the rAMS template
8 pagesThe activity, the place and the people
Scope, location and access, the programme, interfaces with other trades, the documents the RAMS relies on, and the team with their cards and tickets.
Method statement
The sequence of work stage by stage, with the controls built into each stage and the person responsible for it.
Risk assessment
Each significant hazard, who could be harmed and how, the controls, and the risk before and after, rated on a five by five matrix.
Plant, equipment and PPE
Each item of plant with its checks, certificates and operator competence, and the PPE by type rather than by name.
Substances, permits and emergencies
COSHH references, the permits and plans the work needs, the rescue plan, and dust, noise and waste.
Briefing record
Twenty signatures against the revision, taken on the day and before the work starts.
When a RAMS is required
Checked against the sourceRisk assessment is a legal duty
Every employer must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to their employees and to anyone else affected by the work. With five or more employees, the significant findings must be recorded.
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3Contractors must plan their work
Every contractor must plan, manage and monitor the construction work under their control. The aim is work carried out without risks to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable.
CDM 2015, regulation 15(2)When a method statement is required
For demolition or dismantling, the arrangements must be recorded in writing before the work begins, usually as a method statement. For other work it is not required by law, but HSE calls it an effective and practical way to plan, manage and monitor the work.
CDM 2015, regulation 20(2), and HSE construction guidanceHow to use it
Write it for this job
One activity on one site: this sequence, this access, these people. A RAMS that describes the trade rather than the job is the most common reason one is rejected.
Have it approved
A competent person checks it before the work starts. The cover records who prepared it, who approved it and the revision.
Brief it and record the briefing
Everyone signs against the revision before they start. When the sequence, the gang or the conditions change, reissue it and brief it again.
Asked most often
Questions about
Questions about
this template.
Is this RAMS template free?
Yes. It is free to download, use and reuse, including on paid work and for clients, with no sign-up and no email address.
Is the RAMS template editable?
Yes. It is an editable PDF: type into it in any PDF reader, or print it and fill it in by hand. The project name, revision and date typed on the cover carry to every page.
What is the difference between a risk assessment and a method statement?
The risk assessment identifies the hazards and decides the controls. The method statement sets out the sequence the work will follow, with those controls built into it. Together they are a RAMS.
Does a RAMS have to be signed?
The briefing has to be evidenced. A signature against a revision, on a date, before the work started, is how that is normally done, and the last page of the template is built for it.
Can one RAMS cover several jobs?
Only where the activity, the site conditions and the sequence are all the same. The template is built for one activity on one site, because that is what makes a RAMS specific.
What risk matrix does the template use?
Likelihood times severity, each from one to five, with scores of one to four low, five to twelve medium and fifteen to twenty-five high. Adapt the bands if your own policy differs.
More free downloads
All 22 downloads →
Permit · HSE HSG250
Permit to work
A general permit for high-risk work: the job, hazards, isolations, precautions, issue, acceptance, shift handover, hand-back and cancellation.
Register · BS 5975
Temporary works register
Every temporary works item on the job: design category, designer and checker, permit to load, permit to dismantle and status.
Next step
The same records,
The same records,
without the paper.
On the platform these stop being sheets. The check, the person, the date, the signature and the action that followed are recorded as the work runs and retrieved by site.