RAMS & Method Statements

The risk assessment covers the hazards on that particular job and the controls we put against them, and the method statement sets out the sequence from arrival and site induction through to the last van leaving. Manual handling gets covered properly, with the actual equipment named, because there is a real difference between two men and a sack barrow and a PowerMate M-1 taking 454kg up a staircase with two operators on it. Stair climber use, scissor lift and server lift work, working at height, lift bookings, loading bay restrictions and exclusion zones all get their own controls. So do the crew competencies and the communication plan. We say who is in charge on site and how to reach them.

Approvers want clarity and they want it quickly. We include the route through the building, parking positions, the dimensions of the lift and the number of stairs where it matters, the time windows we intend to work and when quiet hours are being observed, plus named contacts for the project manager and the site supervisor so nobody is chasing a switchboard at 11pm. Where relevant we reference manual handling guidance, PUWER, LOLER and working at height, and we cross-reference our ISO 9001:2015 accreditation and RHA membership, registration number 012412. Insurance certificates go in the same pack. Most of the delay in getting weekend access approved is missing paperwork, so we send it all at once.

For work crossing into the EU the customs stages go into the method statement too. We are straight about the bits outside anyone's control. European customs offices generally close at 4pm and are shut all weekend. A T1 transit can take an hour or it can take the whole day, depending which office you land at and how busy it is, and without a port pass, which needs a goods movement reference generated from a completed customs entry against a commercial invoice, we will simply be turned away at the port. Where WEEE or ITAD work is in scope we add a waste handling statement covering drive destruction and the route the residual hardware takes.