Build, approve and issue risk assessments and method statements in minutes.
Create RAMS from reusable templates, route them for approval, and link them to jobs, sites and engineers with a full version history.
Quick answer
RAMS compliance means showing that work has been risk assessed and planned with a safe method before it starts. HSE risk assessment guidance explains how employers identify hazards and controls; method statements explain how the task will be carried out safely. RAMS are especially important on construction, maintenance and contractor-controlled sites.
The duty usually falls on the employer or contractor carrying out the work, with additional responsibilities for clients, principal designers and principal contractors on CDM projects. They must assess risks, communicate controls and make sure the people doing the work understand the safe method.
RAMS should be prepared before the work starts and reviewed whenever the task, site, sequence, equipment, substances, team or conditions change. They should not be treated as a one-off document if the actual work has moved away from the original plan.
Keep the risk assessment, method statement, hazard and control records, version history, approvals, briefings, signatures, dynamic changes and any close-out actions. Evidence should show the RAMS were site-specific, communicated to the team and reviewed when the job changed.
CertFlow turns reusable risk and method templates into site-specific RAMS linked to each job. Teams can approve, issue, sign and version documents on mobile, attach photos or evidence, and keep the final RAMS with the job history for clients, auditors and principal contractors.
The duty
Risk Assessments and Method Statements (RAMS) demonstrate that a task has been planned safely under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
CertFlow turns a library of reusable assessments into site-specific documents your team can issue, sign and version, attached directly to the job they cover.
Your legal duties
Employers must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to employees and to others affected by the work, and record the significant findings.
Where significant risks are identified, a method statement should describe the safe system of work: the sequence of operations, the controls and the responsibilities for the task.
On construction work the RAMS must reflect the actual site and task. Principal contractors and clients commonly require them before work starts under CDM 2015.
RAMS must be communicated to those carrying out the work, signed where appropriate, and reviewed whenever the task, the site or the team changes.
How CertFlow handles it
RAMS runs on the same platform as every other discipline, so the workflow, the registry and the audit trail are identical, whatever your team inspects.
A built-in HSWA 1974 report template, plus a drag-and-drop builder and bespoke PDF overlay for any client-specific form.
Put every rams asset on a recurring examination cycle. CertFlow generates the jobs and warns you before anything falls due.
Readings, photos and signatures are captured in the field on mobile, fully offline, and sync the moment a connection returns.
Every rams certificate is filed in a searchable, exportable compliance registry with a full timestamped history.
From the field
The defects and gaps that come up again and again on rams inspections, the ones a good system helps you catch before an auditor does.
Why it matters
Working without suitable risk assessments and method statements breaches the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and, on construction, CDM 2015. It can bring enforcement and prosecution, and principal contractors will refuse to let work start without valid RAMS.
Free download: the RAMS duty-holder guideQuestions
The risk assessment identifies the hazards, who could be harmed and the controls. The method statement describes, step by step, how the work will be done safely. Together they form RAMS.
Risk assessment is required by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Method statements are not always legally mandated, but are routinely required by principal contractors and clients, especially under CDM 2015.
RAMS that are specific to the actual site, task and team, rather than a generic template. Generic, copy-paste RAMS are one of the most common audit failures.
CertFlow turns a library of reusable assessments into site-specific documents your team can issue, sign and version, attached directly to the job they cover.
Yes. RAMS can be signed on a mobile device on site, with a full version history kept against the job for the audit trail.
Further reading
What risk assessments and method statements need to cover, and the law behind them, in plain English.
References
Links to primary UK legislation and official regulator guidance. CertFlow is independent and not affiliated with these bodies.
Related disciplines
Chemical inventories, COSHH assessments and asbestos registers in one place.
Workplace inspections, audits and checklists on a recurring schedule.
Track tickets, IOSH certificates and competencies before they expire.
See it on your data
We'll set up a live environment with your asset types and branding, then walk you through a HSWA 1974 job end to end.
Get started
See CertFlow on your own data in a 20-minute demo, or start a free trial today.
14-day free trial · No credit card needed