RAMS template

A RAMS is site-specific hazards plus a numbered safe sequence, signed by a named competent person. AI types it. You sign it. Generic find-and-replace gets you turned away at the gate.

You already get asked for a risk assessment method statement before you unload. The PC is checking you named this site's hazards and the sequence your operatives will follow. Last week's new-build RAMS with a new postcode is not a RAMS. Blank block, one occupied-flat consumer-unit swap, then ChatGPT / Claude / Microsoft Copilot. You remain the competent person. The model never signs.

This page gives you a RAMS template in three forms:

• A blank RAMS / method statement block you copy, fill in and strike through.
• One filled occupied-flat consumer-unit example.
• The ChatGPT / Claude / Copilot prompts that draft the same structure from the visit.

Scope is what is in and out commercially. A scope of works template locks that. RAMS is hazards plus the safe sequence. Different documents. Do not mash them.

Four documents get called the same thing on site.

Four documents. Do not dump them into one PDF.

HSE's position: arrangements for demolition, dismantling or structural alteration must be recorded in writing before work begins. That is usually a method statement generated from a risk assessment.

For everything else, a method statement is not required by law. HSE still calls them "an effective and practical way to help plan, manage and monitor construction work." Principal contractors treat that as gospel at the gate. Argue the regulation in the car park and you still get turned around.

Risk assessments sit under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. CDM 2015 is why the PC wants the method bolted on. No statutory form. Site-specific is accepted. Generic is binned.

Great Britain, HSE, RIDDOR 2025/26 provisional (finalised July 2027): 25 fatal injuries to workers in construction. Largest industry total. Agriculture 22. Manufacturing 18. 126 workers killed in work-related accidents in the year.

Falls from a height were the top kind of fatal accident nationally: 31 worker deaths across all industries, not a construction-only count.

Name the landing, the occupants, the live tails, the missing asbestos survey. Not "electrical works".

Source: HSE, Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain

Fill the RAMS / method statement template from the visit. Strike what does not apply. This is also the method statement template they ask for. How to write a method statement is the numbered sequence, not a second document. 5x5 scores are yours after the visit. Leave residual blank until a named competent person has checked the controls.

RISK ASSESSMENT AND METHOD STATEMENT (RAMS)

Company: [ ]
Title: [ ]
Job: [ ]
Site address: [ ]
Ref: [ ]   Rev: [ ]   Date: [ ]
Author (named competent person): [ ]
Reviewer: [ ]   Approver: [ ]

1. SCOPE
Covers: [one paragraph. The actual task, not "electrical works".]
Does not cover: [ ]

2. SITE INFORMATION
Access / parking / lift: [ ]
Hours / welfare: [ ]
Occupancy: [occupied / vacant / public]
Other trades: [ ]
CDM 2015: [contractor / principal contractor]
Principal contractor (if any): [ ]

3. HAZARDS (5x5: L 1-5 x S 1-5)
Hazard | Who | L | S | Risk | Controls | Res L | Res S | Residual
[ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ]
[ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ]
[ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ]

Named competent person fills L, S and residual after the visit. The model does not invent residual scores.

4. METHOD SEQUENCE
1. [ ]
2. [ ]
3. [ ]
4. [ ]
5. [ ]
6. [ ]
7. [ ]
8. [ ]
9. [ ]
10. [ ]

5. PLANT AND PPE
Plant / tools (calibration / LOLER where relevant): [ ]
PPE by task (not a cover-page dump): [ ]

6. NAMES AND COMPETENCE
Supervisor: [ ]  Certs: [ ]
Operatives: [ ]
First aider: [ ]
Permit issuer (if any): [ ]

7. EMERGENCY
Nearest A&E: [confirm from induction / map. Do not guess.]
First aider / fire point / assembly: [ ]
Occupied: how occupants are protected: [ ]

8. BRIEFING RECORD
Name | Role | Understood | Sign | Date
[ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ]
[ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ]

Change the method: raise the revision, re-brief, new signatures.

If you already live in Sitemate or Dashpivot, keep the PDF there. Same headings. The tactic is still your site hazards, not the app.

One trade. One job. Scores are the supervisor's from this visit. Do not copy the numbers onto a different board.

RAMS - consumer unit replacement, Flat 12, 4 Hart Street, [postcode]
Ref: RAMS-CU-4HS-12  Rev 1  1 Sep 2026
Author / approver: J. Patel, NICEIC Approved Contractor

SCOPE
Isolate at the main switch, strip the 6-way Wylex in the shared half-landing cupboard, fit a dual-RCD unit on the existing tails, test and certificate. Occupied first-floor 1960s walk-up, no lift, child in the flat, decorator in the lounge.
Does not cover: DNO fuse, meter, chasing, making good, backboard disturbance.

SITE
Access: communal stair. Cupboard door opens across the escape route. Hours 08:00-16:00, caretaker on site, ground-floor WC. Occupied: leaseholder and child. Decorator on site (solvent, wet paint, trailing 240V). CDM 2015: contractor. No PC.

HAZARDS (5x5. Scores: J. Patel, this visit.)
Hazard | Who | L | S | Risk | Controls | Res L | Res S | Residual
Child / occupants on half-landing while board is open | Occupants, operatives | 4 | 5 | 20 | Brief before isolation. Barrier. Second operative banks landing. No board work until proved dead. | 1 | 5 | 5
Live DNO tails. Isolation is the main switch only. Not authorised to pull the DNO fuse. | Operatives | 3 | 5 | 15 | Isolate, lock-off, prove dead (GS38). Do not touch tails or meter. | 2 | 5 | 10
Asbestos unknown. 1960s block. No survey. Board on suspect boarding. | Operatives, occupants | 3 | 4 | 12 | Do not prise, drill or remove the backboard. Stop if it will not lift on existing screws. Survey before any disturbance. | 1 | 4 | 4
Decorator: solvent, wet paint on landing, trailing leads | Operatives, decorator, occupants | 3 | 3 | 9 | Agree sequence. Landing kept as escape. No shared leads. Spray stops during isolation and live tests. | 2 | 2 | 4
Communal lighting / possible fire-alarm feed from this board | Occupants, other residents | 3 | 4 | 12 | Confirm labels before isolation. Battery light on landing. Tell caretaker. If a fire-alarm circuit is on this board, stop and rewrite. | 2 | 3 | 6

METHOD
1. Sign in with caretaker. Brief leaseholder and decorator. Child stays inside, not on the landing.
2. Photograph board, labels, cupboard. Confirm no asbestos survey. Do not touch the backboard.
3. Confirm communal lighting / fire alarm are not on this board. If they are, stop. Raise rev 2.
4. Barrier on the half-landing. Second operative banks the stair.
5. Isolate at main switch. Lock-off. Prove dead. Do not pull the DNO fuse. Do not break into the meter.
6. Disconnect outgoing circuits. Label. Park. Tails and meter untouched.
7. Remove Wylex on existing fixings only. Fit new unit to those fixings. No chasing. No new holes in boarding.
8. Terminate. Test: continuity, IR, polarity, earth fault loop, RCD. Certificate.
9. Re-energise. Show leaseholder the test button. Two-person carry out.
10. Barrier down. Briefing record signed before anyone leaves.

PLANT / PPE
GS38, lock-off, calibrated MFT [your serial / cal date], insulated tools, barrier tape, battery light.
Boots and gloves throughout. Eye protection for termination. Board will not lift on existing screws: stop. Different method.

NAMES
Supervisor: J. Patel, NICEIC, 18th Edition. Operative: A. Reid (landing banksman). First aider: J. Patel. No PC permit.

EMERGENCY
Nearest A&E: [confirm from induction / map. Do not guess.]
Assembly: pavement at the front of 4 Hart Street. Fire point: [caretaker]. Child kept inside during isolation. Temporary lighting on the landing.

BRIEFING
J. Patel | Supervisor | Yes | [sign] | 1 Sep 2026
A. Reid | Operative | Yes | [sign] | 1 Sep 2026

One example. Do not find-and-replace it onto a loft boiler.

Ettan Bazil at TrainAR, 2026. ChatGPT, Claude or Microsoft Copilot. Same prompt in all three. A Custom GPT or Project can hold your RAMS skeleton.

Paste hazards from the visit. "Electrical works" gets a generic board change with no landing, no child, no missing survey. That is the document the gate bins.

Draft a UK construction Risk Assessment and Method Statement for the following job. Trade: [your trade]. Scope: [one paragraph describing the work]. Site address: [postcode-level]. Working environment: [occupied, vacant, live electrical, working at height, confined space, etc]. Specific hazards I have identified on the site visit: [list them]. Number of operatives: [N]. Duration: [X days]. CDM 2015 status: [contractor or principal contractor]. Use a 5x5 risk matrix. Output sections in this order: scope, site information, hazards table, method sequence numbered, plant and PPE, emergency procedures, briefing record. Use UK English and British construction terminology.

For the CU job, the hazards line is section 3 in your words, not "live electrical". You still walk every line.

Tanner Tattini, Contractor Guide Pro, 25 April 2026 (updated 24 July 2026). Set document type to RAMS / method statement. Paste photo notes and the hazards list underneath. Access, asbestos unknown, live services, other trades: if you did not say it, it comes back as a question, not a paragraph.

Based on the information below, draft [document type]. If any critical details are missing or unclear, list exactly what additional information is needed rather than making assumptions. Do not use vague terms like 'as required,' 'adequate,' or 'appropriate.'

Put RAMS / method statement in [document type]. A missing list is the useful output. Answer it. Send it back. Repeat until empty.

"As required", "adequate", "appropriate", "PPE as required", "to current regs" with no named regs: delete. Name the control, or stop.

AI does not certify CDM competence. AI never signs a RAMS. The named author defends every line if the PC, an inspector or a coroner asks. If you cannot, do not submit it.

Re-brief if the method changes. New revision. New signatures. Isolation point moves, asbestos survey lands, decorator does not show, fire alarm is on this board: that is a new RAMS, not a scribble in the margin.

The signature is a name, not a job title and not "ChatGPT".

If you do not want to keep stitching prompts, Tradehand is a UK trade-specific option that already turns the job into a customer-facing pack so you are not rebuilding every document from a blank chat. No monthly fee. First £10,000 collected has no fee, then 5% of invoices Tradehand collects. Use it or don't. Delete the name and everything above still holds.

The model must not invent regulations you did not name, flue lengths, cable sizes, or a Part P outcome. It must not declare the cupboard asbestos-free because 1960s boards "usually aren't". It must not fill residual-risk scores you did not check.

If a residual of 4 appears and you did not walk that control, it guessed. Strike it.

The hazard is not "electrical works". It is the child on the half-landing, the live tails you are not authorised to pull, the survey that was not produced.