Risk assessment vs method statement: What's the difference?

A risk assessment identifies what could cause harm and what you will do to control it. A method statement explains how the work will actually be carried out, step by step, with those controls built in. The risk assessment is about the risk. The method statement is about the method. Together they are usually called RAMS.

They get confused constantly, partly because clients ask for "your RAMS" as though it were one document and partly because a lot of templates blur the two together.

What a risk assessment does

A risk assessment is the thinking. It asks what could go wrong, who could be hurt, how likely and how serious it would be and what you are going to do about it.

HSE sets out five steps:

• Identify the hazards
• Assess the risks and decide who might be harmed
• Control the risks
• Record your findings
• Review the controls

Every employer must assess the risks to their workers and anyone affected by their work. It is a legal duty under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations and it applies in every sector. If you employ five or more people, you must also record the significant findings.

What a method statement does

A method statement is the plan. In the UK it is often referred to as a safe system of work or a task plan, depending on the client or sector. It takes the controls you decided on and writes them into the sequence of work: what happens first, who does it, what equipment is used, what has to be in place before the next step starts.

A good one reads like instructions for the job, not a list of hazards. It covers things like:

• The scope of work and the location
• Who is doing it and what training or competence they need
• Plant, equipment and materials
• The sequence of work, step by step
• Controls at each step, taken from the risk assessment
• Emergency arrangements and first aid
• Waste, isolation and reinstatement

Unlike the risk assessment, there is no single regulation that says "you must produce a method statement". The requirement comes from elsewhere: the duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act to provide a safe system of work, your arrangements for managing health and safety, the planning duties under CDM and, most often in practice, the client or principal contractor asking for one before you are allowed on site.

Some work has its own named planning requirement, such as a plan of work for licensed asbestos removal or a lift plan for lifting operations. A method statement often fulfils the same purpose.

The relationship between the two

This is the part that matters. The method statement should be built from the risk assessment, not written separately.

If your risk assessment says the control for working at height is an edge protection system and a permit, then the method statement should say when the edge protection goes up, who checks it and who signs the permit. If a control appears in the risk assessment but nowhere in the method, it will not happen on site.

The reverse is also true. If the method statement introduces a step the risk assessment never considered, you have a gap.

What clients actually expect

When a client, principal contractor or approved supplier scheme asks for RAMS, they are generally looking for:

• A task specific risk assessment, not a generic one with the company name changed
• A method statement that matches the job being done, with the right site, dates and people
• Evidence the people doing the work have seen it and are competent
• A named, current revision with a review date

The most common rejection reason is not a missing document. It is a document that obviously was not written for this job.

Common mistakes

• Generic paperwork. A risk assessment that could describe any site describes none of them.
• Writing the method statement first. The controls then get reverse engineered to fit the plan.
• Hazard lists with no controls. Identifying a hazard is not managing it.
• No sign off from the workforce. If nobody has read it, it is not a safe system of work.
• Never reviewed. Documents dated three years ago tell a client exactly how the job is being run.

How TalkHSE helps

TalkHSE keeps risk assessments and method statements in one system, so the controls you set in the assessment carry through into the method statement rather than being retyped. Each one gets its own revision history and review date and the people doing the work can read and acknowledge them from site on their phone.

When a client asks for your RAMS, they are already together, current and signed off.

Frequently asked questions

Is a method statement a legal requirement?

Not by name. No general health and safety regulation requires a document called a method statement. But the duty to provide a safe system of work, the planning duties under CDM and client requirements mean that in practice most contractors need one.

What does RAMS stand for?

Risk Assessment and Method Statement. It refers to the two documents supplied together, usually for a specific job or site.

Who should write a method statement?

Someone competent who understands the work, normally the person supervising or planning the job, with input from the people doing it. Writing it in an office with no knowledge of the task is how generic documents get produced.

How detailed should a method statement be?

Detailed enough that someone competent could follow it and do the job safely and no longer. Twenty pages of boilerplate is worse than two pages that describe the actual sequence.

Do I need a separate risk assessment for every job?

You need one that reflects the job in front of you. A well built assessment for a repeated task can be reused, but it must be checked against the specific site and conditions each time and amended where they differ.