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Working at height RAMS Builder
Working at height risk assessment and method statement
Prepare RAMS for ladder and step work, mobile tower use, MEWP use, podium use and working from a scaffold that is already up. Add the site and task details, edit the suggested steps and review the PDF draft.
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Prepare the Working at height RAMS
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What will you be doing?
More details
Pick everything this RAMS covers. The questions that follow are chosen from what you tick here.
What a Working at height RAMS covers
Working at height here means reaching the job from a ladder, steps, a podium, a mobile tower, a MEWP or a scaffold someone else has put up. Choose the access you will use and the method follows it.
- Ladder/steps
- Mobile tower use
- MEWP use
- Podium use
- Existing scaffold use
Suggested steps and hazards for Working at height
What it offers for MEWP use before you have answered anything.
Stop things falling on people below
- Fence off the ground below the work so nobody walks under the tools and materials.
- Use toe boards, brick guards or netting on platforms and lanyard tools where you can.
Hazard
Tools and materials falling onto people below
Who might be harmed and how
People below, including the public
Controls in place
- Lower waste in bags or a chute, never throw it.
- Keep the exclusion zone up until the last item is down.
Falling objects are a leading cause of harm to the public near construction.
HSE: Protecting the public Use a trained familiarised operator
- Use an operator trained for the MEWP category and familiar with the named make and model.
- Check the training and familiarisation records.
Hazard
An unfamiliar operator overturns, collides or becomes trapped.
Who might be harmed and how
The operator and people nearby
Controls in place
- Follow the machine manual and site traffic controls.
- Supervise an unfamiliar operator.
Category training and machine familiarisation support safe control of the MEWP.
Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) Check the MEWP before use
- Check the examination status, controls, tyres, alarms, guardrails, gate and emergency lowering system.
- Use only the named machine within its load and wind limits.
Hazard
A defect or overloaded MEWP fails, overturns or leaves someone stranded.
Who might be harmed and how
The operator and people nearby
Controls in place
- Remove a defective machine from use.
- Keep the manual and examination record available.
The pre-use check and examination status show whether the machine is fit to operate.
Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs)
What the builder asks about Working at height
Your answers decide which steps, hazards and controls it suggests.
Where
- Is the MEWP position ready?
- Is the tower position ready?
- Is the podium position ready?
How it’s done
- How high is the work, and what is the ground like?
- Which ladder or steps will you use?
- Which tower work will your team do?
- Which MEWP will you use?
- What will your team do to the scaffold?
- What will you do with the ladder?
- What will you do from the podium?
- What work and load does the handover allow?
What you’ve been told
- Which named podium and manual do you have?
- Do you have the tower system and manual?
- How will someone be rescued from the MEWP?
What your Working at height RAMS includes
Method statement
The sequence of the work, step by step. The suggestions are a starting point; you write the method for the job as it will be done.
Risk assessment
Each hazard, who could be harmed, the controls in place and any further action. There is no risk score: you judge each row against the real site, and adding a hazard does not put its controls in place.
PDF draft for review
The document as you left it, for someone competent to check. A download is not approval and not permission to start work.