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Asbestos removal RAMS Builder

Asbestos removal risk assessment and method statement

Prepare RAMS for non-licensed removal, licensed removal, and encapsulating and labelling asbestos left in place. Add the survey and the material, edit the suggestions and check the PDF draft.

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Prepare the Asbestos removal RAMS

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Asbestos removal RAMS

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 Asbestos removal RAMS covers

Work on asbestos-containing materials identified in the survey: removing them under non-licensed or licensed conditions, or sealing and labelling them so they can stay in place.

  • Non-licensed removal
  • Licensed removal
  • Encapsulation and labelling

Suggested steps and hazards for Asbestos removal

What it offers for non-licensed removal before you have answered anything.

  1. Write the plan, and only use trained people

    • Put in writing what the material is, how much there is, how long it takes and how you control the dust.
    • Cover how tools and PPE get cleaned and where the waste goes, and keep it on site for the team to read.
    • Everyone working on the asbestos, and their supervisor, needs training for this level of work, with records kept.

    Hazard

    Work starts with no written method, or with someone whose training does not cover this work

    Who might be harmed and how

    The team and everyone in the building

    Controls in place

    • Awareness training is not enough to work on asbestos; it only teaches you to avoid it.
    • Change the plan on site if the material is not what you were told.

    A written plan of work and the right level of training are both required before asbestos is disturbed.

  2. Check what the material actually is

    • Get the survey, the register and any lab result for the exact material you are about to disturb.
    • Look at the condition: damaged or crumbling material changes what the job is.
    • No information: presume it is the worst type and work to that.

    Hazard

    Working on a material nobody has identified, and disturbing something that needs a licence

    Who might be harmed and how

    The team, other trades and people in the building

    Controls in place

    • Ask the building dutyholder for the register and survey before the first day.
    • Stop and get a sample analysed if what you find does not match the paperwork.

    Whether the job needs a licence depends on the material, and only the survey tells you what it is.

    HSE: Asbestos, actions by job role
  3. Shut the work area off

    • Close the doors, put up warning tape and notices, and keep everyone else out.
    • Cover nearby floors and fittings with polythene sheeting taped to non-asbestos surfaces.
    • Keep the number of people in the area as low as the job allows.

    Hazard

    Other trades or the public walk through the work and carry fibres out on their feet

    Who might be harmed and how

    Other trades, the public and the people in the building

    Controls in place

    • Agree with the site who keeps people out while you are working.
    • Isolate any services you have to work around before you start.

    Fibres spread on feet and clothing long before anybody notices the dust.

What the builder asks about Asbestos removal

Your answers decide which steps, hazards and controls it suggests.

The job

  • What asbestos material are you working on?
  • What have you been given about this material?
  • What is already sorted before the job starts?
  • How are you sealing it in?

How it’s done

  • What will you stand on to reach the work?
  • How will you keep the fibres down?
  • What masks will the team wear?
  • Where will the team clean up before going home?
  • How is the asbestos waste leaving site?

What your Asbestos removal 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.