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Building conservation cleaning RAMS Builder
Building conservation cleaning risk assessment and method statement
Prepare RAMS for trial cleaning on historic surfaces and for cleaning the fabric agreed after those trials. Add the building and the accepted method, edit the suggestions and go through the PDF draft.
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Prepare the Building conservation cleaning 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 Building conservation cleaning RAMS covers
Cleaning historic stone, brick and other fabric with care: running test patches to find a method that does no harm, then cleaning only the areas, and only by the method, that have been accepted.
- Test historic surface
- Clean approved fabric
Suggested steps and hazards for Building conservation cleaning
What it offers for clean approved fabric before you have answered anything.
Check the weather before you start
- Do not lift or fix hoses and cleaning equipment in strong wind; a large sheet is a sail.
- Stop in heavy rain, ice or lightning, and rest in the shade in hot weather.
Hazard
Wind catches the hoses and cleaning equipment or blows someone off balance at height
Who might be harmed and how
The team and people below
Controls in place
- Agree a wind limit for panels and platforms and check the forecast each morning.
- Tie down or take in loose materials before you leave.
Wind is the main weather cause of falls and dropped loads in outside work at height.
HSE: Work at height Stop things falling on people below
- Fence off the ground below the work so nobody walks under the cleaning materials.
- Use toe boards, brick guards or netting on platforms and lanyard tools where you can.
Hazard
Cleaning 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 Confirm the accepted area and method
- Compare the work area with the accepted test patch, fabric and deposit.
- Stop if the surface, deposit or conditions differ.
Hazard
A changed surface is cleaned with a method that was never accepted for it.
Who might be harmed and how
Cleaner and historic fabric
Controls in place
- Keep the test record at the work area.
- Refer changes before continuing.
Checking the area against the test prevents an unapproved treatment.
Looking After Historic Buildings
What the builder asks about Building conservation cleaning
Your answers decide which steps, hazards and controls it suggests.
The job
- What fabric and deposit are you testing?
- What area did the accepted test cover?
Where
- Is the building older than the year 2000? Older buildings can have asbestos in them.
How it’s done
- What will you stand on to reach the work?
- What method is allowed on the test patch?
- Which cleaning method was accepted?
- How will dirty water and removed material be controlled?
What you’ve been told
- Who will accept the test patch?
What your Building conservation cleaning 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.