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Cleaning windows RAMS Builder

Window cleaning risk assessment and method statement

Prepare RAMS for cleaning high-level glazing and specialist facade glazing from the planned access. Add the building and the access arrangement, edit the suggestions and check the PDF draft.

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Prepare the Cleaning windows RAMS

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Cleaning windows 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 Cleaning windows RAMS covers

Cleaning glazing that cannot be reached from the ground: high windows cleaned by water-fed pole or from access equipment, and specialist glazed facades that need a planned reach and a rescue arrangement.

  • High-level glazing
  • Specialist facade glazing

Suggested steps and hazards for Cleaning windows

What it offers for high-level glazing before you have answered anything.

  1. Check the weather before you start

    • Do not lift or fix cleaning equipment and water-fed poles 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 cleaning equipment and water-fed poles 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

  2. Stop things falling on people below

    • Fence off the ground below the work so nobody walks under the tools, buckets and cleaning equipment.
    • Use toe boards, brick guards or netting on platforms and lanyard tools where you can.

    Hazard

    Tools, buckets and cleaning equipment 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

  3. Use the planned safest reach

    • Avoid height where a water-fed pole or internal method can do the job.
    • Use the access arrangement set out for the job; do not improvise.

    Hazard

    A cleaner falls while reaching high glazing from unsuitable access

    Who might be harmed and how

    Window cleaners and people below

    Controls in place

    • Prefer ground-level or internal cleaning where suitable.
    • Stop if the planned access or rescue arrangement is not ready.

    Avoiding height where possible removes the main fall risk from window cleaning.

    Working at height whilst window cleaning

What the builder asks about Cleaning windows

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

The job

  • What sort of glass are you cleaning?
  • What glazing or facade surface is it?
  • What is on the glass?
  • What deposit must be removed?

How it’s done

  • What will you stand on to reach the work?

What your Cleaning windows 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.