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Cutting RAMS Builder
Cutting risk assessment and method statement
Prepare RAMS for oxy-fuel torch cutting and abrasive cut-off of metal. Say what is being cut and where the sparks and slag go, adjust the suggested steps and review the PDF draft.
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Prepare the Cutting 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 Cutting RAMS covers
Cutting known metal with a fuel-gas torch, or with a disc cutter or cold saw, once the material is identified and the area is cleared.
- Fuel-gas cut
- Grind/cold cut
Suggested steps and hazards for Cutting
What it offers for fuel-gas cut before you have answered anything.
No torch work in a tank, pit or duct
- Hot work inside a tank, pit, chamber or duct is not covered by this method.
- Get the space tested for gas, agree how you get out, and have someone on the outside who can pull you out.
Hazard
Fumes, gas or lost oxygen knock you out inside a space you cannot get out of
Who might be harmed and how
The person inside and anyone who goes in after them
Controls in place
- Stop and get the confined space plan before anyone goes in.
- Never go in to pull a mate out without the rescue kit.
Torch and welding fume fills a closed space fast and most deaths are the second person going in.
HSE: Confined spaces Prove it dead before you cut into it
- Metalwork often carries cables, conduit or trunking. Get the circuit switched off, locked off and proved dead first.
- Do not cut, grind or weld on anything still live.
Hazard
Cutting into a live cable or conduit gives a shock, a flash burn or starts a fire
Who might be harmed and how
The person cutting and anyone nearby
Controls in place
- Only the person who locked it off takes the lock off.
- Prove the tester on a known live source before and after.
A lock-off and a proved dead test is the only way you know the circuit is off.
HSE: Electricity, systems in buildings Stop things falling on people below
- Fence off the ground below the work so nobody walks under the tools, hot metal and slag.
- Use toe boards, brick guards or netting on platforms and lanyard tools where you can.
Hazard
Tools, hot metal and slag 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
What the builder asks about Cutting
Your answers decide which steps, hazards and controls it suggests.
The job
- What will you cut or grind with?
- Which gas set will you use?
- What is on the metal?
Where
- Is the building older than the year 2000? Older buildings can have asbestos in them.
- What pipes or cables run in, behind or through the metalwork you are cutting?
How it’s done
- What will you stand on to reach the work?
- What has the part held?
- What is the piece doing when you cut it?
- Where can the flame, sparks or slag go?
- How will the steel, tools and metal parts get to the work?
What your Cutting 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.