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HIAB RAMS Builder
HIAB lorry loader risk assessment and method statement
Prepare RAMS for unloading and landing loads with a lorry-mounted loader crane. Add the lift plan details, adjust the suggestions to your delivery and check the PDF draft.
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Prepare the HIAB RAMS
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What are you lifting today?
More details
Tick everything you expect to lift. The load decides the tackle, the weight check and the landing.
What a HIAB RAMS covers
Lifts made with the loader crane fitted to a lorry, from stabilising the vehicle and slinging the load to landing it where the lift plan says.
Suggested steps and hazards for HIAB
What it offers for lorry loader (HIAB) lift before you have answered anything.
Check the weather before you start
- Do not lift or fix big loads 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 big loads 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 Work to the lift plan
- Every lift is planned before it starts by someone who knows this kind of lift.
- A routine lift the same crew does every day can run on one standing plan; anything different gets planned again.
- Read the plan with the crew on the day: the weight, the radius, the route and where the load lands.
Hazard
The crane is overloaded or set up wrong because nobody worked the lift out before it started
Who might be harmed and how
The lift crew and everyone the crane can reach
Controls in place
- Keep the plan on the job where the crew can see it.
- If the load, the ground or the spot is not what the plan says, stop and get it planned again.
The law says every lifting operation is planned by a competent person and properly supervised.
HSE: Planning and organising lifting operations Everyone knows their job on the lift
- Name the driver, the slinger signaller and the person supervising before the first lift.
- Only trained people drive the crane, sling loads or give signals.
- One person gives the signals at a time, and everyone knows who it is.
Hazard
Two people signal at once, or somebody untrained slings a load and it comes off the hook
Who might be harmed and how
The lift crew and anyone near the lift
Controls in place
- Anyone on the lift can call stop and the driver stops.
- Swap the signaller only by telling the driver first.
HSE says crane operators, slingers and signallers all have to be trained and competent.
HSE: Lifting operations Check the crane and the tackle
- Look at the crane report: lifting accessories get a thorough examination every 6 months, the crane every 12 months.
- Do the daily checks the machine needs and look over every sling, shackle and hook before it goes on.
- Everything on the hook is marked with what it can lift.
Hazard
A worn sling, damaged hook or an out-of-date crane fails with the load in the air
Who might be harmed and how
The lift crew and everyone below the load
Controls in place
- Bin any sling with cuts, kinks, frayed rope or a stretched link; do not knot it to shorten it.
- A crane out of date for examination does not lift until it is done.
Anything found dangerous means the equipment cannot be used until it is put right.
HSE: Thorough examinations and inspections of lifting equipment
What the builder asks about HIAB
Your answers decide which steps, hazards and controls it suggests.
The job
- What are you lifting today?
- What have you got for this lift?
Where
- What is the crane standing on?
- What is around the lift and under the swing?
- What pipes or cables run under the outrigger pads?
- Where are you unloading the lorry?
How it’s done
- What will you stand on to reach the work?
- What are you lifting it with?
- How will you talk to the crane driver?
What your HIAB 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.