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Landscaping RAMS Builder
Landscaping risk assessment and method statement
Prepare RAMS for fencing, mowing and strimming, laying paving and kerbs, planting and turfing, and general garden maintenance. Add the site, pick the suggestions that apply and read through the PDF draft.
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Prepare the Landscaping 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 Landscaping RAMS covers
Soft and hard landscaping on domestic and commercial grounds: putting up or repairing fences, laying paving and kerbs, planting and turfing, and the mowing, trimming and maintenance that keeps a garden in order.
- Fence/repair
- Mow/trim
- Lay paving/kerbs
- Ordinary garden maintenance
- Plant/lay turf
Suggested steps and hazards for Landscaping
What it offers for lay paving/kerbs before you have answered anything.
Find buried services before digging
- Get the service plans, scan and mark the ground before breaking it.
- Do not dig until an unsafe or unknown service has been dealt with.
Hazard
A bucket, fork or tool hits a live cable, gas pipe or water main
Who might be harmed and how
Landscapers, workers nearby and the public
Controls in place
- Use the agreed detector and safe digging method.
- Stop, keep clear and report anything unexpected.
Buried services are not visible and a small dig can cause shock, fire, flooding or an outage.
HSE: Gas safety for employers Check the weather before you start
- Do not lift or fix plants, materials and 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 plants, materials and 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 Check the paving delivery
- Inspect units for damage and confirm the selected product before installation.
- Hold damaged or unsuitable units out of the work.
Hazard
A damaged unit fails during handling or leaves an unsafe finished surface
Who might be harmed and how
Landscapers and people using the area
Controls in place
- Check the actual product instructions.
- Do not substitute a different laying method.
The right product and an undamaged delivery are part of a safe finished surface.
Marshalls concrete block paving installation guide
What the builder asks about Landscaping
Your answers decide which steps, hazards and controls it suggests.
The job
- What are you doing to the fence?
- What will you cut, and with what?
- What are you laying?
- What will you be doing in the garden?
- What are you putting in?
- What are the fence parts made of?
Where
- What is in the grass or around it?
- What might be in the beds and borders?
- Is the ground ready for planting or turf?
- Is the cutting ground firm and clear?
- What pipes or cables run under ground to be dug or through the work area?
How it’s done
- What will you stand on to reach the work?
- What laying system is specified?
- How will the panels, posts, paving and bags get to the work?
What your Landscaping 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.