Skip to content

Free to use · PDF download

Living roofs RAMS Builder

Living roof risk assessment and method statement

Prepare RAMS for installing a green roof build-up and for maintaining an established one. Enter the roof, its loading limits and the access, edit the suggested steps and check the PDF draft.

  • Free to use
  • No account needed
  • Questions follow HSE guidance
  • Work recovers in this browser

Prepare the Living roofs RAMS

Checking this browser for your work…

Living roofs 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 Living roofs RAMS covers

Laying the protection, drainage and growing layers and the planting within the roof's design load, and the inspecting, weeding, feeding and drain clearing that keep it established.

  • Install living roof
  • Maintain living roof

Suggested steps and hazards for Living roofs

What it offers for install living roof before you have answered anything.

  1. Check the weather before you start

    • Do not lift or fix roof materials and loose tools 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 roof materials and loose tools 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 roof materials and tools.
    • Use toe boards, brick guards or netting on platforms and lanyard tools where you can.

    Hazard

    Roof materials and tools 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. Check the roof design and load

    • Check the named living-roof build-up, saturated weight, access loads and drainage detail.
    • Mark the approved load areas before substrate or modules arrive.

    Hazard

    Overloading damages the roof or causes a collapse

    Who might be harmed and how

    Installers and people in or below the building

    Controls in place

    • Use the approved loading information.
    • Do not stockpile material outside the marked areas.

    The saturated roof and temporary material loads must stay within the approved design.

    The GRO Green Roof Code

What the builder asks about Living roofs

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

The job

  • What living-roof system are you installing?
  • What living roof are you maintaining?
  • What needs doing today?

Where

  • What is confirmed before you cover the roof?
  • Are the drains and roof layers sound?
  • Is the building older than the year 2000? Older buildings can have asbestos in them.
  • What pipes or cables run roof penetrations, cables, pipes and plant?

How it’s done

  • What will you stand on to reach the work?
  • What planting material will you place?
  • How will the roof materials get to the work?
  • Will you cut anything on site, and with what?

What your Living roofs 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.