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Excavation dewatering RAMS Builder
Excavation dewatering risk assessment and method statement
Prepare RAMS for pumping water out of an excavation and for bypassing a watercourse around the works. Add the pump, discharge point and support details, edit the suggested steps and review the PDF draft.
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Prepare the Excavation dewatering RAMS
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What will you be doing?
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Pick everything this RAMS covers. The questions that follow are chosen from what you tick here.
What a Excavation dewatering RAMS covers
Dewatering here means keeping the works dry with pumps: lifting water out of a hole to an agreed discharge, or diverting a stream or ditch flow past the excavation while you work in it.
- Pump water from an excavation
- Bypass a watercourse flow
Suggested steps and hazards for Excavation dewatering
What it offers for pump water from an excavation before you have answered anything.
Check the weather before you start
- Do not lift or fix pumps, hoses and temporary barriers 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 pumps, hoses and temporary barriers 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 dewatering method
- Read the excavation and dewatering assessment before placing a pump.
- Check the water source, nearby structures and ground support are covered.
Hazard
Collapse, settlement or pollution caused by uncontrolled dewatering
Who might be harmed and how
The excavation team and people nearby
Controls in place
- Stop if the water or stability risk is not understood.
- Keep the agreed support arrangement unchanged.
Pumping can change excavation stability and nearby ground, so its effect must be checked first.
HSE: Excavations Keep the pump power safe in the wet
- Run pumps off 110 volt or through an RCD, with leads and plugs checked and in date.
- Keep joints and boards up out of the water and off the ground.
Hazard
A shock from a pump, lead or board standing in water
Who might be harmed and how
The pump team and anyone in the excavation
Controls in place
- Only an electrician isolates, locks off and proves dead before anyone opens a pump or a board.
- Never lift a running pump by its cable, and never dry a damaged lead out and carry on.
Wet ground gives the current a path straight through whoever is stood in it.
HSE: Electricity, systems in buildings
What the builder asks about Excavation dewatering
Your answers decide which steps, hazards and controls it suggests.
The job
- What water will the pump remove?
- What flow will the bypass carry?
Where
- Where will the water go?
- Could pumping affect the ground?
How it’s done
- What will you stand on to reach the work?
- How will you keep the flow moving?
- How will the pumps, hoses and barriers get to the work?
What you’ve been told
- Is the paperwork in for working in the stream?
What your Excavation dewatering 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.