Free method statement template for contractors

What a method statement actually does

A method statement sets out, step by step, how one job will be done safely. HSE describes it as a document that "describes in a logical sequence exactly how a job is to be carried out in a way that secures health and safety and includes all the control measures" (HSE: construction administration).

It comes after the risk assessment. The risk assessment asks what could hurt someone and decides the controls. The method statement puts those controls into the order the crew will actually work in: scaffold up before anyone goes on the roof, supply isolated before the board comes off, skip on the drive before the strip-out starts.

HSE gives it three jobs. It tells your workers how the work is to be done and what precautions to take. It tells other contractors on site how your work affects them. And it gives the principal contractor what they need for the construction phase plan. HSE also notes the most effective ones often include diagrams.

Is a method statement a legal requirement?

Usually not. HSE says plainly that method statements are "not required by law" for most construction work, though they are "an effective and practical way to help plan, manage and monitor" it. The legal requirement is the risk assessment, plus planning the work so it is done safely. The one clear exception is demolition and dismantling: under CDM 2015 regulation 20 the arrangements must be recorded in writing before the work begins, and HSE says a method statement is the usual way to do that.

RAMS, short for risk assessment and method statement, is not a term you will find in the regulations. It is what the industry calls the pair. Principal contractors, facilities managers and commercial clients routinely ask for RAMS before they let you on site, and HSE's own advice to those running jobs is that obtaining contractors' risk assessments and method statements "will help" them plan (HSE: planning for construction work). So for many trades it is a condition of getting the work, even where the law does not demand it.

CDM 2015 on small and domestic jobs

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 apply to all construction work, including a kitchen fit in someone's home (HSE CDM FAQ). For a homeowner, the client duties pass to you if you are the only contractor, or to the principal contractor if there is more than one (HSE: domestic clients). HSE says this should mean little more than you normally do to manage health and safety.

If you are the only contractor, or the principal contractor, you must draw up a construction phase plan before setting up the site (regulation 15). It should be in proportion to the job, and HSE says "a simple plan before the work starts is usually enough". HSE's free, short construction phase plan for busy builders covers a bathroom, a chimney breast removal or a loft conversion. A method statement does not replace that plan, but the steps you write here are most of its content.

Jobs only need notifying to HSE on an F10 if they will last more than 30 working days with more than 20 people on site at once, or exceed 500 person days (regulation 6). Most trade jobs come nowhere near.

What to put in each section

The generator has the sections below. Keep each one specific to this job and this site. A main contractor reading it should be able to picture the work.

• Job details. Company, site address, client, a revision number and a short job description. If the site wants start dates or working hours, put them in the description.
• Scope. What the job is and where it stops. "Strip and re-felt the flat roof over the rear extension, including new upstands." Then use the "Not included" box: "the gutters or the fascia."
• Sequence of steps. Numbered, in the order you will work. Each step has its controls and who does it. This is the heart of the document.
• PPE. Tick only what the job needs, and say in the step where it is worn: eye protection for cutting, hearing protection for the breaker, RPE for chasing. Protective kit is the last line of defence, not the plan.
• Plant and equipment. Towers, ladders, cutters, extraction units, burners, gas bottles. Note who is trained to use each and when it was last checked.
• Permits. Tick any permit to work the site needs: hot work, electrical isolation, confined space, roof access or excavation. HSE describes a permit as a documented procedure that authorises certain people to do specific work within a set time (HSE: permits to work).
• Emergency arrangements. Where the first aid kit is, who the first-aider is, the nearest A&E and how to raise the alarm. The printed page adds what to do about suspected asbestos: stop, keep people out, get it checked. Add a gas leak, or anything else specific to the site, in the alarm box. Contractors must tell workers the procedures for serious and imminent danger (CDM regulation 15(9)).
• Sign-off and briefing. The person who wrote it and the person who approved it sign. Then everyone working on the job signs the briefing table, which has six rows, to say they have been through it. Keep that briefing sheet with the statement, because it is the proof the crew were told.

Worked example: re-felting a flat roof

Two roofers replacing the felt on a 4m by 3m flat roof over a single-storey rear extension, using torch-on felt. The house is occupied. The client is the homeowner, so as the only contractor the roofing firm also carries the client duties. The template opens with this job filled in. Here is its sequence, in order.

• 1. Set up. Barrier off the area below the roof edge and the route to the skip. Tell the household which doors and windows to keep shut.
• 2. Access. Erect the tower scaffold, or tie the ladder so it extends at least 1m above the roof edge. Fit edge protection to the open edges before anyone works near them.
• 3. Strip. Remove the old felt and send it down a chute or in bags to the skip. Nothing is thrown from the roof.
• 4. Check the deck. Replace any soft boards. Stop and report if the old felt or deck looks like it contains asbestos.
• 5. Hot work. Hot work permit issued by the lead roofer. Gas bottles kept in the open air, valves shut when not in use. Extinguisher on the roof. Torch kept away from timber at the walls and the fascia.
• 6. Lay and finish. Lay the felt, dress the upstands and fit the trims.
• 7. Fire watch. One roofer stays and watches the roof and the eaves for at least 30 minutes after the torch goes off, the minimum in HSE's welding and hot work guidance.
• 8. Clear up. Strike the tower, clear the site and hand back to the client. Gas bottles go back in the van with the valves shut.

A method statement people will read

A 30-page method statement that everyone signs and nobody reads protects nobody. Two pages the team has been talked through will do far more. HSE suggests checking that the work on site matches what the statement says; that is the best test of whether it is any good.

If you do the same job over and over, the statement will be similar each time, and that is fine. HSE says to revise it for each job when circumstances change markedly. Different access, a different building or a different crew all count. Change the steps, then brief the crew again.

Send it with your quote when a commercial client asks for one. A tidy RAMS pack alongside your insurance documents is part of what wins that work, as we cover in winning commercial cleaning contracts. This page is general guidance, not legal advice.

Common questions