Guide
Site-specific risk assessment
A site specific risk assessment names the address, the people, and the thing that is different about this building. Changing the header on last month's PDF is not that assessment.
What “this site” changes
Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks. Sufficient means the real site. The worked example is an internal strip-out before a mixed-trade refurbishment: a builder, then a fitter and an electrician. The same library task in an empty shell is not the same job as a house where someone still lives next door. Read the asbestos survey, and have services isolated, before the strip reaches the walls.
No law requires a document called a RAMS. The duty is to assess risk under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3, and to plan the work safely.
Every hazard below is from the RAMSPack library and is marked draft – awaiting competent review. Change it for the site. It is not HSE approved.
Worked example: Internal strip-out
Strip finishes, fittings, and non-structural partitions inside an existing building before refurbishment. It excludes structural demolition and licensed asbestos removal.
Order of work
- Read the asbestos survey. If there is no survey and the building is old enough that asbestos is possible, stop intrusive work until there is information.
- Isolate services that are in the strip area, through a competent person for gas and electricity. Protect services that stay live.
- Confirm you are not removing structure. If a wall might be loadbearing, stop and get a design decision.
- Strip systematically from the top down. Keep a clear exit. Control dust.
- Segregate waste, including waste that may be hazardous, and transfer it under the duty of care.
Disturbing asbestos insulation board, coatings, or debris during strip-out
Library status: draft – awaiting competent review
From the general builder library, task: Internal strip-out. Who might be harmed: Operatives and other people in the building
Before controls: 20 High. After controls: 5 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Insulation board, coatings, and debris found in a strip-out are not part of this task.
- Check the asbestos survey or register before work starts.
- If asbestos is suspected, stop. Do not disturb it and do not take a sample.
- Tell the duty holder or the principal contractor.
- Where a licensed contractor is required under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, leave that work to them.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012; Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022).
Electric shock or a gas escape from a live service in a wall
Library status: draft – awaiting competent review
From the general builder library, task: Internal strip-out. Who might be harmed: Operatives and other people in the building
Before controls: 15 High. After controls: 5 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Have electricity and gas isolated by competent people before the strip reaches them.
- Treat unidentified cables as live. Do not cut a cable to 'see what happens'.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Electricity at Work Regulations 1989; Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
Collapse from removing a loadbearing element by mistake
Library status: draft – awaiting competent review
From the general builder library, task: Internal strip-out. Who might be harmed: Operatives and other people in the building
Before controls: 10 Medium. After controls: 5 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Strip finishes only, unless a design says a wall can go.
- Stop if a lintel, a beam, or unexpected masonry appears.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022).
Dust, noise, and manual handling of arisings
Library status: draft – awaiting competent review
From the general builder library, task: Internal strip-out. Who might be harmed: Operatives
Before controls: 12 Medium. After controls: 6 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Prefer hand tools. Where a breaker is needed, limit time, use extraction or suppression, and wear hearing protection.
- Barrow waste in small loads. Keep routes lit.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002; Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992; Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34 (duty of care for waste).
Generate a strip-out RAMS for this site