Method statement

[C11rjy]

When you move from domestic work into site work it’s usually less about proving you can do the job and more about reassuring the client that you’ve thought it through.

 

In my experience a method statement doesn’t need to be over-complicated. Most clients just want to see:

• What the job is
• How you’re going to do it (sequence of works)
• The main site-specific risks
• What control measures are in place
• Roles and responsibilities

 

I’ve found it works best when the MS ties in closely with the RAMS rather than being treated as a separate, generic document. Clear and readable tends to go down better than something padded out with jargon.

For straightforward tree work it can often be kept to a couple of pages if it’s structured properly. Once you’ve done a few, they’re fairly quick to adapt job to job.

Hope that helps.

[JLA1990]

To add to the above - include reference to relevant documents regarding working practises etc (can be provided if required). The guy assessing the documents will almost never have any experience in tree works so they just need to understand you’re working to guidelines/standard and how you stay safe during the process. 

[Malus]

I agree with a lot of the above. RAMS stands for risk assessment and method statement. I generally incorporate theses into the Construction Phase Plan (CPP) - not sure if that applies to arb but it's a good blanket document to cover the plan for larger jobs including information on site access maps, emergency services access point, work schedule etc etc.

 

Method statement can be as simple as a list of bullet points of what you're going to do and in what order.

 

Assess the risk of each step/ tasks of above. It might be a good idea to break risk down into severity and likelihood of incident, and score 1-3 for each. Multiply severity by likelihood to get a risk score. Score 1-3 is low risk, 4-6 is medium and 7-9 is high risk.

 

If any stage of you method statement is high risk then you need to change the method statement accordingly. You should try to introduce different methods for medium risk where practicable.

 

I have a list of tasks specific risk assessments, i.e. tree felling or loading plant onto a trailer. I refer to these in the Construction Phase Plan but don't include the whole risk assessment. I never really have to modify them.

 

Then for each new job/site I'll do a risk assessment that is specific to that site, and include that in the CPP.

 

Hope that helps