Updated 30 July 2026
Do I need a RAMS?
No regulation requires a document called a RAMS. CDM 2015 never uses the phrase. What it does require depends on five things about the job.
The checker covers the duties that turn on those five answers — 3 to 10 of them, depending. A sole trader working alone on a householder's job, no demolition, gets 5, and 1 has to exist on paper. None of them is a RAMS.
0 of 5 questions answered.
Answer the five questions and the duties appear here, each against the paragraph that imposes it.
Whose job is the plan, and who tells the HSE?
| Project | Plan | Notice to HSE |
|---|---|---|
| One contractor, business client | PlanYou do. reg 15(5) | Notice to HSEThe client. reg 6(2) |
| More than one contractor, business client | PlanThe principal contractor. reg 12(1) | Notice to HSEThe client. reg 6(2) |
| One contractor, householder | PlanYou do. reg 15(5), and reg 4(5)(a) passes to you | Notice to HSEYou do. reg 7(1)(a) |
| More than one, householder | PlanThe principal contractor. reg 12(1) | Notice to HSEThe principal contractor. reg 7(1)(b), or the principal designer by written agreement, reg 7(1)(c) |
Read from CDM 2015 regs 4 to 7 and regs 12 and 15 on legislation.gov.uk, 30 July 2026. Notice goes to HSE only where the work runs over 30 working days with more than 20 workers on at once, or over 500 person days. Who writes the plan, and by when covers the deadlines and the review duty.
What the checker leaves out
Most of CDM 2015. Reg 15 alone has eleven paragraphs, and several bind you whatever you answer: competence checks on anyone you appoint, keeping the site secure, welfare under Schedule 2. Asbestos, lifting and confined spaces sit outside it entirely. Whether your controls suit the job, and whether the person running the site accepts your paperwork, is theirs to decide.
Asked for one anyway?
Then write one, for the duties above. Start from your trade's template and replace every line that is not true of this job.
Which template fits your trade?
- Electrician RAMS template Safe isolation, with the dead-then-live test order written out.
- Scaffolding RAMS template The SG4:22 safe-zone sequence and the reg 12 inspection duty.
- Roofing RAMS template Fragile surfaces under reg 9, rooflights, and the Safe2Torch details.
- Plumbing RAMS template Gas Safe evidence, the reg 26(9) checks, and legionella at handover.
- General building RAMS template Propping under reg 19, and the shift inspection reg 22(4) demands.