Free Template
Free Risk Assessment Template UK
A risk assessment template for UK trade businesses, built around the five steps HSE expects. Includes a worked example and guidance on when a written assessment is legally required.
- Job Ref
- JOB-2431
- Assessed by
- D. Smith
- Date
- 16 July 2026
| Hazard | Who | Control measures | Residual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working at height, loft access | Engineer | Ladder inspected, three points of contact, boarded crawl area, no lone working | Low |
| Live electrical circuits | Engineer, occupants | Safe isolation procedure, lock off, proving unit, warning notices at board | Low |
| Dust from chasing walls | Engineer, occupants | On tool extraction M class, dust sheets, FFP3 where extraction impractical | Low |
| Occupied property, young children | Occupants | Work area segregated, tools never left unattended, daily tidy | Low |
When a Written Risk Assessment Is Legally Required
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, every employer and every self employed person must assess the risks arising from their work. That duty applies to everybody, including a sole trader working alone.
The duty to write it down is narrower. If you have five or more employees, you must record the significant findings. Under five, you must still do the assessment but you are not obliged to record it.
The practical reality overtakes the legal minimum almost immediately. Main contractors, letting agents, housing associations and commercial clients will ask for written RAMS before you set foot on site, regardless of how many people you employ. Most trades write them because they cannot get on site without them.
Risk Assessment or Method Statement?
- Risk assessment. What could go wrong, who could be harmed, and what you are doing about it.
- Method statement. How the job will be carried out, step by step, safely.
- RAMS. The two documents together, which is what most main contractors are asking for when they use the term.
A risk assessment without a method statement tells a contractor you have thought about the hazards. A method statement without a risk assessment tells them how you work but not why it is safe. Send both.
The Five Steps HSE Expects
- Identify the hazards. Walk the job. Anything with the potential to cause harm counts, from working at height to a customer dog.
- Decide who might be harmed and how. Not just you. Include the customer, other trades, and anyone passing.
- Evaluate the risks and decide on control measures. Eliminate first, then reduce, then protect. PPE is the last line, never the first answer.
- Record your significant findings. Required if you have five or more employees, and expected commercially either way.
- Review it. Whenever the job changes, something goes wrong, or enough time passes that the assessment no longer describes the work.
Where Trade Risk Assessments Fall Down
- Generic and untouched. A downloaded template with the site name changed and nothing else. Any competent site manager spots it immediately, and it offers no protection because it does not describe your job.
- Hazards without controls. Listing working at height and then leaving the control column as "be careful" is worse than not writing it at all.
- PPE as the only control. The hierarchy exists for a reason. If your control for dust is a mask, the question is why you are not using on tool extraction.
- Never reviewed. An assessment dated eighteen months ago for a job that changed in week two is a document nobody can rely on.
- Not briefed to anyone. A risk assessment sitting in the van is not a control measure. The people doing the work need to have read it and signed to say so.
Making It Site Specific Without Rewriting It Every Time
The efficient approach is a solid base assessment for each type of work you do, then a short site specific section you complete on arrival. Most of the hazards in second fix electrical work are the same everywhere. What changes is the access, the occupants, the other trades and the state of the building.
Ten minutes on site adding the specifics turns a generic document into a defensible one. That is the difference between paperwork and a risk assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I legally need a risk assessment as a self employed tradesperson?
You must assess the risks from your work under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. You only have to record the significant findings in writing if you have five or more employees. In practice most trades write them anyway, because main contractors and commercial clients require written RAMS before granting site access.
What is the difference between a risk assessment and RAMS?
A risk assessment identifies hazards and the controls for them. A method statement sets out how the work will be done safely, step by step. RAMS means both documents supplied together, which is what a contractor is normally asking for when they request RAMS.
How often should a risk assessment be reviewed?
Whenever the work changes, whenever there is an incident or near miss, and periodically otherwise. There is no fixed statutory interval. An annual review is a common baseline, but the trigger that matters is a change to the job rather than a date in the diary.
Can I just use a generic template?
A template is a starting point, not the finished document. A generic assessment that does not describe your actual site, access, occupants and working method offers little protection and is usually rejected by site managers. Use a base assessment per work type and complete a site specific section on arrival.
Who needs to sign the risk assessment?
Everybody carrying out the work should read and sign it, which is the record that the assessment was briefed rather than just written. On a main contractor site the principal contractor will normally countersign or accept it as part of the permit to work.
Keep your safety paperwork with the job it belongs to
Traddie stores documents, photos and certificates against each job, so when a contractor asks for your RAMS you are not searching three folders and an email account.
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