RAMS for Mobile Plant & Machinery

Mobile plant covers any self-propelled or towed equipment used on site — excavators, dumpers, telehandlers, rollers, mobile cranes, piling rigs, and similar machinery. Operating this equipment without a suitable risk assessment is a legal failing, and a poorly written RAMS is one of the most common reasons method statements are rejected by principal contractors.

Legal Basis

The duty to risk-assess stems from the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, Regulation 3, which requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to employees and others. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) sit alongside this, requiring that work equipment is suitable for its intended use, maintained in efficient working order and good repair, and inspected at appropriate intervals by a competent person. Where equipment is mobile and self-propelled, PUWER Regulations 25–30 apply specific additional requirements covering rollover protection, restraining systems, and driver visibility.

Key Hazards and Controls

**Struck-by and plant-pedestrian conflict** is the leading cause of fatality involving mobile plant on construction sites. Controls must follow the hierarchy: elimination first, then substitution, engineering measures, administrative controls, and PPE as the last resort. Collective measures take priority over personal ones.

Preferred approach is to eliminate the conflict entirely by sequencing work so pedestrians and plant do not occupy the same area at the same time. Where that is not practicable, physical segregation through barriers, one-way systems, and designated pedestrian routes is the engineering measure. Administrative controls — banksmen, slinger-signallers, speed limits, exclusion zones — come after physical separation, not instead of it. High-visibility PPE is the last line of defence, not the primary control.

**Overturning** — assess ground conditions and bearing capacity before operation. Safe working loads for outriggers and crawler pads must be confirmed. Operators must be trained and hold a recognised card, either CPCS (Construction Plant Competence Scheme) or NPORS, appropriate to the category of plant.

**Quick-hitch and attachment safety** — quick-hitch devices must have a secondary retention mechanism to prevent inadvertent bucket or attachment release. Pre-use checks must confirm the locking pin is fully engaged. Attachment changes must follow the manufacturer's procedure with bystanders excluded from the drop zone.

**Blind spots and reversing** — reversing cameras, proximity warning devices, or banksman supervision must be specified where rearward visibility is restricted. The RAMS must state which control is in use for each task, not list all three as alternatives.

**Pre-use checks** — operators are responsible for a documented daily pre-use inspection covering tyres or tracks, hydraulics, brakes, lighting, horns, and ROPS/FOPS structures. Records must be retained on site.

Common Failings That Get a RAMS Rejected

The most frequent rejection reasons are: generic text copied from a template without reference to the specific site layout or task; exclusion zones stated as a nominal figure without justification from a swept-path or radius calculation; operator competence described as "trained" without specifying the card scheme and category; and controls listed in reverse hierarchy order with PPE appearing before engineering measures. A RAMS that states "treat as live" or relies on PPE as the primary control against electrical strike during excavation near buried services will be rejected — isolation and service avoidance are the required primary controls; operatives must never attempt DNO or high-voltage isolation.

What the Document Must Include

A compliant mobile plant RAMS must contain: the specific plant type, model, and PUWER inspection status; the task description and work sequence; site-specific hazard identification with residual risk rating; controls applied in hierarchy order; operator competency evidence (CPCS/NPORS card category); exclusion zone dimensions with the basis for those dimensions; emergency and rescue arrangements; supervision arrangements including banksman qualifications where applicable; and confirmation of pre-use check procedures and record-keeping. The method statement and risk assessment must cross-reference — a risk assessment that identifies a hazard but whose method statement makes no provision for the corresponding control will fail scrutiny.