NEBOSH Diploma · CertIOSH · 35 Years UK Construction

Groundworks & Excavation Method Statements & Risk Assessments

Groundworks RAMS are rejected more often than almost any other trade, and usually for the same two reasons: the buried services regime is described generically rather than against the actual site drawings and scan results, and the excavation support arrangements are asserted rather than specified. Principal contractors scrutinise this package hard, because struck services and collapsed excavations are the incidents that kill people on their site.

24–48hr turnaround
18-point compliance standard
Resubmission included
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Activities covered

Each document is written for the specific activity, site and programme — not adapted from a template for the trade.

Bulk and reduced-level excavation
Trench and pit excavation for drainage and foundations
Buried service location, exposure and diversion
Excavation support — trench boxes, sheeting, battering
Drainage installation and connections
Piling mats and working platforms
Muckaway, tipping and stockpiling
Backfill, compaction and reinstatement

Hazards the assessment must address

  • Contact with buried services — electricity, gas, water, telecoms
  • Excavation collapse and entrapment
  • Persons and plant falling into excavations
  • Plant / pedestrian interface and blind spots
  • Confined space atmospheres in deep excavations and chambers
  • Contaminated ground and hazardous substances
  • Water ingress, flooding and unstable ground
  • Undermining adjacent structures and foundations
  • Overhead services during plant slewing and tipping

Regulations that apply

CDM 2015Regulations 15 and 22 — contractor planning duties and specific requirements for excavations.
HSG47Avoiding danger from underground services — the benchmark for the plan, locate, dig sequence.
Confined Spaces Regulations 1997Applies to deep excavations, chambers and manholes where a specified risk exists.
PUWER 1998Excavator and attachment suitability, inspection and operator competence.
LOLER 1998Engages whenever the excavator is used for lifting — pipes, chambers, cages.
BS 6031Code of practice for earthworks — support design and slope stability.

Why groundworks RAMS get rejected

These are the findings that come up repeatedly on the reviewing side for this trade. If your document has been returned, the reason is very likely in this list.

Buried services covered by a generic paragraph with no reference to the actual C2 drawings, GPR survey or CAT scan regime
No permit-to-dig arrangement, or one referenced but not described
Excavation support described as "as required" rather than specified by depth, ground type and method
No named competent person for inspecting excavations, and no inspection record referenced
Confined space risk in deep excavations not identified at all
Plant / pedestrian segregation asserted without a traffic management arrangement
Ground investigation and contamination findings not referenced
Lifting with the excavator not covered, despite the method describing pipe and chamber placement

Already been rejected? Send the document and the reviewer's comments. We diagnose exactly why it failed, rewrite it against your site information, and support the resubmission until it is accepted — at no extra charge.

The lifting element people miss

Groundworks method statements very often include lifting that the writer has not recognised as lifting — placing drainage pipes, chambers, headwalls or cages with an excavator brings the operation under LOLER 1998. That is a routine rejection point, and one we cover as a matter of course.

See our excavator lift plans

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Other trades we write for

Method statements and risk assessments across the full range of construction activities.

Demolition →Roofing & work at height →M&E installation →Steel erection →Concrete & temporary works →Cladding & facade →All trades →

Need groundworks RAMS that get accepted?

Fixed price, quoted the same day, written to the standard principal contractors review against.

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