How Long Does a RAMS Take to Write? Realistic UK Timings

Anywhere from 4 minutes to 4 hours, depending on how you do it. The wide range isn't because some people work faster — it's because the four common methods produce wildly different timings even for the same job. If you're trying to work out whether your current process is reasonable or whether you're losing hours you don't need to, these are the practical timings to compare.

From a blank page: 2 to 4 hours

This is the slowest method, and it's how most contractors first learn to write RAMS. Open a blank PDF document, write down the job, list the hazards from memory, score them, write a method statement, add PPE and emergency procedures, sign and date.

For someone who's done it before and knows the trade, an honest timing is 2 to 3 hours for a routine job and 3 to 4 hours for anything with a notable hazard (excavation near services, hot works in a roof void, lifting operations). For someone doing their first RAMS, double those numbers and add the time spent looking up which regulations to cite.

The hidden cost: most blank-page RAMS still get sent back for missing something, because you can't remember every hazard at 9pm on a Tuesday. The rework adds another 30–60 minutes per rejection.

From a template: 45 minutes to 90 minutes

Starting from a downloaded template — either a free one from the internet or a paid template pack — cuts the structural work but doesn't help with the thinking. You still need to identify the hazards specific to your site, write the controls, and rewrite the method statement so it describes this job rather than the generic example in the template.

Realistic timing: 45 minutes for a job similar to your last one, where you can pull most of the content forward; 90 minutes for a new type of work where you're filling in unfamiliar sections.

The trap with templates is the temptation to leave too much of the original wording in place. The fastest "30-minute RAMS" is usually one that gets rejected because the principal contractor can tell most of the document still describes someone else's job.

From a previous RAMS, edited for a new site: 30 to 60 minutes

If you have your own well-written RAMS from a similar job, copying it forward and editing it for the new site is faster — usually 30 to 60 minutes if you're disciplined about actually editing every section and not just changing the project address.

This works well when the new job is genuinely similar (same trade, similar site type, comparable hazards). It falls apart when the new site has a different access route, different ground conditions or a different scope, and the contractor edits only the obvious sections. The result is a RAMS that's 80% accurate and 20% wrong, which is worse than starting from scratch.

From RAMS software: 4 to 12 minutes

Structured RAMS builders — the category Riskora sits in — work differently. Instead of a blank page or a template, you select the work type, the tool prompts you with the hazards relevant to that work, you confirm or remove them based on the actual site, add the site-specific details, and the document is generated.

Realistic timing: 4 to 8 minutes for a routine job, 10 to 12 minutes for something with multiple hazard categories (e.g. excavation that also involves working at height for the spoil removal).

The reason this works is that the slow part of writing a RAMS isn't the typing — it's remembering every hazard category that applies. A good builder removes that cognitive load by prompting for the things that are easy to forget. You still have to do the thinking about your specific site, but you don't have to remember the structure or the hazard list from memory.

Where this method falls down: if the tool only offers free-text fields or generic templates, you're back to template-speed (45+ minutes). The speed comes from the prompting, not the export.

Sent to a consultant: 24 to 72 hours of elapsed time

A freelance H&S consultant will typically deliver a properly written RAMS in 24 to 72 hours, depending on their workload. Your time investment is much smaller — maybe 30 minutes briefing them, plus reviewing the draft they send back — but the elapsed time means you can't use this method for anything urgent.

Consultant timings get blown out by:

• Site visits (add a day if they need to walk the site)
• Multi-stakeholder review (add days if it goes to the principal contractor before you see it back)
• Holiday periods (the freelance H&S world goes quiet over Christmas and August)

What changes the timings

Three things make every method slower:

• Unfamiliar work. The first RAMS in a new trade or for a new type of site always takes longer because you don't know what you don't know. Budget double the normal time.
• High-hazard activities. Anything involving asbestos, confined spaces, working at height with rescue requirements, or live electrical work takes longer because the controls and emergency arrangements need more detail.
• Multi-trade coordination. If your RAMS has to interface with another contractor's work (e.g. you're roofing while scaffolders are still building out around you), expect to add 30–60 minutes for the coordination details.

And two things speed every method up:

• Doing similar work repeatedly. The fifth RAMS for a similar job is always faster than the first.
• Having a clear, current company-standard format. Whether that's a template, a tool, or a consultant who knows your business, consistency saves time.

How to work out what's reasonable for your situation

If you're doing 1–2 RAMS a month and most of them are similar, 30–60 minutes per document on a copy-forward basis is reasonable. If you're doing 5+ a month and you're still spending an hour each, you're losing 5+ hours a month to a process that should take less than one. If you're doing 10+ a month and writing each one from a blank page, you're spending more than a working day per month on documentation that a £29/mo tool would cut to under an hour total.

The break-even between "do it manually" and "pay for a tool" sits at about 3 RAMS per month for most contractors. Below that, manual is fine. Above that, the maths runs heavily against doing it by hand.

Related guides

• How to write a RAMS document in the UK — full structure
• How much does a RAMS cost in the UK? — pricing breakdown
• Why principal contractors reject RAMS — the timing cost of rejections
• Try the Riskora RAMS builder — sub-5-minute structured RAMS