UK construction-safety guidance by the Riskora Editorial Team
Producing a proper rams for electrical work is not optional — it is a legal and practical requirement for construction work in the UK. Whether you are a sole trader or managing a multi-phase project, documented risk management protects your workers, satisfies clients, and keeps you on the right side of HSE enforcement.
Example RAMS
RAMS for Electrical Work
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Under CDM 2015 and HSE guidance, a RAMS for electrical work must be prepared before work begins on any construction site. The principal contractor is responsible for ensuring RAMS are in place, but duty holders at every level must contribute.
A construction contractor in UK needs to produce a rams for electrical work before starting work next week. The client has requested professional documentation as a condition of site access. Using Riskora, they select the relevant trade preset, review pre-populated hazards, adjust controls for their specific site, and generate a professional rams in under 5 minutes — ready for review and sign-off.
Regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 effectively prohibits live working unless it is unreasonable in all the circumstances for the conductor to be dead, it is reasonable to work live, and suitable precautions are taken — all three, together. HSG85 sets out how isolation is proved, and BS 7671 governs the installation and its inspection and testing. Documentation that assumes live working without discharging that three-part test will not stand up.
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 · SI 1989/635
HSE
BS 7671:2018+A2:2022 — Requirements for Electrical Installations
IET/BSI
CDM Regulations 2015 · SI 2015/51
HSE
PPE at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022) · SI 1992/2966
HSE
Almost every serious electrical incident traces back to the same failure: someone believed a circuit was dead. Documentation that lists 'electrocution' as a hazard and 'isolate supply' as a control has skipped the entire safe isolation procedure — the prove-test-prove sequence, the personal lock, and who holds the key. That sequence is what a competent reviewer is looking for, and its absence is the most common single rejection reason for electrical packages.
| Hazard | Control measure |
|---|---|
| Contact with live conductors during installation, alteration or testing | Work dead as the default. Safe isolation to HSG85: identify, isolate, secure with a personal lock and unique key, prove the tester on a known source, test dead at every conductor combination, re-prove the tester, then apply caution notices. |
| Unexpected re-energisation by a third party | Lock-off with a personal padlock retained by the person at risk, multi-hasp where several trades are involved, permit to work for any distribution board or supply shared with other occupants, and no removal of a lock by anyone but its owner. |
| Arc flash and blast during work on or near switchgear | Arc-rated PPE selected against an incident energy assessment, insulated tools to BS EN 60900, approach boundaries defined, and no operation of damaged or unrated switchgear. |
| Stored energy in capacitors, UPS systems and standby supplies | Discharge and prove dead after isolation, allow the manufacturer's stated dwell time, and treat any UPS, PV array or generator as an independent live source that must be isolated separately. |
| Test instruments and leads causing the very fault they are checking for | GS38-compliant probes with maximum 4 mm exposed tip, fused leads, instruments within calibration, and proving unit rather than the live installation used to verify the tester. |
| Working at height, in ceiling voids or in occupied premises during installation | Podium steps or tower rather than ladders for anything but short-duration access, dust and access controls in occupied areas, and temporary supplies protected by 30 mA RCD. |
Only where all three conditions in regulation 14 are met: it is unreasonable for the conductor to be dead, it is reasonable to work live in the circumstances, and suitable precautions are taken. Fault-finding and certain testing can meet the test; installation work almost never does. The justification belongs in the document, not in the operative's head.
The point of isolation, the locking-off device and who holds the key, the approved voltage indicator and proving unit used, the prove-test-prove sequence, the caution notices, and the person who authorises re-energisation. Each of those is a separate line, and reviewers check for them individually.
Not universally, but a permit is expected wherever the supply is shared with other trades or occupants, where the switchgear is remote from the point of work, or where re-energisation by another party is credible. Most principal contractors mandate one for any work on a live distribution board.
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Final RAMS must be reviewed and approved by a competent person before use.
Riskora is an assistive document preparation tool. All documents generated must be reviewed, verified, and approved by a competent person before use on site. Riskora does not replace professional safety judgment, and no output should be treated as a legal compliance guarantee.