What a principal contractor checks in your RAMS
Last updated 17 October 2026
A principal contractor is looking for this job, this site and controls a supervisor can brief. A tidy front page does not pass that test.
A principal contractor checks whether your RAMS describes the work they are buying, on their site, with controls their supervisor could watch. They are not scoring the font. A site-ready RAMS your principal contractor can review names the address, the dates, the people, the plant and the order of work. Nothing here is a promise that a particular contractor will accept it.
Open the trade that matches the work from the trades list, or start a draft in the wizard. The RAMS template page sets out what the pack is for.
Worked example
A principal contractor’s reviewer opens a bricklaying RAMS for a plot on a live housing site:
- The title is this plot, not “brickwork generally”.
- Block weight, cutting dust and the scaffold are assessed. “Manual handling” with no control is not enough.
- The method says the scaffold is already inspected, the cutting is done wet or with extraction, and fresh masonry is not loaded as a platform.
- Other trades and the pavement are named if they can be harmed.
- Blank lines such as “Not stated” for the assessor are obvious. They get completed before the briefing, not after someone is hurt.
- The reviewer can brief from it. They still ask a competent person on their side to accept it for that plot. Acceptance is their decision.
What they are comparing it with
- Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The principal contractor manages the construction phase. Your RAMS is evidence of how your task will be carried out. It is not their construction phase plan.
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. They expect a suitable and sufficient assessment of the significant risks.
- Work at Height Regulations 2005 and COSHH 2002, when the task can cause a fall or exposure to a hazardous substance.
If those controls are missing, the document is not ready to brief, whatever the cover says.
Questions
Will a principal contractor accept any RAMS with the right logo?
No. They are checking whether the hazards and the method match the work they are about to let onto the site. A document that could describe any job in the country is the one they send back.
Do they check the law section?
They look for the duties that apply to this task, not a long list of every regulation you have heard of. Naming CDM 2015 does not help if the sequence never mentions other trades or the public.
Is a signature block enough?
The block shows the briefing happened. It does not make a weak method acceptable. People should sign after they have been told what this RAMS says.