Documents are AI-assisted drafts and must be checked and approved by a competent person before use. Not legal or professional advice. Read the disclaimer
Plastering looks low-risk until someone sands a ceiling in an occupied house or carries boards up a stair with no landing. Dust, skin, and weight are the hazards that actually injure plasterers, plus the hop-up that was 'only for a minute'.
This sample covers boarding, skimming, and patch repairs. It treats dry sanding as a dust job under COSHH, and it asks for washing facilities because wet plaster and cement-based products damage skin. Match it to the products on the van: the safety data sheet wins if it asks for more.
When to use it. Boarding and skimming, patch repairs after leaks, external render preparation where plasterers are also on the tools, and any sanding of plaster in an occupied or poorly ventilated room.
Dust from sanding and mixing, and how it is kept off other trades and occupants.
COSHH for plaster, adhesives and any solvent, using the safety data sheet.
Manual handling of boards and tubs, and a clear route that is not a single plank.
Work at height on hop-ups and towers, with PASMA where a tower is built.
Asbestos in old coatings: stop if it is suspected and not surveyed.
Slips from wet floors and the housekeeping that keeps corridors open.
Sample excerpt
From the plastering base inside RamsBox. It is not a RAMS for a real address until you add the site.
Dust from sanding plaster, cutting board, or sweeping dry waste. Who might be harmed: Operatives doing the task; occupants
Vacuum or extract at the tool where sanding or cutting creates dust. Do not dry-sweep a cloud through an occupied house.
Ventilate, and keep other trades and residents out of the room while sanding.
Confirm rooms, protection of floors and furniture, and whether anyone is living in the property.
Check for textured coatings, leaks, and live cables in chases before boarding.
Brief the gang, including dust control and where washing water is.
Hazards and controls
Dust from sanding plaster, cutting board, or sweeping dry waste
Who might be harmed: Operatives doing the task; occupants
Initial 12 (High) · residual 4 (Low)
Vacuum or extract at the tool where sanding or cutting creates dust. Do not dry-sweep a cloud through an occupied house.
Ventilate, and keep other trades and residents out of the room while sanding.
Use the mask type the safety data sheet or COSHH assessment names, face-fit where the mask requires it.
Dermatitis and eye injury from wet plaster, lime or cement
Who might be harmed: Operatives doing the task
Initial 9 (Medium) · residual 4 (Low)
Wear the gloves the product needs. Wash plaster off skin. Do not 'let it dry and flake'.
Eye protection when mixing and when working overhead.
Welfare with running water is confirmed before the job, not at the end of the day.
Manual handling of plasterboard and bags
Who might be harmed: Operatives doing the task
Initial 12 (High) · residual 4 (Low)
Boards are carried by two people when the length or stairs require it.
Bags are split or moved with a trolley. Do not carry 25 kg bags up several flights as the method.
Falls from hop-ups, stools and incomplete towers
Who might be harmed: Operatives doing the task
Initial 12 (High) · residual 4 (Low)
Use a hop-up or podium rated for the work. No chairs, buckets or upturned tubs.
Mobile towers are built by someone with PASMA, on level floors, with guardrails if the height requires them.
Slips on wet floors and trailing leads
Who might be harmed: Operatives, other people on site, and anyone nearby
Initial 6 (Medium) · residual 4 (Low)
Keep mix away from the walkway. Wipe spills as they happen.
Leads run along the wall, not across the doorway. RCD protection on portable tools.
Disturbing asbestos textured coatings
Who might be harmed: Operatives, other people on site, and anyone nearby
Initial 10 (High) · residual 5 (Medium)
Artex and similar coatings may contain asbestos. Do not sand or scrape them unless sampling and a plan say it is safe to do so.
Stop and tell the client if a coating was not mentioned and looks like a textured finish from before 2000.
Relevant legislation and guidance
Only the UK sources kept for this trade. This is not legal advice, and RamsBox is not affiliated with HSE.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Employers and the self-employed must protect workers and others so far as is reasonably practicable.
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The assessment must be suitable and sufficient, and the controls must be put in place.
Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022). PPE is the last resort in the hierarchy of control. It must be suitable, maintained, and provided to limb (b) workers as well as employees after the 2022 amendment.
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. The responsible person reports specified injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences. This RAMS does not decide whether a report is due.
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. Where this is construction work, the contractor plans, manages and monitors it. This RAMS does not replace a construction phase plan.
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. Assess exposure to hazardous substances, including dusts, and control it. The safety data sheet informs the assessment.
HSE EH40 Workplace exposure limits. Use the current EH40 list where a substance, including silica in dust, has a workplace exposure limit.
Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. Do not disturb suspected asbestos. Stop and follow the survey and a specific plan. This RAMS is not an asbestos method.
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. Avoid hazardous manual handling where reasonably practicable, assess what remains, and reduce the risk.
Work at Height Regulations 2005. Avoid work at height where you can. Otherwise prevent a fall, and only then minimise the distance and the consequences.
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Work equipment must be suitable, maintained, and used by people who have been given the right information and training.
Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. Assess noise from tools such as cutters and breakers, and control exposure. Hearing protection is not the first control.
Sequence, tickets and PPE
Confirm rooms, protection of floors and furniture, and whether anyone is living in the property. Agree which rooms, what is protected, and whether anyone is still living in the property.
Check for textured coatings, leaks, and live cables in chases before boarding. Textured coatings that might be asbestos stop the job on that surface. Check for leaks and live cables before boarding.
Brief the gang, including dust control and where washing water is. Dust control and where washing water is are covered before mixing starts.
Protect floors and isolate the work rooms from occupants. Floors covered and the work rooms closed off from occupants before boarding.
Board, bead and plaster in an order that keeps a clear exit. Keep a clear exit. Do not block the only way out with boards or a tower.
Sand only with extraction or the method on the product sheet, with others kept out. Extraction or the product-sheet method. Other people stay out of the room while sanding.
Remove waste. Do not leave wet mix to set in drains. Wet mix does not go down a drain. Bag waste and take it to the agreed skip.
Hand the rooms back only when floors are safe to walk. Floors are safe to walk, and the occupant or site manager is told the rooms are open.
Trade experience, and CSCS or equivalent where the site requires it
PASMA if a mobile tower is erected by the gang
COSHH awareness for the plasters and bonding agents in use
Asbestos awareness
Safety boots
Gloves resistant to wet plaster
Eye protection
Dust mask or respirator as the COSHH assessment specifies
Knee protection if kneeling to scrape or tape
DRAFT - needs competent person review. A competent person still has to check the draft against the site.
Questions on plastering RAMS
Is gypsum dust a COSHH issue?
Yes if you create a cloud of it, and silica is a real issue if the job includes sanding render or cutting cement board. The draft says to use extraction or wet methods and to read the product sheet.
Are stilts acceptable?
The base method does not rely on stilts. Use a hop-up, podium or tower that is suitable for the room. A competent person would have to justify anything else.
Do plasterers need CSCS?
On a managed construction site, usually yes, or an equivalent card the principal contractor accepts. The draft lists it as a requirement to confirm, not as a claim that every operative holds one.
Is a RAMS a legal requirement for plastering?
If the work can harm plasterers or people in the building, it has to be assessed under the Management Regulations. Dust is a COSHH matter, not a footnote. On a construction site, CDM 2015 also expects the contractor to plan and manage the work. A RAMS is the document site managers ask to see.
Who should write a plastering RAMS?
The plasterer or foreman who knows whether this job is a skim, a backing coat or a lot of sanding. The competent person checks the access and whether old coatings need a survey before anyone sands them.
What is the difference between a risk assessment and a method statement for plastering?
The assessment covers dust, manual handling, falls and slips. The method says when dust extraction is set up, how boards are brought in, and that sanding does not start while the floor is still a through-route for other people.
Is a COSHH sheet the same as the RAMS?
No. The safety data sheet is an input. The COSHH assessment decides the control for this room and this product. The RAMS then puts that control into the sequence of the job. See the COSHH assessment template for what that assessment has to contain.
AI-assisted draft. A competent person must review it and approve it for the site before use. RamsBox does not provide health and safety advice and is not affiliated with HSE.