Groundworks RAMS for UK Sites

Typical activities to cover

• Site set-up, fencing, welfare siting and establishing haul routes.
• Service searches, drawings review, scanning and hand digging trial holes.
• Site clearance, strip and reduce dig, muck away.
• Excavating foundations, pits, trenches and attenuation features.
• Excavation support, battering, shoring or trench boxes as designed.
• Drainage runs, chambers, connections and testing.
• Concrete pours, reinforcement placing and pumping.
• Kerbing, sub-base, surfacing and reinstatement.
• Backfill, compaction and final level checks.

Hazards and planning considerations

• Striking buried services — electricity, gas, water, telecoms and fibre.
• Collapse of excavation sides and undermining of nearby structures.
• People and plant falling into open excavations.
• Plant and pedestrian interface, reversing, blind spots and banksman arrangements.
• Overturning plant on soft ground, slopes or close to the edge of an excavation.
• Water ingress, flooding and the need for pumping or dewatering.
• Buried contamination, made ground, dust, fumes and hazardous ground gases.
• Confined space conditions in deep excavations and chambers.
• Wet concrete contact, cement burns and pumping pressures.
• Noise, vibration and hand-arm vibration from breakers and compaction plant.
• Permit to dig and other authorisations, which the builder requires you to confirm.
• Neighbouring property, highways, public rights of way and traffic management.

Site-specific information you need to provide

• Site address, boundaries, ground conditions and any known contamination.
• Service drawings, search results and who carried out the scanning.
• Permit to dig arrangements and who issues and signs them.
• Excavation depths, dimensions and the support or battering design being followed.
• Plant being used, operator competence and the haul and pedestrian routes.
• Traffic management and arrangements for the public and site neighbours.
• How spoil and waste are stored and removed.
• Welfare, first aid and emergency arrangements, including the nearest A&E.
• Supervision arrangements and who stops work if conditions change.

Illustrative outline sequence

Illustrative only. This is not a complete safe system of work. It must be adapted to your actual job, site and team, and reviewed and approved by a competent person before any work starts.

1. Induction, service information reviewed, permit to dig issued before any breaking ground.
2. Area set out, segregated, and plant and pedestrian routes established.
3. Services scanned and confirmed by careful hand dig trial holes.
4. Excavation carried out to the planned dimensions with support or battering as designed.
5. Excavation protected with barriers and inspected before entry and after any change.
6. Drainage or foundation works installed, tested and signed off.
7. Backfill and compaction completed, levels checked, area reinstated and cleared.

How the builder helps

• Select the groundworks, excavation, plant and traffic activity groups to bring in the recommended controls and risk ratings.
• The builder prompts you to confirm permit-to-dig arrangements where ground is being broken.
• Add custom hazards for the specific ground conditions and surroundings.
• Record COSHH items such as cement, fuels and sealants with data sheets attached.
• Write the sequence of works yourself, dictate it, or edit an AI first draft.
• Add emergency arrangements and the nearest A&E, then export a branded PDF or Word document.

Not sure where to start? Read the step-by-step guide or draft a RAMS with AI from a short job brief.