How to Write a Risk Assessment for Building Work UK: What the Law Actually Requires

If you're a builder, contractor, or anyone carrying out construction work in the UK, you need a risk assessment. Most people in the industry know this. What's less clear is what a legally compliant, genuinely useful risk assessment for building work actually looks like.

This post explains what the law requires, what a good risk assessment covers, and how CDM 2015 fits into the picture.

What the Law Says

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR) require every employer — and self-employed person whose work affects others — to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks arising from their work activities.

For building work, the relevant regulations also include:

• The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015)
• The Work at Height Regulations 2005
• The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) — where applicable

"Suitable and sufficient" is the legal standard. That means proportionate to the actual risks involved, and specific enough to be useful on the ground.

What Makes a Risk Assessment for Building Work "Specific Enough"

A generic risk assessment downloaded from the internet, with "building work" at the top and a generic list of hazards, does not meet the standard. It is not site-specific, it does not reflect the actual tasks being carried out, and it would not demonstrate to an HSE inspector that the risks had been properly considered.

A compliant risk assessment for building work should:

1. Be specific to the work being done. Not "construction work" in general. The actual tasks: groundworks, bricklaying, timber frame erection, roofing, first fix, second fix. The hazards relevant to those tasks on that site.

2. Identify who is at risk. Workers directly carrying out the work, other trades on site, and members of the public where the site is accessible. Public exposure is a common gap in contractor documentation.

3. Describe the controls in place. Not just list the hazard — state what is being done to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. "Working at height" as a hazard is not useful without "scaffolding erected and inspected weekly, edge protection in place at all times, no lone working above 2m" as the control.

4. Be reviewed when conditions change. A risk assessment completed before groundworks begins does not automatically cover the roof phase. Reviews should be triggered by changes in scope, site conditions, or workforce.

CDM 2015 and the Construction Phase Plan

For most building projects — including smaller domestic projects — CDM 2015 applies. The Regulations require:

• A Pre-Construction Phase Plan prepared by the Principal Designer (or, on smaller projects, the client/contractor) before construction begins
• A Construction Phase Plan prepared by the Principal Contractor before the construction phase starts

The construction phase plan is not the same as a risk assessment, but it draws on it. It covers how health and safety will be managed throughout the project — site rules, emergency procedures, induction arrangements, and how risks will be controlled.

On small projects where there is only one contractor and no Principal Designer has been appointed, the contractor takes on CDM responsibilities. Sole traders carrying out notifiable projects also have obligations under CDM.

RAMS: Combining Risk Assessment and Method Statement

For most building work, the practical document format is RAMS — Risk Assessment and Method Statement.

The risk assessment covers the what: what the hazards are, who is at risk, and what the likelihood and severity of harm is.

The method statement covers the how: the safe system of work that tells operatives exactly how the task should be carried out to manage those risks.

Together, they form the documentation that demonstrates you have thought through the risks and put controls in place — before work starts.

Getting It Done Without the Paperwork Headache

For builders and contractors managing multiple sites or a steady flow of new projects, writing site-specific RAMS from scratch every time is genuinely time-consuming. The temptation to reuse a previous document without reviewing it is understandable — but it's also the gap that HSE investigations tend to find.

RiskCompli is built to make this easier: risk assessments and method statements that are specific to your work, structured correctly, and straightforward to update as the job changes. Try it free — no card needed: riskcompli.safecompli.co.uk

For more guidance on health and safety documentation for UK builders and contractors, visit www.safecompli.co.uk

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