Cleaning risk assessment and method statement (RAMS): what to include
How to write a risk assessment and method statement for a cleaning job: the hazards to cover, what goes in the method statement, generic and site-specific RAMS, and a worked example.
Updated · 8 min read
Sooner or later a client asks for your RAMS before you start. It's usually an office manager, a facilities company, a school, or a builder who wants a clean at the end of a job. RAMS is two documents that go together:
- The risk assessment says what could hurt someone on this job and what you'll do to stop it.
- The method statement says how the job will be done, step by step, so those controls actually happen.
A risk assessment is a legal requirement for any employer, and must be written down once you have five or more employees. A method statement isn't required by law for most cleaning, but clients ask for one because it shows you've thought the job through.
Generic or site-specific
Most cleaning companies keep a generic risk assessment for each kind of work they do: regular office cleaning, domestic cleaning, holiday-let turnovers, end of tenancy, after-builders cleans. Then, for each new contract, they add what's different about that building: the stairs with no handrail, the alarm, the server room nobody goes into.
Clients want the site-specific one. It proves someone has walked the site.
The risk assessment
HSE's five steps work well for cleaning:
- 1Identify the hazards.
- 2Decide who might be harmed and how.
- 3Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions.
- 4Record what you found and what you'll do.
- 5Review it, and update it when things change.
Hazards to cover on most cleaning jobs
| Hazard | Who and how | Typical controls |
|---|---|---|
| Wet and slippery floors | Cleaners, staff and visitors slipping | Wet floor signs, clean in sections, keep a dry route, mop when the building is quiet |
| Trailing cables | Anyone tripping over vacuum leads | Plug in near the work, keep cables to the wall, cordless where possible |
| Chemicals | Cleaners, through skin, eyes or breathing | A COSHH assessment for each product, gloves and eye protection, ventilation, never mix products |
| Manual handling | Cleaners lifting bins, buckets, linen bags and machines | Half-fill bins and buckets, use trolleys, two people for heavy items |
| Working at height | Cleaners on steps for high dusting and light fittings | Extension poles first, then steps in good condition; never chairs |
| Electrical equipment | Cleaners, from damaged plugs and leads | Check before each use, take damaged kit out of use, regular inspection |
| Lone working | Cleaners working alone, often early or late | Check in and check out, a named contact, a charged phone, no work at height alone |
| Sharps and bodily fluids | Cleaners emptying bins or cleaning toilets | Gloves, never press bin bags down by hand, a spill kit, report needles |
| Driving between jobs | Cleaners on the road | Realistic schedules, no phone use while driving |
| Fire | Everyone, if a cleaner doesn't know the exits | A site induction: exits, assembly point, alarm and extinguishers |
Clients often ask for each hazard to be scored. The usual way is likelihood times severity, each from 1 to 5, before and after your controls. The score after controls is the one that matters: it shows the controls bring the risk down to something acceptable.
Chemicals have their own assessments under COSHH. Refer to them here rather than repeating them: our guide to COSHH for cleaning companies covers what goes in them.
The method statement
Keep it short enough that the cleaner on site will read it. For each job, cover:
- The job. Client, site address, contact name and number, start date, days and times.
- The scope. What's being cleaned and to what standard. Point to the specification or the quote.
- Access and security. Keys, fobs, signing in, and areas that are off limits. Keep alarm codes out of the document.
- Who. The cleaners on the job, their training, and who supervises.
- Equipment and products. What you bring, what the client provides, and where products are kept on site.
- PPE. What's worn for which tasks.
- The sequence. The order the work is done in, with the controls from the risk assessment in the right places.
- Waste. Where it goes, and anything that needs special handling.
- Emergencies. Fire procedure, first aid, the spill kit, and how to report an accident or near miss.
- Sign-off. Who wrote it, the date, the review date, and space for the cleaners to sign they've read it.
Worked example: an evening office clean
When to review it
Look at it again when the client changes the scope, a new cleaner starts on the site, a product changes, or after any accident or near miss. Otherwise, once a year.
How RoomZoom helps
In RoomZoom, once a client accepts your quote, you're asked whether the job needs a RAMS. Answer the questions about the work, the site and how it's reached, and RoomZoom builds a site-specific risk assessment and method statement from a library of standard hazards and controls for cleaning, each scored before and after its controls. Add any hazards particular to the site, check it fits, then download it as a PDF or email it to the client.
Cleaners clock in and out in the cleaner app, so you can see who is on site, and the training matrix shows who has read and signed your lone working and health and safety policies. Quotes, RAMS and training are part of Pro, free for your first 14 days. Sign up free, with no card needed.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. The HSE website has the official guidance on risk assessment.
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