I work for a facilities company, each manager, electrical, heating, AC have their own way of writing RAMS. The company wants to bring a corporate look to the whole system and have 1 layout. Which I agree with.

But I'm not qualified in any of those trades but they expect me to write a generic set of RAMS for each activity. 

My first set was for some elctrical work and I need to include "safe Isolation procedures".  I don't think it's sufficient just to write safe isolation will be conducted. I think it should read safe isolation complying to/in accordance with the NICEIC pocket book.

Am I going to indepth or is it OK just to write safe isolation and be done with it?

In the world of  H&S you often find yourself in the situation where the people doing the work activity understand most of the risks and how to manage them but cannot create any decent documentation to describe what they want to do.  As a H&S bod you need to create a framework that they can fill in with their thoughts. You need to make sure that it is laid in away that others (including third parties) can navigate and extract the relevant information from. You also need to make sure that it has the necessary breadth ie deals with all the risks that might arise and also relates to people other  than just the operators.  You don’t need detailed knowledge of each procedure, that it what the people doing the tasks will contribute. You just create a framework and then you make sure that they complete it correctly ie they way you want it.

HI Mark, I note you were employed to write the MS because they were all too busy to.  If you provide the Template for them to fill in the blanks, then you may be out of a job going forward.

I suggest you make up a form that asks those people to fill in the blanks with all relevant details and hand it to you so you can then do what you are paid for and complete the MS.

You can get guidance on what the MS should include on the internet.

Morning Firesafety

I am with AK with this.

Once an organisation has realised that they need a competent health and safety professional the workload for that person will tend to grow, however well that person makes sure that line managers, supervisors etc take ownership of H&S.

I have always taken the view that the ultimate objective of a competent OSH professional should be to make their own job redundant, but that doesn't usually happen as there is alwaya some new challenge round the corner.

Lots of studies concluding that "Good Health and Safety is Good Business", with some (usually NOT the researchers but others choosing an interpretation of what the researchers have said) often then taking the jump to say that improving H&S is in itself good for the bottom line. 

Actually I think that any correlation between the two is usually INDIRECT. The best organisations manage ALL aspects of how they are run. Hence those that present high standards of H&S tend to also keep the finances on a stable footing.

Nothing new there. When I worked for HSE and particularly the 4 years I did in Construction, I could often make a reasonable guess as to what I would find on site simply by asking how the project was going in terms of budget and programme. If the answer was that the project was X months behind programme, it usually meant that it hadn't been adequately bid and managed, a clear indicator of poor management which then very often carried over to site health and safety standards. 

Edited by user 10 April 2025 08:43:17(UTC)  | Reason: Clarification