The construction phase plan is a CDM 2015 document for the whole project. The principal contractor writes it, and it sets out the health and safety arrangements and site rules everyone works to. RAMS (risk assessments and method statements) are task documents. Each contractor writes them for its own work, to show how that work will be done safely within the plan.
One covers the site. The other covers a job on it. You need both, and they need to agree with each other.
What is a construction phase plan?
It is a legal requirement under Regulation 12 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015). On a project with more than one contractor, the principal contractor must draw it up, or arrange for it to be drawn up, before the construction site is set up. On a single-contractor project, the contractor does it (Regulation 15(5)).
Regulation 12(2) says the plan must set out the health and safety arrangements and site rules. Where it applies, it must also include specific measures for work in the Schedule 3 categories, such as work where a risk of falling from height or burial under earthfalls is particularly aggravated by the nature of the work or the site. Under Regulation 12(4), the principal contractor must keep it reviewed, updated and revised throughout the project.
HSE's guidance (L153, Appendix 3) says the plan is the basis for communicating the arrangements to everyone involved, so it should be easy to understand and as simple as possible. Who writes it and when is covered in who writes the construction phase plan, and when must it be ready?
Where do RAMS come from?
CDM 2015 does not mention RAMS. The words "method statement" do not appear in it at all.
The risk assessment comes from a different law: Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Every employer must make a "suitable and sufficient assessment" of the risks to its employees at work, and to anyone else affected by how it runs its work. The self-employed have a similar duty where the regulations apply to them. Where an employer has five or more employees, it must record the significant findings. The assessment must be reviewed if there is reason to think it is no longer valid, or if there has been a significant change.
CDM 2015 links to this directly. Regulation 15(9) says the information a contractor gives its workers must include the risks identified by that Regulation 3 risk assessment.
The method statement is not named in either set of regulations. It is industry practice: a step-by-step account of how the task will be done, with the controls the risk assessment identified. Principal contractors commonly ask for one, because it shows how a contractor will turn the assessment into work on the ground.
How do they fit together?
Think of the construction phase plan as the frame and the RAMS as the work that sits inside it.
The plan sets the site rules, the arrangements for cooperation and coordination, induction, welfare, emergencies and the measures for any Schedule 3 work.
The RAMS show how one contractor will carry out one task within those rules: the sequence, the people, the plant, the hazards and the controls.
The regulations tie the two together. Each contractor must comply with the parts of the plan relevant to its work (Regulation 15(3)(b)). The principal contractor must coordinate how contractors meet their health and safety legal requirements, and ensure employers follow the plan where required (Regulation 13(3)).
The RAMS do not belong inside the plan. L153 says the plan should not include documents that get in the way of a clear understanding of it, such as "generic risk assessments" or "detailed safety method statements". They sit alongside it.
Who writes each one?
Construction phase plan: the principal contractor, helped by the principal designer, or the only contractor on a single-contractor job.
Risk assessment: each employer, and each self-employed person where the duty applies, for its own work.
Method statement: usually the contractor doing the task, often at the principal contractor's request.
Review of RAMS before work starts: the regulations do not name it, but it is a common way for a principal contractor to show it is planning, managing and monitoring the construction phase under Regulation 13(1).
What are the common mistakes?
Generic RAMS. The same document on every job, with another site's name, access route or emergency arrangements in it. A risk assessment has to be suitable and sufficient for the work actually being done.
RAMS that contradict the plan. A method statement that assumes a different access route, working hours or permit system from the site rules.
A plan that never changes. Written for the start of the job, then left on the shelf while the programme, the design and the contractors all change. Regulation 12(4) requires it to be reviewed and revised throughout.
A plan stuffed with RAMS. Hundreds of pages that nobody reads, which is exactly what L153 warns against.
RAMS approved but not briefed. A signed document in the office is not the same as a gang that knows the sequence and the controls. Contractors must give their workers the information and instructions they need (Regulation 15(8) and (9)).
RAMS that outlive the task. The job changed, but the assessment was never reviewed. We wrote about this in which of your RAMS expired last week?
Keeping on top of every contractor's RAMS is a job in itself on a busy site, as nine RAMS and a site to run shows.
Where Clarity PC fits
Clarity PC, our system for principal contractors, keeps the construction phase plan, a RAMS register and permits linked to approved RAMS in one place. An AI first pass checks each RAMS against a 27-point CDM rubric and drafts your review, and a competent person always makes the approval. It is coming soon.
This article is general information, not legal advice.