Fencing RAMS: a complete guide for UK fencing contractors (2026)

Why fencing contractors need a RAMS

A RAMS is a Risk Assessment and Method Statement combined into one document. For fencing work it is the document that proves you have thought through the ground, the machinery and the location before the first post hole is dug.

Fencing looks straightforward, and that is exactly why its hazards get underestimated. Digging post holes can strike a buried gas or electric service, power augers and post drivers cause serious injuries, and a working day of handling posts and concrete takes a toll on backs. Fencing often happens at the boundary, which means roadsides, remote sites and ground that has services running through it. A main contractor or client will still ask for your RAMS before you start.

If you are a sole-trader fencer on small domestic jobs, you are not always legally required to produce a formal written RAMS for every garden fence. But on any commercial site, new build, agricultural or infrastructure project, or work running under a principal contractor and CDM 2015, a written RAMS is expected and usually mandatory before you can start.

Who asks for a fencing RAMS?

The people who will want to see it include main contractors and principal contractors, councils and highways authorities, landowners and farmers, housing developers, and any project manager running a site where fencing happens alongside other work. A clear, trade-specific RAMS keeps your team safe and gets you through the approval gate without delay.

The hazards a fencing RAMS must cover

A generic RAMS will not pass a competent contractor's check, because it will not address the hazards that are specific to fencing. These are the ones that matter.

Buried services: the biggest risk when digging

Digging post holes, whether by hand or with an auger, can strike buried gas, electricity and water services, causing explosion, electrocution or flooding. This is the most serious hazard in fencing and the one assessors look for. Safe digging follows the HSE's guidance HSG47 on avoiding danger from underground services.

Your RAMS should set out obtaining service plans where available, using a cable avoidance tool to locate services along the fence line, hand-digging or careful augering near anything detected, and a clear instruction to stop if a service is found. On open land services are less likely but never assumed absent - the document should still address how the ground is checked.

Power augers and post drivers

Mechanical post-hole augers and petrol or hydraulic post drivers are the machinery that makes fencing distinctive, and they cause serious injuries. Augers can catch clothing and limbs in the rotating flight and kick back violently when they hit an obstruction; post drivers carry crush and impact risks. They fall under PUWER. Your RAMS should set out trained operators, safe operating procedures, what to do when an auger jams, keeping clear of the rotating parts, and the controls for any tractor-mounted or hydraulic equipment.

Manual handling

Posts, panels, gravel boards, bags of postcrete and concrete, and rolls of wire are heavy and awkward, and the work is repetitive. Manual handling injuries are a constant in fencing, governed by the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. Your method statement should cover team lifts for heavy posts and panels, mechanical aids where the site allows, splitting loads, and good handling technique for repetitive work.

Concrete, postcrete and treated timber

Postcrete and concrete are alkaline and cause cement burns and dermatitis, and mixing creates dust, all under the COSHH Regulations. Treated timber posts carry preservative chemicals. Your RAMS should cover gloves and skin protection, washing facilities, dust control when handling dry postcrete, and safe handling of treated timber.

Location: roads, overhead lines and remote sites

Boundary fencing is often beside live roads, so traffic management and high-visibility clothing belong in the RAMS for roadside work. Tall fencing and machinery near overhead power lines create an electrocution risk that must be assessed with safe clearances. And agricultural and rural fencing often means remote sites and lone working, so the document should cover communication, check-in arrangements and what happens in an emergency far from help. Livestock and electric stock fencing add their own considerations on farm work.

Vibration, noise and hand tools

Augers, post drivers and saws expose operatives to hand-arm vibration and noise, controlled by the Control of Vibration at Work and Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. Your RAMS should cover trigger-time limits, hearing protection, and the safe use of the hand tools and saws fencing relies on.

A worked example: RAMS for a post-and-rail fence on agricultural land

It helps to see how the hazards turn into an actual method statement. Take a common job: installing a post-and-rail boundary fence along the edge of a field, using a tractor-mounted auger, with a single operative working remotely. Here is how a sound RAMS would walk through it.

Before work starts

The RAMS records that the line of the fence has been checked for buried services and overhead power lines, that the auger operator is trained, and that a lone-working arrangement is in place with a check-in schedule and a means of raising the alarm. It confirms the manual handling approach for posts and rails and the controls for postcrete.

Sequence of work and controls

Set up: check the fence line for services and overhead lines, confirm safe clearances, and confirm the lone-working check-in is active. Bore holes: operate the auger to safe procedure, keeping clear of the rotating flight, with a clear method for dealing with a jam or buried obstruction. Set posts: handle posts with good technique or team lifts where help is available, mix and place postcrete with gloves and skin protection. Fix rails: install rails, using hand tools and saws safely with hearing protection where needed. Manage the remote risk: keep to the check-in schedule throughout, with the means to summon help. Clear up: remove waste and leave the site safe, confirming the lone-working sign-off at the end.

Why this reads as competent

The assessor sees the buried-service and overhead-line risks checked before digging, the auger handled to a real procedure, and the lone-working risk managed with check-ins rather than ignored. That is the difference between a RAMS for this job and a template with the name changed.

A pre-work checklist for fencing RAMS

Before you submit a fencing RAMS, or before the team starts on site, run through a short check. A RAMS that can answer yes to these is one that will pass and, more importantly, keep people safe.

• Services checked - is the fence line checked for buried services with plans and a cable avoidance tool, and is there a stop rule if a service is found?
• Overhead lines - are overhead power lines assessed with safe clearances for tall fencing and machinery?
• Auger and driver - are trained operators, safe procedures and jam handling set out for augers and post drivers?
• Manual handling - are team lifts, aids and technique covered for posts, panels and postcrete?
• Concrete and timber - are gloves, skin protection, dust control and treated-timber handling covered?
• Roadside work - for boundary fencing near roads, is traffic management and high-visibility clothing addressed?
• Lone and remote working - for rural sites, are check-in arrangements and emergency communication set out?
• Vibration and noise - are trigger-time limits and hearing protection set out for augers, drivers and saws?

Common reasons a fencing RAMS gets rejected

Knowing why documents get sent back is the fastest way to write one that does not. These are the failings an assessor sees most often on fencing RAMS.

Buried services are not addressed. The most common serious failing - a method that digs post holes with no mention of checking for buried gas, electricity or water first. Given the consequences of a strike, this gets rejected.

Machinery is glossed over. Naming an auger or post driver without trained operators, safe procedures and jam handling overlooks the machinery that injures fencers most.

It is obviously generic. A template that does not name the actual work - domestic timber, security palisade, agricultural stock, gates - the ground or the location is a frequent rejection.

Lone working is ignored. For remote and agricultural fencing, saying nothing about how a lone operative is kept safe and can summon help is a serious gap.

Overhead lines are missed. Tall fencing or a raised auger near overhead power lines, with no assessment of clearances, overlooks an electrocution risk.

How to write a fencing RAMS that passes

Fencing RAMS that get approved on the first attempt tend to do a few things the same way.

Make it specific to the job

The fastest way to get a RAMS rejected is to submit something obviously generic. Name the site, the fence type, the ground conditions, the machinery, and the location risks such as roads, overhead lines or remote working. An assessor can tell within seconds whether the document describes this job or is a template with the name changed.

Follow the sequence of work

The method statement should walk through the job in order: checking the line for services and overhead lines, boring or digging holes, setting posts, fixing panels or rails, and clearing up. Each stage links to the hazards it creates and the controls that manage them.

Rate the risks honestly

The risk assessment side rates each hazard by likelihood and severity, then again after your controls are in place. This residual-risk approach follows HSE's risk assessment guidance and is what a competent assessor expects, with buried services and machinery rated seriously.

Keep it readable

The people who need to follow a RAMS are the fencers on site, not just the assessor. Plain language, a clear sequence and a short list of real controls beat pages of boilerplate nobody reads.

Legislation and standards behind a fencing RAMS

Fencing looks straightforward, but the RAMS that wins work takes its hazards seriously. The single most important is buried services: digging or driving post holes without knowing what is underground has killed and maimed people, so your method should reference HSG47, the use of cable and service plans, and CAT-and-genny scanning before any excavation. Manual handling runs right through the trade under the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 — posts, panels, gates and bags of postcrete are all awkward loads — and powered augers, post drivers and breakers put you squarely under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, with vibration exposure to assess under the 2005 regulations. Wet cement and concrete are a COSHH and dermatitis risk worth naming, not assuming.

Where you work shapes the rest. Fencing beside a live carriageway brings traffic management and Chapter 8 signing into the method; agricultural and rural work brings livestock, uneven ground and lone working; and any of it may put you far from immediate help, so an emergency and communication plan earns its place. Referencing BS 1722 for fences, and the relevant National Highways Sector Scheme where you work on the highway, shows the assessor you know the standards your sector expects.

Coordinating fencing with the site and the public

Fencing is less about dovetailing with other trades and more about managing the ground, the public and the client's land, and a strong RAMS reflects that. On a construction site you will need to agree excavation permits and confirm services before you break ground; on public or roadside work you are protecting pedestrians and traffic from your excavations and materials. The method should set out how open post holes are guarded and never left unattended, how materials and spoil are stored so they do not become a hazard, and how deliveries reach the line without blocking access.

On private and agricultural land, coordination means the landowner and any livestock — gates left open or stock disturbed cause real problems — so your document should show you have thought about access, boundaries and reinstatement. Contractors and clients judge fencing firms heavily on how tidily and safely they leave a site each day, and the RAMS is where you demonstrate that discipline up front.

Keeping your fencing RAMS live on site

Brief the crew from the RAMS before work starts and keep the signed sheet, especially the parts on buried services and excavation — those are the controls an investigator would look for first if anything went wrong. Fencing routes change on the ground all the time, and the moment the line moves, the depth changes, or a service is found, the assessment should be revisited rather than assumed to still hold. For gangs working alone or remotely, the check-in arrangements in the plan need to be real and followed, not just written down.

Give each version a date and number, and review the document after any strike, near miss or change of method. A fencing RAMS that takes underground services and lone working seriously is the mark of a contractor who can be trusted to work unsupervised — which is exactly what most fencing clients are buying.

Digging safely: avoiding underground services

The hazard that should sit at the top of any fencing RAMS is striking a buried service, because the consequences — electrocution, gas explosion, flooding — are severe and the work happens on exactly the ground where cables and pipes run. A credible method follows HSG47, the HSE guidance on avoiding danger from underground services, and describes the sequence rather than gesturing at it: obtain and review service plans for the area before starting, scan the line of the fence with a cable avoidance tool and signal generator, and mark up what is found. Where services are known or suspected, the method should call for trial holes dug carefully by hand and for hand-digging within the safe distance of a marked service rather than driving posts or using an auger blind.

The document should also cover what happens if a service is found or struck: stop, make safe, and report, with the right emergency contacts to hand. On sites this usually means a permit-to-dig system, and your RAMS should show you will work within it. Because post holes and driven posts concentrate all the force at a single point underground, fencing carries more strike risk than its reputation suggests — and the contractors and clients who have seen a near miss know it. A fencing RAMS that treats underground services with real rigour is one of the clearest signals that a firm can be trusted to dig unsupervised.

Doing it the fast way

Writing a full fencing RAMS by hand for every job is exactly the paperwork that eats evenings. That is the problem Complys was built to solve: answer a few questions about the job and the trade, and it generates a complete, fencing-specific risk assessment and method statement you can edit, download and share. The hazards above - buried services, augers and post drivers, manual handling, lone working - come built into the templates, so you start from a document that already knows the trade rather than a blank page.

The basics are covered in what a RAMS is and how to write one, and the difference between a RAMS and a risk assessment answers the question fencing contractors ask most. See the full range of trades on the RAMS builder hub.

However you put it together, a fencing RAMS has one aim: keep the team safe around post-holes, buried services and powered augers, get you on site without a hold-up, and hold up when a contractor reviews it.