Glazing RAMS: a complete guide for UK glaziers and glazing contractors (2026)

Why glaziers and glazing contractors need a RAMS

A RAMS is a Risk Assessment and Method Statement combined into one document. For glazing work it is the document that proves you have thought through the weight of the glass, the lifting, the height and the breakage risk before a single unit is moved.

Glazing is defined by handling heavy, awkward, fragile panels that can cause severe cuts if they break, often at height and often with mechanical lifting equipment that fails dangerously if it is not maintained. Large sealed units are extremely heavy, fragile rooflights kill people who fall through them, and a dropped pane is a serious risk to anyone below. A main contractor will examine a glazing RAMS closely before letting you on site.

If you are a sole-trader glazier on small domestic jobs, you are not always legally required to produce a formal written RAMS for every window. But on any commercial site, new build, shopfront, refurbishment, 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 glazing RAMS?

The people who will want to see it include main contractors and principal contractors, shopfitting and fit-out contractors, developers and housebuilders, facilities managers and building owners, and any project manager running several trades at once. A clear, trade-specific RAMS keeps your team safe and gets you through the approval gate without delay.

The hazards a glazing 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 glazing. These are the ones that matter.

Manual handling of heavy glass

Glass is the heavy, awkward heart of the trade. Large sealed double and triple-glazed units, shopfront panes and curtain-walling glass are heavy enough to cause serious injury and impossible to handle safely by hand beyond a certain size. Manual handling is governed by the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.

Your RAMS should set out the handling method for each size of glass: team lifts for smaller units, and mechanical aids - glass suction lifters, vacuum lifters, manipulators or cranes - for anything large or installed at height. It should address the awkward postures and twisting that injure glaziers, and good handling technique throughout. Saying "glass will be handled carefully" is not enough for a competent assessor.

Breakage and cuts

A breaking pane is the injury that defines the trade. Broken glass causes deep lacerations, and a large pane breaking against a person can be fatal. Your RAMS should cover cut-resistant gloves and arm protection, controlling how glass is moved and rested so it cannot break against someone, immediate clean-up and safe disposal of broken glass, and what happens if a unit breaks during handling. This is the section an assessor expects to see treated seriously.

Working at height and fragile rooflights

Windows above ground level, curtain walling, shopfront fascias, rooflights and conservatory roofs all mean working at height under the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Fragile rooflights are a particular killer - people fall through them - and glazing work often happens right at them. Your RAMS must specify the access (scaffold, tower, MEWP), edge protection, and crucially the controls for fragile surfaces where rooflight or conservatory-roof work is involved.

Glass lifting equipment

Suction and vacuum lifters, glass manipulators and cranes are common in glazing and dangerous if they fail - a lost vacuum seal drops a heavy pane. Lifting equipment falls under LOLER as well as PUWER. Your RAMS should set out that lifting equipment is inspected and within its examination date, that vacuum lifters have their seal and power checked before use, that operators are trained, and that the area beneath suspended glass is excluded. This is a glazing-specific control an assessor looks for.

Wind and weather

Large panes act like sails, the same problem cladding faces. Lifting a big pane at height in wind can pull an operative off balance or send the glass out of control. Your RAMS should set a wind speed limit above which large glass will not be handled at height, and address weather affecting safe work and grip.

Sealants, public protection and dropped glass

Silicone sealants, solvents and primers are COSHH substances needing ventilation and skin protection under the COSHH Regulations. Shopfront and public-building glazing happens around the public, so the RAMS should protect passers-by from the work and from any glass. And dropped or falling glass from height is a serious risk, so exclusion zones below and controlled raising of glass belong in the document.

A worked example: RAMS for replacing a shopfront pane with a vacuum lifter

It helps to see how the hazards turn into an actual method statement. Take a common job: removing a broken shopfront pane and installing a new large sealed unit using a vacuum lifter, on a public high street. Here is how a sound RAMS would walk through it.

Before work starts

The RAMS records that the vacuum lifter is within its LOLER examination date and its seal and power will be checked before use, that the pane weight has been assessed and the lifter is rated for it, that a public exclusion area will be set up on the footway, and that the team is trained on the equipment.

Sequence of work and controls

Set up: barrier off a public exclusion zone on the pavement and confirm a wind check is within limits for handling glass outside. Remove the old pane: clear any remaining broken glass with cut protection, dispose of it safely, and remove the failed unit with the lifter or a team lift as appropriate. Prepare: clean and prime the opening, using sealants with ventilation and gloves. Lift the new pane: check the vacuum lifter seal and power, attach and lift the new unit keeping the public excluded from beneath and around it, and never leave glass suspended. Install: position and fix the pane, controlling it against the wind, with cut-resistant gloves throughout. Seal and finish: apply sealant, clean down. Clear up: remove the exclusion only when the glass is secure, dispose of waste safely.

Why this reads as competent

The assessor sees the lifting equipment checked and within examination, the pane weight matched to the lifter, the public protected, and the cut and wind risks controlled. That is the difference between a RAMS for this job and a template with the name changed.

A pre-work checklist for glazing RAMS

Before you submit a glazing 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.

• Handling method matched - is the handling method set out for each glass size, with mechanical aids for large or high-level units rather than hand-balling everything?
• Cut protection - are cut-resistant gloves and arm protection, and the response to a breaking pane, covered?
• Lifting equipment - is lifting and vacuum equipment within LOLER examination, with seal and power checks and trained operators?
• Working at height - is the access, edge protection and fragile-surface control for rooflights and conservatory roofs set out?
• Wind limit - is there a wind speed above which large panes will not be handled at height?
• Exclusion below - is the area beneath suspended or raised glass excluded?
• Public protection - for shopfront and public-building work, are passers-by protected from the work and from glass?
• Sealants - are silicone, solvents and primers covered with ventilation and skin protection?

Common reasons a glazing 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 glazing RAMS.

Manual handling is hand-balled. The most common serious failing - assuming glass will be carried by hand with no mechanical lifting for large units, given how heavy and dangerous big panes are.

Lifting equipment is glossed over. Using a vacuum lifter or manipulator with no mention of LOLER examination, seal checks or operator training overlooks how dangerously this equipment fails.

Fragile rooflights are missed. Glazing work near rooflights or conservatory roofs with no fragile-surface controls ignores one of the things that kills people in this kind of work.

The public is not protected. Shopfront work on a high street with no public exclusion overlooks the people walking past heavy glass.

It is obviously generic. A template that does not name the actual work - windows, curtain walling, shopfront, rooflights, balustrades - or the glass weights and access is a frequent rejection.

How to write a glazing RAMS that passes

A glazing RAMS that is accepted first time generally gets a few things right, whatever the pane.

Make it specific to the job

The fastest way to get a RAMS rejected is to submit something obviously generic. Name the site, the type of glazing, the glass sizes and weights, the access and lifting equipment, and the location risks such as the public or fragile roofs. 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: setting up access and exclusion, removing old glazing, preparing the opening, lifting and installing the glass, sealing, 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 manual handling, lifting equipment and working at height rated seriously.

Keep it readable

The people who need to follow a RAMS are the glaziers 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 glazing RAMS

Glazing sits across several sets of regulations, and a RAMS that names them reads as the work of someone who knows the trade. Large panes are heavy and awkward, so the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 are central, and the moment you use vacuum lifters, glass suckers or a crane you are into the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 — your document should confirm the lifting equipment has a current thorough examination and that the operator is competent to use it. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 cover the same kit day to day, the Work at Height Regulations 2005 apply to shopfronts, curtain walling and upper-floor units, and sealants and solvents fall under COSHH. Running through all of it is the ever-present risk of laceration from glass, which the method should address with cut-resistant gloves, controlled handling and a plan for breakages.

For standards, BS 6262 is the code of practice for glazing and worth referencing, and Glass and Glazing Federation guidance carries weight with assessors. Citing the right lifting regulations in particular reassures a contractor, because uncontrolled glass lifting is exactly the kind of high-consequence task they worry about in a subcontractor's method.

Coordinating glazing with the site programme

Glazing is often on the critical path — the building is not weathertight until the glass is in — so coordination with the programme is part of the job. Deliveries of large units need craneage or lifter access and a clear route, and the RAMS should set out the exclusion zone kept below and around a lift so nobody walks under a suspended pane. Wind is a genuine control, not a footnote: lifting glass in gusty conditions is dangerous, so your method should state the wind speed at which lifting stops.

You are usually glazing after the frames are in and alongside the trades chasing weathertightness, so protecting the installed units from following works, and agreeing who is responsible for that protection, avoids the finger-pointing that comes when a new pane gets cracked by another trade. Spelling this out in the RAMS shows the contractor you have thought past your own task to the handover.

Keeping your glazing RAMS live on site

Brief the team from the RAMS before work starts and keep the attendance record — for a high-consequence task like glass lifting, that briefing is not a formality. If the pane size, the access method or the lifting equipment changes from what was planned, the RAMS needs revisiting, because the lift plan is the part most sensitive to change. It is also where the paperwork behind your equipment lives: the lifter's thorough examination certificate and the operator's competence should be current and to hand, not something you scramble for when asked.

Give every version a date and number so the site is always working to the latest method, and review the document after any breakage or near miss. A glazing RAMS that is briefed, current and backed by in-date lifting certificates is the difference between being trusted with the next facade package and being watched on this one.

Planning the lift: the heart of a glazing RAMS

For most glazing jobs the lift is the highest-consequence part of the work, and the strength of the RAMS is judged largely on how well it is planned. A good lift plan starts with the numbers: the weight of the unit, the safe working load of the vacuum lifter or crane, and the margin between them. It names who is in charge of the lift, confirms the operator is trained and the lifting equipment has a current thorough examination, and sets out the exclusion zone that keeps everyone from under a suspended pane. It states the wind speed at which lifting stops, because glass acts like a sail and a gust at the wrong moment is how panes and people get hurt.

Just as important is the contingency: what happens if the suction fails, if the unit will not seat, or if a pane breaks at height. Spelling out how a breakage is contained and cleared, and how the area is made safe, shows the assessor you have thought past the ideal case. A glazing RAMS that treats the lift as a properly planned lifting operation — rather than "two of us will carry it up" — is the one a contractor trusts with the front of their building.

Doing it the fast way

Writing a full glazing 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, glazing-specific risk assessment and method statement you can edit, download and share. The hazards above - heavy glass, breakage, working at height, lifting equipment, public protection - come built into the templates, so you start from a document that already knows the trade rather than a blank page.

For the groundwork, read what a RAMS is and how to write one, and the difference between a RAMS and a risk assessment to clear up the frequent confusion. All the trades we support are on the RAMS builder hub.

However it is written, a glazing RAMS has a clear purpose: keep people safe around heavy glass and lifting plant, get you through the gate without delay, and stand up to a contractor's check.