Groundworks RAMS template for Ireland

A groundworks RAMS must describe the actual ground, excavation or earthmoving task, the location of buried and overhead services, how the excavation will be supported or battered, plant and pedestrian separation, access and emergency arrangements, and the inspection and stop-work rules. Use this Irish template to record those decisions for a defined work package. It is not an excavation design and it does not certify that a trench is safe to enter. A competent person must assess the particular ground and method.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) excavation FAQ is the key source for excavation controls and inspection. The HSA Code of Practice for Avoiding Danger from Underground Services informs service detection and safe digging. The HSA's Ground Works Safe System of Work Plan offers a complementary task control check. Current RAMS and Safe Plan of Action guidance explains how a method statement and a short daily plan work together. None can replace site investigation or technical design.

Decide the actual work package first

“Groundworks” can mean stripping topsoil, digging foundations, installing drainage, trenching for services, working beside a road, compaction, piling support or reinstatement. A single generic method for all these activities is not useful. Name the area, depth and width, soil/groundwater conditions, nearby structures, access, machinery and people. Separate the part that involves entry into an excavation from tasks done solely from outside. Identify whether anyone may be exposed to a collapse, fall, service strike, vehicle movement, contaminated material or water. A shallow excavation may still need support: the HSA explicitly warns that risk assessment may require support below 1.25 m, for example in poor ground or where a worker must crouch.

For each work stage, write the decision that would cause the crew to stop and re-plan. A plan that says only “banksman present” or “PPE worn” leaves the main hazards unresolved. The named supervisor should brief the crew before work and after any change in ground, weather, service information, adjacent loading or method.

Copyable groundworks RAMS worksheet

Replace the bracketed fields with project-specific evidence. If the evidence cannot be supplied, mark that part HOLD. The example sequence must be redesigned to fit the actual work; it is not a ready-to-dig instruction.

A. Scope, people and records

Hold A — readiness to dig: the supervisor confirms current service information, a site-specific ground/support decision, public/plant segregation and any permits. A signed RAMS without those inputs is not permission to excavate. If the expected ground or services differ from reality, stop and refer back to the competent designer or owner.

B. Service and ground investigation record

Service plans are a starting point, not proof of location or depth. Obtain information from relevant utility owners and the site/occupier, review it with local evidence and use suitable detection/investigation by competent people. Identify overhead lines as well as buried electricity, gas, water, telecoms, drains and private supplies. Decide a safe method for exposing or protecting each service and who can authorise isolation or diversion. The HSA underground-services code is the reference for planning this work. Do not assume a detector can find every non-metallic pipe or abandoned line. The HSA's Ground Works SSWP includes plans, detection, hand digging, barriers and utility coordination as controls to select where appropriate, not a universal fixed sequence.

Hold B — unknown service or ground: do not mechanically dig near an unresolved service or enter an unassessed excavation. Protect and report an unexpected service. If ground, water or adjacent loading invalidates the support assumptions, secure the area and obtain a revised method.

C. Excavation stability and entry decision

Record whether people must enter, how the ground will be prevented from collapsing, how the edge will be protected and where plant, spoil and materials may be placed. Shoring, battering and other measures must be selected on the actual risk. The HSA excavation FAQ says a competent person must inspect an excavation at least once on every day people work there; for excavations over 2 m deep, at the start of each shift before work; also after events likely to affect strength/stability and after a fall of rock or earth. Its guidance also refers to at least seven-day inspection where no people are working there and an AF3 report for the competent inspection. Verify the currently applicable requirements and project scope before work. These intervals are minimum prompts, not a guarantee that conditions remain safe between checks. Continuous observation and reinspection after change may be necessary.

Hold C — entry: no worker enters until the competent person confirms the designed support/shape and access are installed, inspections are current, services are controlled and emergency arrangements are workable. A trench box must be suitable for the actual soil, depth and loading and be used to its design. A 1.25 m number is not a blanket “safe below this depth” rule. The HSA says even shallower trenches may need protection.

D. Work stages and site controls

The method below is a structure for your site-specific sequence. Record the control's verifier, not merely that the crew has read it.

If the task includes lifting operations, a traffic management plan, confined space entry, contaminated land, work beside rail or a road, or temporary works affecting a structure, attach the specialist plan and named approval. Do not use this general table as a substitute. Asbestos or other suspect material is a stop-work discovery: isolate the area and seek competent assessment rather than continuing under a generic “PPE” control.

E. People, plant, briefing and emergency plan

Check the current HSA Safe Pass and CSCS requirements for the actual roles. A general card is not evidence of competence to design trench support or inspect an excavation. Brief the crew in a language and format they understand, show service marks and escape routes on the ground, agree a stop-work signal, and record attendance. The HSA's Safe Plan of Action can support this task-level briefing.

Write the emergency response for collapse, service strike, flooding and injury. State exact site access, emergency-call contact, utility emergency number source, first aider and equipment. For collapse, keep people out of the danger zone and summon emergency services; an improvised entry may trigger a second collapse. For gas or electricity, follow the utility owner's emergency instructions. If water, contaminated atmosphere or confined-space hazards are credible, a specialist emergency and rescue plan is needed. A phone number alone is not a plan.

F. Closeout and handover

Worked example: short drainage trench beside a delivery route

A crew must replace a short buried drain next to a yard lane. The plan says the trench is “only one metre deep,” so a generic form marks shoring “not required.” That conclusion is unsafe without the ground, water and vehicle-loading assessment. The supervisor obtains service information, has the line located and marked, arranges a protected pedestrian and delivery route, and asks the competent designer to select support or battering for the actual soil and traffic load. The inspector records the excavation's condition before entry and after heavy rain or other destabilising events. A newly exposed utility or waterlogged face triggers a stop, not a field improvisation. The completed RAMS identifies who may release work again and what evidence is needed.

Frequent mistakes

1. Treating plans or scanner output as a perfect map. Unknown, private or non-metallic services can remain. Plan how uncertainty will be resolved.
2. Using depth alone to decide support. Soil, water, vibration, adjacent loads and worker position matter; the HSA warns that support may be needed below 1.25 m.
3. Leaving plant and spoil near the edge without a designed allowance. They can load the ground and affect stability. Record actual positions.
4. Treating a trench box as self-explanatory. It needs a suitable design, installation and use for the ground and task.
5. Writing “daily inspection” but not naming the competent inspector or AF3 record. Add the shift/event triggers and handover process.
6. Forgetting public and traffic interfaces. A delivery route or footpath can invalidate the plan even where the excavation itself is supported.
7. Removing support or backfilling without a method. Closeout is part of the engineered sequence.

Internal links and product boundary

The HSA Ground Works SSWP is an external practical companion. The live Irish construction compliance guide covers the broader owner/task; this worksheet has a separate fillable groundworks work-package intent. The observed Irish construction sector page could be a money link after its product and commercial claims are verified. The manifest's /ie/rams-software route was not verified live, so do not publish that link or imply the Irish product automatically designs excavation support, locates utilities or approves RAMS. A truthful CTA can invite a demo of whatever current workflow actually stores the approved document, revisions, briefings and inspection records. A competent person remains responsible for those decisions.

Source/claim and writer-side QA register — 5 October 2026

Final writer-side disposition: READY. This is a document framework, not a safe excavation design or permit. No site/repository content was edited or published.