How to write a method statement as the briefing you would give the crew
- Work order total
- $863.16
- Labour
- $510
- Parts, marked up
- $288
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs entered, by the method stated below it. Jobcardo publishes no tax rate, no wage figure and no trade standard: the rate, the markup and the tax on the parts line are yours, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own figures.
Writing a method statement is easier if you stop thinking of it as a document and start thinking of it as the briefing you would give the crew on the morning, written down in the order you would give it. Walk the job in your head from arriving on site to leaving it clean, and write what happens at each point, what it is done with, and what stops it going wrong. The document that comes out of that is specific, short and accepted; the one that comes out of a template filled in at a desk is usually neither of the first two.
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What is method statement content? Describe the job before the method
Scope, address, dates, the people and their competence, the supervisor, the plant and access equipment, and what is happening around you. Anybody asking what is method statement content usually starts here, because the sequence means nothing without the setting.
Walk it in order and write what you see
Arrive, unload, set up exclusion, isolate, access, do the work in its natural order, test, clear, hand back. How to write method statement sections that pass is mostly this: each step an action, each action with its equipment, its people and its control, numbered so a briefing can refer to step seven.
End with emergencies, and use a work method statement example only for the shape
First aid, rescue from height, fire, spill, services strike, and the instruction to stop and call if the job is not as described. Then read the assessment and the method side by side: every control named in the assessment should appear in a step. A work method statement example is useful for the shape, but this check is what gets a pack accepted.
How to write a method statement: common questions
How long does a method statement take to write? For a job you have done before, under an hour once the structure exists. For unfamiliar work it takes as long as the site visit plus the writing, and the site visit is the part that cannot be skipped without the pack becoming generic.
What is the difference between a method statement and a work instruction? Scale and audience. A work instruction is usually a repeatable task written once for anybody doing it. A method statement is for this job on this site, referencing the hazards actually present, and it is reissued when the job changes.
What gets a method statement rejected most often? A sequence that does not match the risk assessment, no rescue plan where people work at height, missing competence or plant inspection evidence, and a document that is obviously a template for a different job. All four are visible in a two minute read.
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