Method statements: the sequence a site manager actually wants to read
- 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.
A method statement describes how a job will be carried out, in order, by people who are competent to do it, with the controls from the risk assessment built into the steps. It is the document that answers the practical question a site manager has, which is not whether you know that working at height is dangerous, but what you are going to do first, what happens while you are up there and who is standing underneath. Everything else in the document is context for that sequence.
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Set the scope and the site before the sequence, as method statement templates do
Say what the work is, where it is, when it happens, who is doing it and who is supervising. Method statement templates all start here because a reviewer cannot judge a sequence without knowing the boundary of the work and what is going on around it.
Number the steps and put the control in each step of the safety method statement
Each step names the activity, the plant and access equipment, the people and the control: isolate and prove dead before removing the cover; erect and inspect the tower before any work above; wet cut with extraction and eye protection. A safety method statement that lists controls separately from the sequence leaves the crew to match them up.
Finish with the arrangements a free method statement template leaves thin
Emergency arrangements, first aid, rescue from height, spill and fire, the site contact and what to do if the work has to stop. A free method statement template usually leaves these thin, and they are the sections that matter on the one day the sequence does not go to plan.
Method statements: common questions
Is a method statement a legal requirement? The law requires risks to be assessed and work to be planned and controlled proportionately. A method statement is the ordinary way of showing that for construction work, and on almost any managed site it is a contractual requirement even where it is not a statutory one.
Can I use a method statement template free of charge? Yes, and many are perfectly good structures. Treat it as a set of headings. The sequence, the plant, the competence and the emergency arrangements have to be yours, and a reviewer can tell within a paragraph whether they are.
How detailed should each step be? Detailed enough that a competent person who was not at the planning meeting could carry out the step in the order intended. If a step reads as a job title rather than an action, it is a heading and not a step.
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