Plastering RAMS: a complete guide for UK plasterers and dry liners (2026)

Why plasterers and dry liners need a RAMS

A RAMS is a Risk Assessment and Method Statement combined into one document. For plastering and dry lining work it is the document that proves you have thought through the job, the dust, the access and the old building fabric before you start mixing.

Plastering feels like a clean, skilled trade, and that is exactly why its hazards get overlooked. Sanding and mixing throw fine dust into the air, an old textured ceiling can hide asbestos, bags of plaster wreck shoulders and backs over a career, and working at height on stilts or hop-ups is where plasterers most often get hurt. A main contractor knows all this, which is why they will ask for your RAMS before letting you on site.

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

Who asks for a plastering RAMS?

The people who will want to see it include main contractors and principal contractors letting you onto their site, housebuilders and developers, housing associations and local authorities, 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 plastering RAMS must cover

A generic RAMS will not pass a competent contractor's check, because it will not mention the hazards that are specific to plastering and dry lining. These are the ones that matter.

Asbestos in old artex and textured coatings

This is the hazard that catches plasterers more than almost any other trade. Textured decorative coatings such as artex, applied widely before the year 2000, can contain asbestos. Skimming over, sanding down or removing an old textured ceiling or wall can release asbestos fibres. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 govern this.

Your RAMS should state that you will check for an asbestos register or a refurbishment and demolition survey before disturbing any pre-2000 textured surface, that you will stop work and report if you suspect asbestos, and that you will not sand or remove suspect coatings without proper assessment. This single section reassures an assessor enormously, because old artex is one of the most common ways plasterers expose themselves to asbestos without realising.

Dust and silica

Mixing dry plaster, bonding and finishing compounds creates dust, and sanding back creates more. Where work involves cutting, chasing or grinding into masonry and concrete, that releases respirable crystalline silica - the fine dust that scars lungs permanently. The HSE's guidance on construction dust sets the standard.

Your RAMS should cover dust control: mixing in ventilated areas, using dust-extracting sanders rather than dry hand-sanding where possible, water suppression or on-tool extraction for any cutting and chasing, and RPE with the correct protection factor and face-fit testing. "A dust mask will be worn" is not enough for an assessor who takes dust seriously.

Manual handling

Bags of plaster, bonding and multi-finish weigh around 25kg, plasterboard is heavy and awkward, and the work itself is repetitive overhead trowelling that loads shoulders and necks. Manual handling injuries are the slow-burn epidemic of the trade, governed by the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.

Your method statement should cover the controls: mechanical aids and board lifters for plasterboard, team lifts for heavy or awkward loads, good loading-out so materials are at working height, splitting loads, and rotating tasks to manage the repetitive strain of trowelling and overhead work.

Working at height: stilts, hop-ups and towers

Plastering ceilings and high walls means working at height under the Work at Height Regulations 2005. Plasterers face a particular debate here over stilts. Some sites and main contractors ban stilts outright as an unsafe means of access; others permit them with controls. Your RAMS needs to take a clear position: if you intend to use stilts, the document should set out the controls and confirm the site allows them; many plasterers instead specify hop-ups, podium steps or a tower as a safer, more universally accepted alternative.

Whatever access you choose, the RAMS should describe the equipment, the pre-use checks, and a clear floor kept free of trip hazards beneath anyone working at height.

Slips and a wet, cluttered floor

Plastering is a wet trade. Droppings, spills and a constantly changing floor surface make slips one of the most common plastering injuries, and they combine badly with stilts or steps. Your RAMS should cover keeping the work area clear, cleaning up droppings, and managing the floor especially where people are working at height.

Skin and eye protection

Lime, gypsum and cement-based products are irritant and alkaline. Repeated skin contact causes dermatitis, and splashes into the eyes - common when working overhead - cause real injury. These are COSHH matters. Your RAMS should cover gloves, skin protection, eye protection for overhead work, and washing facilities on site.

Electricity and other trades

Chasing walls for cables and pipes, and the simple fact of working in rooms full of electrics, creates risk. Where work touches electrical points the RAMS should set out isolation and the boundary with a qualified electrician. The mixing drill and whisk are tools to note too - trapping and entanglement risks that belong in a thorough document.

A worked example: RAMS for skimming an occupied 1970s house

It helps to see how the hazards turn into an actual method statement. Take a common job: re-skimming the ceilings and walls of two rooms in an occupied 1970s house, where some ceilings have an old textured finish. Here is how a sound RAMS would walk through it.

Before work starts

The RAMS records that, given the property age, any existing textured coating has been checked for asbestos before it is touched, with an asbestos survey or sample result referenced and a clear instruction to stop and report if anything suspect is found. It confirms the access to be used - hop-ups and a podium for the ceilings rather than stilts - and that the homeowner has been told which rooms are out of use and that floors will be wet.

Sequence of work and controls

Set up: protect floors and furniture, isolate the rooms from the rest of the occupied house, and keep occupants and pets clear. Check coatings: confirm the asbestos position on any textured surface before disturbing it; do not sand or skim over suspect material without clearance. Prepare: where sanding is needed, use a dust-extracting sander rather than dry hand-sanding, with RPE for high-dust work. Mix: mix in a ventilated area to control dust, using the drill and whisk safely. Apply: skim the ceilings from the podium and hop-ups, never overreaching, with the wet floor managed as it builds up. Skin protection throughout - gloves and covered skin against lime and gypsum, eye protection for overhead work. Dry and clear: manage drying, clear droppings as you go to control slips, and clean up.

Why this reads as competent

The assessor sees the asbestos question settled before any old coating is touched, dust controlled at source, a safe access choice made rather than defaulting to stilts, and the occupied-house and wet-floor risks handled. That is the difference between a RAMS for this job and a template with the name changed.

What we see plasterers get wrong around access (from the scaffold side)

A quick note on where this comes from. We are not plasterers - we run a scaffolding firm, and we supply and inspect the access that plasterers work from. So the part of plastering we can speak about with real authority is not the skim itself, it is how the work happens at height, and that is where we see the same avoidable things again and again.

Do not make your own platform. The one we see most often is a plasterer grabbing a few scaffold boards and laying them across a lift that has not been boarded out, to give themselves something to stand on and reach the work. It looks harmless and it is not. A lift that has not been fully boarded and handrailed by a scaffolder is not a working platform, and loose boards laid across it are exactly how people go through a gap or off an edge. The rule is simple and it should be in the RAMS in plain terms: only fully boarded and handrailed platforms are used, and nobody makes up their own access.

Stilts are a tool, but they are also a fall risk. We see plasterers use stilts to reach a ceiling and treat them as completely routine, because they are quick and they free up the floor. The problem is that nobody using them seems to think about falling off them or tripping over something while wearing them, and a fall from stilts is still a fall. Plenty of sites ban them outright for exactly this reason. If stilts are going to be used, that is a decision the RAMS should make consciously, with the site confirmed to allow them and the trip and fall risk assessed, not something that just happens because it is how the plasterer always works.

That is the honest limit of what we can tell you first hand: we know access and height, because that is our trade, and these are the two things we watch plasterers get wrong from where we stand. The hazards specific to the plastering itself - the dust, the asbestos risk in old artex, the chemicals in the mix - are covered in the guidance above, and they matter just as much. But if you only fix one thing after reading this, make it the access: work off a proper platform, think hard before anyone goes up on stilts, and your biggest risk on the job is already handled.

A pre-work checklist for plastering RAMS

Before you submit a plastering 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.

• Asbestos checked - for any pre-2000 textured coating, has it been assessed for asbestos before being disturbed, with the survey or result referenced?
• Dust controlled - is dust-extracting sanding, ventilated mixing and RPE specified rather than dry sanding and a basic mask?
• Access decided - is the access (hop-ups, podium, tower) named, and if stilts are used, is it confirmed the site allows them with controls?
• Wet floor managed - are slips from droppings and a wet floor addressed, especially under anyone at height?
• Skin and eyes - are gloves, skin cover and eye protection for overhead work covered for lime and gypsum exposure?
• Manual handling - are board lifters, team lifts and good loading-out specified for plasterboard and 25kg bags?
• Electrical boundary - if chasing walls, is isolation and the boundary with an electrician set out?
• Occupants - if the building is occupied, is keeping the public clear of wet floors and the work addressed?

Common reasons a plastering 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 plastering RAMS.

Asbestos in old coatings is ignored. The most common serious failing - a RAMS for work in a pre-2000 property that says nothing about checking textured coatings before skimming or sanding them. Given how often artex contains asbestos, this gets rejected fast.

Dust is waved through. "A dust mask will be worn" with no dust-extracting sanding, ventilated mixing or face-fit testing tells the assessor dust has not been taken seriously.

Stilts are assumed. Specifying stilts without confirming the site allows them, or with no controls, is a frequent rejection - many sites ban them outright.

It is obviously generic. A template that does not name the actual work - skimming, dry lining, float and set, rendering - or the building age and access is a common failing.

Slips are missed. A wet trade RAMS that says nothing about managing droppings and a wet floor, especially under work at height, overlooks one of the most common plastering injuries.

How to write a plastering RAMS that passes

A RAMS that gets approved first time shares a few features whatever the trade.

Make it specific to the job

The fastest way to get a RAMS rejected is to submit something obviously generic. Name the site, the actual work - whether it is skimming, dry lining, float and set, or rendering - the real access arrangements, and the specific hazards including the age of the building and whether old textured coatings are present. 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 and protecting the area, checking for asbestos in older surfaces, preparation, mixing arrangements, the plastering or boarding sequence and access used, drying 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 asbestos and working at height rated seriously rather than waved through.

Keep it readable

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

Doing it the fast way

Writing a full plastering 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, plastering-specific risk assessment and method statement you can edit, download and share. The hazards above - asbestos in artex, dust, manual handling, working at height, skin protection - come built into the templates, so you start from a document that already knows the trade rather than a blank page.

If you want the wider picture first, our guide to what a RAMS is and how to write one covers the fundamentals, and the difference between a RAMS and a risk assessment clears up the most common confusion. You can also see every trade we cover on the RAMS builder hub.

However you produce it, the goal is the same: a RAMS that keeps your team safe, gets you onto site without delay, and stands up when a contractor checks it.