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Vacuum excavation RAMS, written for your site
A risk assessment and method statement for suction or vacuum excavation (VacX): exposing services, trial holes, slot trenches and digging round tree roots. Written around your machine, your ground and the services you expect to find.
Why vacuum excavation beats hand digging near services
Digging by hand round live cables and pipes has always been the fallback, but a spade or pick is still a hard, pointed tool driven into the ground by someone who can't see what is below. Vacuum excavation changes that:
- Safer around services. The ground is loosened with a jet of air or water, which moves soil but is far less likely to cut through a cable sheath or crack a pipe. The suction nozzle lifts the loose spoil away rather than digging.
- Fewer service strikes. With nothing sharp going into the ground, the main way services get damaged is taken out. Services are seen as they are uncovered, so the team knows exactly where they are before any machine digging starts.
- Smaller holes. You dig only what you need to see the service, so there is less surface to break and less to reinstate.
- Less spoil to handle. Spoil goes straight into a sealed hopper instead of piling up round the edge of the hole, which keeps the edge clear and the site tidier.
- Less strain on the gang. No hours of shovelling and lifting spoil out of a hole by hand, so fewer back and shoulder injuries.
Vacuum excavation brings its own risks: a heavy vehicle on outriggers, powerful suction, high-pressure air and water, noise, dust, blockages and tipping. Your RAMS has to deal with all of them, and that is what this document does.
What the RAMS covers
- Planning: service records, survey and marking out, permit to dig, machine position, ground under the outriggers, overhead lines and the tipping area
- Set-up: exclusion zones, barriers and screens, pre-use and remote control checks, two-operator working
- Excavation: air and water lancing, keeping the nozzle off the ground, insulated and non-conductive tools near cables, supporting exposed services, inspecting and supporting the excavation
- Blockages: the safe order for clearing them, and why air is never blown back down the hose
- Tipping, cleaning and waste: where and how to tip, hopper safety, and waste paperwork
- Street works and occupied areas: traffic management, pedestrian routes, noise, dust and slurry
- Emergencies: service strikes, unexpected finds such as suspect asbestos or old drums, pressure injection injuries and rescue
- Competence, cards and PPE for the operators and the gang
What you get
- A site-specific vacuum excavation RAMS in Word and PDF, with your logo
- Method statement in the order the job will actually run
- Risk assessment with controls for each hazard and before-and-after risk scores
- Emergency arrangements for your site, including service-strike actions and nearest A&E
- Briefing sheet for the operators and gang to sign
- First review and update free
Written by Jon Smith, construction lead
A Tier 1 contracts manager with 30 years in construction, who worked his way up from labourer through supervisor, site agent and project manager.
- Degree in Civil Engineering
- CSCS Black Card: NVQ Level 6 Construction Site Management
- CITB Temporary Works
- NEBOSH · SMSTS
What we need from you
After payment, a short form asks:
- What the dig is for: exposing or locating services, trial holes, trench or slot, tree roots, clearing debris or a pit
- Where the work is: private land, footway, road or railway land
- Which services you expect: electric, gas, water, telecoms or fibre, sewer or drains, HV cable or high-pressure gas
- Whether you have utility records or a survey (upload them if you do)
- How deep you are going: under 1 m, 1 m to 1.5 m, or over 1.5 m
- The machine: truck-mounted, trailer or small unit, or hired with operator
- Whether a large vehicle can get in, and whether there are overhead power lines near the set-up
- What the machine will stand on: road, drive or yard, footway, grass or soft ground
- Where the spoil goes: tipped on site or taken away by a licensed carrier
- Any known contamination, asbestos pipes or made ground
- Whether a street works permit or traffic management is needed
- Uploads (all optional): service drawings, survey, permit to dig, traffic plan, client site rules
Every question has a "Don't know" option. Anything you're not sure of is listed in the RAMS as an assumption, with the check to make on site.
Price
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Vacuum Excavation (VacX) RAMS: one vacuum excavation job at one site Same-day if ordered by 3 pm | £200 |
| Vacuum excavation inside a larger RAMS, added as a high-risk activity | +£50 |
All prices ex VAT. Already ordering a RAMS for a bigger job? If vacuum excavation is one of the activities, it is added to that RAMS as a high-risk activity at +£50, so you don't need this separate document. RAMS writing service.
Vacuum excavation RAMS questions
Do I need a separate VacX RAMS?
If the vacuum excavation job is the work, yes: this is the document for it. If it is one step in a bigger job, add it to that RAMS as a high-risk activity instead.
Do you supply the machine or operators?
No. We write the RAMS. You or your hire company supply the machine and trained operators.
What cards should the operators have?
The operator must hold a recognised plant card for vacuum excavators and be familiar with the machine being used. The RAMS lists the competence needed for your job.
Can I use it on a different site?
No. Each site needs its own site-specific RAMS, because the services, ground, access and emergency arrangements change from site to site.
Documents are produced only from the information you provide. Please check it is accurate and complete, and tell us about anything on site that changes.
Often ordered with a VacX RAMS
Digging near services?
Pay online at a fixed price, then send us the job details. Standard issue in 1–2 working days.
Same-day issue by business close of play (5 pm) applies to orders placed, with the job details we need, by 3 pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays. It adds +£75 on orders under £200, +£150 on orders of £200 or more. Order by 7 pm for issue by 11:59 pm the same day (+10%). Where we need more information, we confirm the issue time by email. Lift plans are signed off by our Appointed Person.
Buy VacX RAMS, £200