Solar PV RAMS: Why Every Install Needs a Site-Specific Document

The problem with reusing the same solar RAMS

Ask any small solar installer how they handle RAMS and the answer is usually the same: "We have a Word template from a few years back. We change the address and send it."

It's understandable. Writing RAMS from scratch is slow, and when you're doing three or four installs a week — domestic retrofits, small commercial flat roofs, a ground-mount here and there — the paperwork can feel like a barrier between you and the job.

But principal contractors and clients are getting more thorough. A copied Word doc with last month's site address still in the header will fail a pre-start check. More importantly, a RAMS that doesn't reflect the actual site doesn't protect your operatives, and it won't protect you if something goes wrong.

The issue isn't that you have a template — templates are exactly the right approach. The issue is that the template needs to become site-specific before you use it. Every install has different variables, and those variables change the hazards and the controls.

Why every solar PV job is different

Solar PV installation draws from three distinct risk areas: roofing and working at height, electrical, and lifting and manual handling. The combination shifts dramatically between jobs.

The roof changes everything

A domestic pitched roof with a full scaffold is a fundamentally different hazard profile to a fragile EPDM flat roof on a commercial building, or a ground-mount array in a field.

• Pitched roof, domestic: The main risks are falls at eaves level, fragile rooflights (often unmarked), and unstable ladder access. The scaffold specification, edge protection, and ladder tie-off points all need to appear in the RAMS.
• Flat commercial roof: Fragile sections are less obvious. Drainage outlets, rooflight arrays, and lightweight decking can all be fall-through risks. The RAMS needs to record the roof survey findings, identify fragile zones, and specify how they are guarded or avoided.
• Ground-mount: Falls from height are lower risk, but excavation, ground conditions, overhead line proximity, and vehicle movements become significant.

None of this is covered by a single generic template. The hazards need to match the actual site.

DC strings are live in daylight — always

This is the detail that separates solar electrical work from most other electrical installations. A standard electrical RAMS documents Lock-Out Tag-Out (LOTO) and isolation, and assumes you can make the system dead before you start.

With solar PV, DC strings are energised whenever there is light. You cannot de-energise the panels themselves. This creates specific controls that must be documented:

• Strings kept open-circuit during installation with string caps or covers in place
• No live-working on DC strings unless formally risk-assessed and controlled
• LOTO applied to the AC supply at the inverter and main board
• Isolation verified with a calibrated tester before touching any terminals
• Warning tags on all isolation points during commissioning

If your RAMS treats solar electrical work the same as a standard domestic consumer unit, you have a gap.

Battery storage adds a separate hazard set

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are increasingly specified alongside solar installs. They introduce hazards that are categorically different to the panels themselves:

• Thermal runaway — lithium-ion battery fires are self-sustaining, generate toxic gases, and cannot be extinguished with water. Your RAMS should reference a fire plan, specify a CO₂ extinguisher at the point of work, and note that the emergency services need to be advised of the battery type in case of fire.
• Isolation complexity — battery systems can store significant charge even when isolated from the solar strings and the grid. The LOTO procedure must account for the battery's own isolation points separately.
• Storage requirements — batteries must be stored away from ignition sources during installation and cannot be left on charge unattended in certain environments.

A battery install that uses the same RAMS as the panel installation is missing these controls entirely.

G98/G99 and DNO requirements

Every grid-connected install requires DNO notification. G98 covers smaller systems; G99 applies to larger or more complex installations. The commissioning sequence — from first energisation through to DNO sign-off — is a distinct method statement step that needs to appear in your RAMS.

Inspectors and principal contractors increasingly check that the document references:

• The DNO notification reference or application status
• Metering and switchgear details
• The electrical test records: continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop, and RCD functional tests per BS 7671

Missing this from your RAMS creates delays at commissioning and questions about your competence.

What a compliant Solar PV RAMS must include

Under CDM 2015 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, your RAMS must be suitable and sufficient for the actual work being carried out. For solar PV, that means the document needs to address:

Hazards specific to this install:

• Falls from height (method and height to be specified)
• DC string voltage and inability to de-energise panels in daylight
• Working near or on fragile surfaces
• Manual handling of panels, rails, inverters, and batteries
• Dropped objects from roof level to the public below
• Weather: wind limits for working at height and panel lifting, temperature limits for battery storage

Controls that match those hazards:

• WAH plan: access method (scaffold / MEWP / roof ladders), edge protection specification, rescue plan
• Fragile surface controls: roof survey, marked zones, crawling boards, restricted access
• LOTO procedure: isolation points, LOTO sequence, test-for-dead requirements, warning tags
• Lifting plan: crane or hoist position, exclusion zones, wind speed limits, banksman role
• Emergency plan: first aid, fire plan (including battery type if BESS), rescue from height

Site-specific details:

• Project address and CDM dutyholders
• Roof type, pitch, condition, and any fragile areas identified
• Access method and rescue arrangements
• DNO references (G98/G99 application status)
• Isolation points, existing PV back-feed risk, and earthing arrangement
• Asbestos survey status for pre-2000 buildings

Permits referenced:

• Electrical Isolation / LOTO Permit to Work
• Roof access / WAH permit with fragile roof controls
• Lift plan and LOLER evidence
• DNO G98/G99 approval and commissioning notification

The template problem — and how to fix it

Templates are not the enemy. A well-built solar PV template is the most efficient way to produce compliant RAMS at volume. The problem is the process that turns that template into a site-specific document.

The typical workflow — open Word, find and replace the address, scan for anything obviously wrong, save and send — misses too much. The roof type doesn't get updated. The rescue plan is still referencing a different access method. The asbestos survey section is blank.

A better approach is to use a template structured around prompts: fields that force you to input the site-specific variables before the document is complete. That way, the template does the heavy lifting on hazard identification and control language, and you focus on the information that is genuinely different between jobs.

RAMSGen's Solar PV template is built this way. It comes pre-loaded with every significant hazard category — WAH, DC/AC electrical, manual handling, fragile roofs, lifting, battery storage — and prompts you through the site-specific variables: roof type, access method, DNO references, LOTO isolation points, asbestos survey status. The controls and method statement are already written. You add the site details and export a branded PDF.

If you already have an electrical template you use across your jobs, you don't need to discard it. RAMSGen's approach lets you take your existing electrical safety controls and layer in the solar-specific sections — WAH, G98/G99, battery addendum — so the document reflects how your company actually works rather than a generic version of the industry.

Keeping RAMS current across a busy install schedule

The other practical challenge for small solar businesses is version control. When you're completing multiple installs a week, it's easy to end up with RAMS that have been informally updated mid-job, or where the version submitted to the client is not the version briefed to the operatives on site.

A few straightforward practices make a significant difference:

• One master template, updated centrally. If your electrical controls change — because BS 7671 has been updated, or you've switched MEWP provider — update the master template once, not eight separate job files.
• Site-specific versions created from the master, not from the last job's file. Starting from the previous job's RAMS is how out-of-date details persist.
• Operative sign-on recorded digitally. The RAMS is only effective if the team has read it. A QR-code sign-on at the pre-start briefing creates a record that satisfies both HSE requirements and client audit trails.

Summary

Solar PV installation involves a specific combination of hazards — live DC strings, working at height on varied roof types, manual handling at roof level, and increasingly battery storage — that require a RAMS document genuinely tailored to each job.

A template is the right starting point. But the template needs to become site-specific before it's used.

If you're looking for a starting point, the Solar PV & Renewable Energy Installations RAMS template covers all the hazard categories above and can be made site-specific in minutes. Or if you want to understand how to scale this across your install programme, the Solar PV & Renewables solutions page explains how the template mechanism works in practice.