A method statement template is a set of prompts in the right order. Its job is to stop you starting at the interesting part and forgetting the arrival, the isolation and the clearing down, which is where a surprising share of incidents happen. What it cannot do is know your sequence, and a template that supplies the sequence is supplying a description of somebody else's job.
The order the prompts should come in
Job and site. Client and dates. Scope, stated as what is and is not included. People, with roles and competence. Plant, equipment and access. Permits and isolations required before starting. The sequence itself, numbered. Materials and substances with their COSHH references. Waste and housekeeping. Emergency and rescue arrangements. Briefing record. Review and version.
Writing the sequence so it can be followed
Number the steps. One action per step. Name who does it. State the control the step depends on before the step that needs it, not after. Say explicitly where work stops if a condition is not met, because a sequence with no stop point assumes everything will be as expected. A person who has never seen the job should be able to read it and know what happens first.
The three sections templates usually miss
Setting up and getting to the work area, which is where most access risk sits. Interfaces with other trades and with building occupants. And clearing down, including making the area safe overnight when the job spans days. Templates jump from scope to the work because that is the part that feels like the job.
Making the template earn its place
Keep one per trade task rather than one per company. A template for roof tiling and a template for gutter replacement will prompt different things, and a single generic construction template prompts none of them well. Review each after a job where something went differently from the plan, because that is the cheapest information you will ever get about what the template forgot to ask.
Questions people ask about method statement template
Is there a legal format for a method statement?
No. The law requires a safe system of work and, on construction projects, arrangements for managing it. The format is yours to choose.
What should a method statement template prompt for?
Job and site, scope, people and competence, plant and access, permits and isolations, the numbered sequence, materials and COSHH, waste, emergency and rescue, the briefing record and the version.
Should a template include the sequence?
Only as a trade-specific starting point you then edit for this job. A sequence that is never edited describes work nobody has looked at.
How detailed should the sequence be?
Detailed enough that someone unfamiliar with the job could follow what happens and in what order, and could see which control each step depends on.