COSHH, RAMS and the ERA are the three documents that make pest control on a commercial site safe and auditable. COSHH assesses the hazardous products used, RAMS sets out the risks and the safe method of work, and the Environmental Risk Assessment considers non-target species and the surroundings. Together they are the safe-working trio an auditor expects to see at every visit.
Pest control on a commercial site is not just about the pest. It involves biocides, working at height, confined spaces, live premises full of staff and product, and an environment that contains wildlife and watercourses you are not targeting. Three pieces of documentation hold all of that together. If your contractor cannot produce them, the work is neither demonstrably safe nor compliant, however good the field result looks.
What is COSHH and why does it apply to pest control?
COSHH stands for the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health. The COSHH Regulations require employers to assess and control the risks from hazardous substances. Rodenticides, insecticides and many other pest control products are hazardous substances, so their use on your site falls squarely under COSHH.
A COSHH assessment for a pest control product covers what the substance is, the risks it presents to people on site, how exposure is prevented or controlled, the protective equipment required, and what to do in the event of a spill or exposure. It is product-specific and should be current. A contractor who applies a rodenticide or insecticide without a COSHH assessment for it is exposing your staff, and your business, to avoidable risk. This connects directly to rodenticide stewardship, which we cover in our CRRU guide.
What is a RAMS, and what should it contain?
RAMS stands for Risk Assessment and Method Statement. It is the document that says, for this specific job on this specific site, here are the risks and here is exactly how we will work safely. For pest control it is the bridge between the law and the day’s work.
A proper pest control RAMS covers the site and the access involved, the hazards present, who could be harmed and how, the control measures in place, and a step-by-step method for the work. On a commercial site that often includes working at height on a roof, entering a confined space, or operating around live machinery and the public. Each of those raises the bar for the method statement. It is one reason our technicians are confined-space trained and roof-access competent, which we touch on across our commercial pest control service.
What is an Environmental Risk Assessment?
The Environmental Risk Assessment, or ERA, is the newest member of the trio and the one most often missing from older contracts. Where COSHH protects people and RAMS protects the work, the ERA protects the surroundings. It considers the impact of pest control on non-target species, on watercourses and drains, and on the wider environment around your site.
The ERA has become more prominent as rodenticide stewardship has tightened. Anticoagulant rodenticides can move up the food chain into predators, so a contractor now has to think about, and document, how they avoid that. An ERA shows that you considered the environment before you acted, which is exactly what stewardship and a serious audit both demand.
How do the three documents work together?
They are not three separate filing exercises. They are three views of the same job.
- COSHH answers: is this product safe to use here, and how do we control the risk to people?
- RAMS answers: is this method of work safe on this site, and how exactly do we carry it out?
- ERA answers: is this safe for the surrounding environment and non-target wildlife?
Read together, they tell an auditor that the work was planned, safe and considered, and that nothing was left to chance. That is the standard a commercial contract should be delivered to, and it sits at the heart of the wider picture in our commercial pest control compliance guide.
Paul Saven, Director, Instant Pest Solutions
What can go wrong without the trio?
Plenty, and none of it shows up until it counts. A treatment goes ahead with no COSHH assessment, and a member of staff has a reaction to a product nobody assessed. A technician works at height with no method statement, and an accident follows that the business cannot defend. Rodenticide is used without an ERA, a protected predator is harmed, and the brand is exposed. Or, more mundanely and far more commonly, an auditor asks for the safe-working records, they do not exist, and a site that was perfectly well managed in practice fails on paper.
The trio is cheap insurance against expensive problems. It is also simply how a professional contractor works. The COSHH Regulations 2002 make the legal duty clear, and a serious commercial provider builds the rest around it as standard.
It is also worth understanding who carries the liability. On your premises, responsibility for health and safety is shared, and a contractor working without proper assessments can expose your business as well as their own. Asking to see the documentation is not bureaucratic caution, it is basic due diligence, and it protects you if anything ever goes wrong. A serious provider welcomes the question, because producing current, site-specific COSHH, RAMS and ERA documents on request is exactly what separates them from an operator who treats compliance as optional. The paperwork, in other words, is also your protection, not just theirs.
What to ask your contractor
Before the next treatment on your site, ask to see the COSHH assessment for the products they will use, the RAMS for the job, and the ERA. A professional provider will have all three ready and specific to your site. If they have to go and write them, or hand you a generic template with another client’s name still on it, that tells you what you need to know.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between COSHH and RAMS?
COSHH assesses the hazardous substances used and how to control the risk they pose to people. RAMS, the Risk Assessment and Method Statement, covers the risks of the job itself and the safe method for carrying it out on your specific site. You need both, because a product can be handled safely and the method of work still be hazardous, or the other way round.
Is a RAMS a legal requirement for pest control?
Risk assessment is a legal duty under health and safety law, and a method statement is the recognised way of evidencing safe work for higher-risk activities such as working at height or in confined spaces. In practice, any reputable commercial contractor produces a RAMS for the work as standard, and most commercial clients require it before allowing work on site.
Do we need an Environmental Risk Assessment for routine pest control?
It is increasingly expected, particularly where rodenticides are involved, because of the duty to protect non-target wildlife. An ERA shows that the environmental impact was considered before treatment. For a commercial site being audited, having one strengthens your position considerably.
Who is responsible for producing these documents, us or the contractor?
Your pest control contractor produces the COSHH assessments, RAMS and ERA for the work they carry out, specific to your site. You should keep copies in your own pest control pack so they are available at audit. We provide all of this as part of the service and keep it current.
Does Instant Pest Solutions provide all three as standard?
Yes. Every commercial contract we run includes current, site-specific COSHH assessments, RAMS and an ERA, alongside the treatment records, site plan and photographic evidence that complete the audit pack. Call 0151 345 0556 to arrange a survey.
Book a commercial pest control survey
Site-specific COSHH, RAMS and ERA documentation built into every visit, so your safe-working records are ready before the auditor asks.