What is RAMS for an exhibition stand?
RAMS stands for risk assessment and method statement: the paired safety document that sets out what could go wrong while a stand is built and struck, and exactly how the crew works to stop it happening. Organisers ask for it before granting permission to build, usually alongside the stand's drawing pack, for any stand beyond a basic shell scheme. For our 450 m² space-only pavilion at London Tech Week 2026, a 55-company national pavilion for the Government of Türkiye at Olympia London, the RAMS covered our own crew's build and strike sequence as part of that submission. Below is what the document actually contains, who writes and signs it, and when a stand's design pushes it into structural sign-off.
Ask us about your show's RAMS →Published 27 October 2026
- Where this came from: a 450 m² pavilion built to one submission
- RAMS in full: risk assessment and method statement
- What goes in the risk assessment
- What the method statement adds
- When RAMS alone is not enough: the structural sign-off line
- Who actually writes and signs the RAMS
- RAMS for exhibition stands: the questions we get asked
Where this came from: a 450 m² pavilion built to one submission
The Turkish national pavilion at London Tech Week 2026, 450 m² and 55 companies under one HIB-operated roof, was built space only on a DUM FLEX™ frame to the show's manual. The risk assessment and method statement for our crew's build and strike sequence went in alongside the drawing pack, as one of the documents that had to clear before the pavilion could go up.
RAMS in full: risk assessment and method statement
The two halves of RAMS do different jobs and most manuals ask for both at once, usually with a public liability insurance certificate riding along in the same submission.
Why organisers ask for it at all
Building and striking a stand inside a shared hall is construction work, and UK construction safety law, mainly the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, treats exhibitions and trade fairs as one of its named sectors: building, fitting out and taking down a temporary structure counts as a project. HSE's own guidance sets out the principle rather than a fixed form: eliminate or control the risk where reasonably practicable, plan the work, and make sure everyone on it has the information they need. RAMS is how a stand builder puts that principle on paper for one specific plot and one specific show.
What a real manual asks for, line by line
Exhibitor manuals are specific about what has to be in the pack. Advanced Engineering's 2026 manual lists the space-only submission as drawings, the constructor's public liability insurance, “a detailed Risk Assessment which must include details of any unusual exhibits or activities on the stand (any machinery, working kitchens, moving visitor attractions)”, a Method Statement, a Health & Safety Declaration and a Construction Phase Plan, all reviewed by the same deadline. That level of detail, naming machinery and working kitchens rather than leaving it generic, is why a RAMS written for one show rarely transfers cleanly to the next.
What goes in the risk assessment
The risk assessment half is a list, not an essay: every hazard the build and strike could create, how likely and how serious each one is, and what stops it.
The hazards specific to a stand build
For an exhibition stand, the recurring hazards are working at height on a frame or ladder, powered tools in a confined footprint, trailing cables across an aisle other exhibitors are also using, manual handling of panels and crates, and anything suspended or raised above head height. A pavilion with 55 companies dressing their own bays inside one structure adds a crowd-and-sequencing hazard a single-brand stand does not have: more than one team working close together on the same floor at the same time.
Rating each one, then controlling it
Each hazard gets a likelihood and a severity, multiplied into a risk level, and a control measure that brings that level down: cable covers rather than loose cable, tested and tagged electrical equipment, a banksman where a forklift shares the floor with foot traffic, a fixed sequence for anything built at height so only one trade is working above another at a time. The assessment names who is responsible for each control, because a measure nobody owns does not get checked.
What the method statement adds
The risk assessment says what could go wrong. The method statement says, step by step, how the crew actually builds and strikes the stand, in the order the organiser's floor allows.
A sequence, not a hazard list
A method statement sets out the build sequence (floor layout and marking out, frame or sub-structure first, graphics and cladding, power and AV, final dressing) and the strike sequence in reverse, with the plant, tools and number of crew each stage needs. Where the risk assessment flagged working at height or a suspended element, the method statement is where the detail lives: which stage it happens at, what access equipment is used, and who signs it off as safe to move to the next stage.
Why a pavilion needs more than one
On a stand we build and dress ourselves, one method statement covers the whole sequence. Where exhibitors or a partner also work on the structure, for example dressing a branded bay inside a shared pavilion, the organiser typically wants a separate RAMS for that activity, submitted under whoever is doing the work, so each contractor's sequence is accounted for rather than assumed inside ours.
When RAMS alone is not enough: the structural sign-off line
Most manuals draw a line above which a risk assessment and method statement stop being sufficient on their own, and the line is a measurement, not a judgement call.
Advanced Engineering's 2026 manual defines a complex stand as anything over 4,000 mm in height, any platform above 599 mm, or a stand with steps, and requires structural calculations proving the strength and stability of the structure before it can be approved; those calculations come with their own fee, invoiced ahead of approval. A double-deck stand, a suspended feature or a raised meeting area almost always crosses that line. Once it does, the RAMS still covers the build hazards, but an engineer's sign-off on the structure itself becomes a separate, additional document in the same submission, not a substitute for it.
Who actually writes and signs the RAMS
For a stand we design and build, the RAMS is ours: our crew, our structure, our sequence, submitted under our name.
Our crew, our submission
We write the risk assessment and method statement for stands we build as part of the job, matched to the specific plot, the specific manual and the specific show edition rather than reused unchanged from the last one. It goes in under our name, alongside the drawing pack and our insurance certificate, by the date the manual sets.
What stays yours
If your own staff are also working on the stand, for example running equipment inside the space once it is built, the organiser will usually still want that activity covered: either folded into our RAMS as a named activity, or submitted separately under your company if the work is substantial enough to warrant its own method statement. We tell you which applies once we see what your team is actually doing on site.
Send us your show's manual →RAMS for exhibition stands: the questions we get asked
What does RAMS stand for?
Risk Assessment and Method Statement. The risk assessment lists the hazards in building and striking the stand and rates each one; the method statement sets out the step-by-step sequence the crew follows to do the work safely. Most organisers ask for both together, usually with a public liability insurance certificate.
Is RAMS a legal requirement for an exhibition stand?
UK construction safety law treats building and striking a stand as construction work, and HSE names exhibitions and trade fairs as one of the sectors it applies to. In practice, organisers and venues enforce this by requiring RAMS before granting permission to build, for any stand beyond a basic shell scheme.
Who writes the RAMS for an exhibition stand?
Whoever is doing the construction work. For a stand we design and build, we write and submit it, covering our crew, our structure and our sequence. Where exhibitors or a partner also build or dress part of the stand themselves, the organiser usually wants a separate RAMS for that activity under their own name.
Does a small shell-scheme stand still need RAMS?
Manuals vary, but most treat a basic shell-scheme stand, walls and a fascia the organiser already built, as low enough risk not to need a full RAMS, while anything with its own structure, rigging or an unusual exhibit does. The current manual for your show and edition is the only reliable answer.
What makes a stand count as a complex structure needing structural calculations?
It is set show by show, but a recurring threshold is height over 4 m from the venue floor, a platform above roughly 600 mm, or steps and double-deck structures. Above that line, the RAMS still covers build safety, but an engineer's structural calculations become a separate requirement in the same submission.
Can I reuse the same RAMS at the next show?
Not as written. Manuals name specific details, unusual exhibits, machinery, the exact plot and hall, so a RAMS has to be matched to that show's manual and that stand's final design rather than carried over unchanged. We rewrite it for each edition even where the stand itself is a reused structure.