Plastering and drylining method statement example

Adapt this to the actual job and the actual site. It does not replace competent advice. HSE says not to copy an example and put your company name on it, because that would not satisfy the law and would not protect your employees.

The PDF is the printable version. You can read and copy the words below without the file.

The worked example

WORKED EXAMPLE. NOT YOUR JOB.
Plastering and drylining. Domestic bedroom. Illustration only.
Adapt this to the actual job and the actual site. It does not replace competent advice. HSE says not to copy an example and put your company name on it, because that would not satisfy the law and would not protect your employees.

Trading name: [your trading name]
Job: Board and skim one bedroom ceiling, and dot and dab one wall
Site: a first-floor bedroom in an occupied house. No real address. This is not a site I have assessed for you.
Date: [the date you walk that room]
Written by: [your name]
Risk assessment this method uses: the short assessment at the end of this example, rewritten for the room you are in
Construction phase plan: this sheet is not that plan. If I am the only contractor, the plan is a separate note of how I will manage the work. If a principal contractor is running the job, I ask them where the plan is before I start.

SCOPE
Work included: protect the route, carry the boards up, fix plasterboard to one flat ceiling, dot and dab one wall, tape joints, skim, and clear the room.
Work not included: a stairwell, a loft hatch over a drop, electrical work, removing a ceiling that might be asbestos insulating board, and any cut into brick, block, tile, or concrete.
Who else is affected: the occupier, who stays out of the room while the dust and the wet floor are there, and anyone using the stairs while boards are being carried.

SEQUENCE OF WORKS
1. Walk the room before unloading. Look at the ceiling and the wall. If the house was built or refurbished before 2000 and I think the ceiling or a lining might contain asbestos, I stop. I do not screw into it to find out.
2. Agree with the occupier that they stay out of the room. Keep a clear route to the stairs and to the front door.
3. Protect the floor on the route. Offcuts go in a pile that is not the walkway.
4. Carry boards one at a time if the stair is tight. A second person, or a way of getting the board up that avoids a twist on the stair, comes before a lesson in bending. I do not invent a kilogram limit. HSE says the law does not set one.
5. Do what I can from the floor. For the ceiling, use a podium or a hop-up I have assessed, with a platform I can stand on. A chair is not access. A stepladder only if I have written down why this task is low risk and short duration, and who is competent to use it.
6. Fix the ceiling boards. Support the board so nobody holds the full weight overhead for longer than this job needs. Then dot and dab the wall.
7. Tape and fill. Sand with extraction on the tool for the whole time it is sanding. Gypsum from plasterboard and silica from masonry are not the same dust. If the work starts cutting brick, block, tile, or concrete, stop and reassess before anyone carries on.
8. Mix the finish plaster. Read the bag first. Keep the bag closed when it is not in use. Control the dust at the mix.
9. Skim. Keep wet mix off the walkway.
10. Tell the occupier what is still wet, and when they can use the room.
11. Clear up. Damp the dust or vacuum it. Do not sweep it dry. Bag the waste. Do not leave boards on the landing.
12. If the ceiling, the people, or the method changed, revise this sheet before the next room.

PEOPLE AND COMPETENCE
Who does the work: one plasterer competent to board and skim a domestic room of this sort.
Supervision: that person checks the method in the room, because in this example there is no separate supervisor.
A labourer is not in this example. If someone else carries boards, brief them on the lifts and do not ask them to sand.
Asbestos awareness is not a licence to work on asbestos. Most work on asbestos insulating board, including removal of suspended ceilings and linings, is licensed work. This example does not include that work.

PLANT AND TOOLS
Plasterboard, screws, adhesive for dot and dab, tape, jointing compound, finishing plaster, bucket, hawk, trowel, knife, driver, sanding tool with extraction on it, podium or hop-up assessed for this ceiling, dust sheets, waste bags.
Not in this example: a tower, a MEWP, a general vacuum with a filter dropped in and called extraction.
Checks before use: look at the podium or hop-up before you stand on it. If extraction is hired, ask the hire company what examination they have done. The silica dust talk covers that check.

PPE
Safety footwear if the site or the house needs it for the boards and the fixings.
Gloves if the board edges are the hazard you are controlling on the hands.
Eye protection when fixing overhead.
RPE when sanding or tipping plaster, as well as extraction and a closed bag, not instead of them. The mask has to fit the person wearing it.
HSE's order is to get rid of the hazard where you can, then change the job, the material, or the way the work is organised, then the practical measures. PPE is the further control, not the first one.

HAZARDS AND CONTROLS
RA-1 Dust from sanding filler and from tipping plaster.
Control: extraction on the tool while it runs, occupier out of the room, bag closed, damp or vacuum the clear-up. Stop if the work becomes silica dust. See the silica dust talk for the unit and the RPE.
Where in the sequence: steps 7, 8, and 11.

RA-2 Carrying boards and bags.
Control: avoid the awkward lift where the stair allows another way, then reduce what is left. One board at a time on a tight stair. No weight limit copied from another job.
Where in the sequence: step 4.

RA-3 Work at the ceiling.
Control: do what you can from the floor. Then prevent the fall with access assessed for this room. Collective protection before a harness. A stepladder only for low risk and short duration.
Where in the sequence: steps 5 and 6.

RA-4 Possible asbestos in a pre-2000 ceiling or lining.
Control: if you think it might be asbestos, stop. Tell the occupier or the person in charge. Do not start licensed work because you have read an awareness talk.
Where in the sequence: step 1, and again if the ceiling is not what you expected.

RA-5 Wet mix and offcuts.
Control: keep the route clear. Clean wet plaster up as you go.
Where in the sequence: steps 3, 9, and 11.

RA-6 People in the house.
Control: occupier out of the room, route kept clear, told when the room is usable.
Where in the sequence: steps 2 and 10.

EMERGENCY ARRANGEMENTS
Stop the work if someone is hurt, if the access fails, or if you uncover something you think is asbestos.
Keep people out of the room. Do not try to clean up a material you think is asbestos.
Call 999 for a medical emergency. Know how you will get to the front door so an ambulance can find the house.
The occupier knows you are in the property.

SIGN-OFF
I have read this example, I have changed it for the room I am actually in, and I will stop if that room does not match the sheet.
Name: [name]
Role: [role]
Signature: [signature]
Date: [date]

SHORT RISK ASSESSMENT FOR THIS EXAMPLE
Rewrite every line after you have seen the room.

Hazard: dust from sanding and mixing. Who: the plasterer and the occupier. How: breathing dust. HSE says regularly breathing construction dust can cause lung cancer, asthma, COPD, and silicosis. Control: extraction, keep people out, no dry sweeping. Review if the cut hits masonry.

Hazard: boards and bags. Who: the person carrying them. How: a strain or a fall on the stair. Control: avoid the hazardous lift, then reduce it. The law sets no kilogram limit.

Hazard: ceiling. Who: the person boarding it, and anyone under a falling board. How: a fall, or a board dropped. Control: floor work first, then access that prevents a fall.

Hazard: asbestos. Who: anyone who breathes fibres if a pre-2000 ceiling is disturbed. How: lung disease that you cannot see at the time. Control: stop, and do not treat awareness as permission to work on it.

Hazard: slips. Who: the plasterer and the occupier. How: a fall on wet mix or offcuts. Control: clear the route.

Wording checked against the HSE pages above on 20 October 2026.