MSRA requirements in the UAE: what a method statement and risk assessment must contain

What the two halves are for

The method statement describes the work: scope, boundaries, sequence of operations, plant and equipment, temporary works, materials, the supervision structure and the emergency arrangements. The risk assessment interrogates that sequence: for each step, what can cause harm, to whom, how likely and how severe, what controls reduce it, and what risk remains after those controls.

Where the two drift apart — a risk assessment covering an activity the method statement no longer describes — the pack stops being usable evidence.

The minimum content clients and reviewers expect

A UAE MSRA reviewed by a consultant or authority is normally checked for:

• Project, site, contractor and revision identity, with an approval date and status.
• Defined scope and exclusions, so it is obvious what the document does not cover.
• A step-by-step sequence tied to the risk assessment rows, not a narrative essay.
• Hazard identification per step, with the people exposed named by role.
• A consistent scoring method — 5x5 likelihood and severity is the common UAE convention — with both initial and residual scores shown.
• Controls ordered by the hierarchy: eliminate, substitute, engineering, administrative, then PPE as the last layer.
• Named responsible person for each control, and the competence required to carry it out.
• The permits the activity triggers: hot work, confined space, excavation, work at height, lifting, energised systems.
• Plant, equipment and third-party inspection certificates relied upon.
• Emergency arrangements: rescue plan for height and confined space, first aid, spill response, muster and escalation.
• Sign-off by the preparer, the reviewer and the accepting client or consultant, plus a briefing register for the crew.

Where the legal duty comes from

Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 and its implementing decisions place the general duty on the employer to protect workers from occupational hazards, which in practice cannot be discharged without assessing those hazards. Abu Dhabi's ADOSH-SF framework sets this out explicitly through its risk management requirements and codes of practice, and Dubai's construction safety legislation and municipal requirements operate the same way through permit and approval conditions.

No UAE authority publishes a single mandatory MSRA form. What they require is that the assessment is suitable for the work, current, and demonstrably applied on site.

The five gaps that get an MSRA sent back

From reviewing packs, the same faults recur:

• Generic hazard lists copied between projects, with no site-specific condition — adjacent operations, live services, access constraints, heat season.
• Controls written as intentions ("ensure safe access") rather than arrangements with an owner and a check.
• Initial score present, residual score missing, so nobody can see whether the controls actually moved the risk.
• No permit linkage, so the permit desk and the method statement describe different work.
• A revision on site that does not match the approved revision, usually after a method change that was never re-approved.

Keeping it current

Set a review trigger rather than a review date alone: any change of method, plant, crew, location, sequence or season, plus any incident or near miss on the activity, forces a re-issue. Record the trigger on the document so the reason for each revision is visible.

If you want a working starting point, the MSRA guide explains the structure in full, the template pack gives you the forms, and the builder produces a site-specific pack with 5x5 scoring and sign-off already in place.

Put it to use