Nearest A&E finder

Why your RAMS needs emergency arrangements

Every risk assessment and method statement should say what happens if something goes wrong. It's a basic part of planning the work under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, and on construction sites it's expected in the welfare and emergency arrangements that sit alongside the RAMS. A document that lists the hazards and controls but says nothing about a serious injury is incomplete.

When a principal contractor or client reviews your RAMS, the emergency section is one of the quick things they check. They expect to see:

• The nearest A&E — the actual hospital with a 24-hour emergency department, named with its address, so anyone on site knows where to direct an ambulance or take a walking-wounded casualty.
• Named first aiders — who they are and how to reach them, plus where the first-aid kit is kept.
• The assembly point — where people muster if the site is evacuated.
• How to raise the alarm and call for help — that means 999, and a clear point for the site address so the emergency services can be directed in.

Straight-line vs driving distance

This tool measures the straight-line (“as the crow flies”) distance from your postcode to each hospital, which is why it's fast and works offline of any routing service. The real driving distance — and, more importantly, the driving time — will usually be longer, and can be very different where there are rivers, motorways or rural roads in the way. Always confirm the route before work starts. The straight-line ranking is a sound way to find the likely nearest department, but it is not a journey plan.

It is also why you should never use this — or any tool — to decide to drive a seriously injured person to hospital. For anything serious, call 999: an ambulance brings treatment to the casualty and takes them to the right unit, which may not be the nearest A&E at all (major trauma, burns, cardiac and stroke cases are taken to specialist centres).

What else belongs in the emergency section

Depending on the work, the nearest A&E is only part of the picture. Consider adding:

• Specific hazards and their emergency contacts — for example, the contact for overhead or underground power lines (and the relevant network operator's emergency number) where there's a risk of contact, or gas emergency lines for work near a supply.
• Rescue plans — for work at height, confined spaces or excavations, a casualty may not be reachable by an ambulance crew alone. The rescue arrangements belong with the emergency arrangements, not buried in the method.
• Reporting — who reports incidents, and the HSE's incident contact arrangements where an incident is RIDDOR-reportable.
• Welfare and access — the site address and access details an ambulance will need, and any barriers (locked gates, narrow access) that could delay them.

Keep the hospital details current

A&E provision changes — departments are downgraded to minor injury or urgent treatment centres, run overnight closures, or are reconfigured. The list behind this tool is compiled from published sources and cross-checked, but it is a snapshot. Before you rely on a department, confirm it locally. The authoritative, always-current source is the NHS service search: find an A&E service on nhs.uk.