Post-Tensioning Tendon Installation SWMS

For post-tensioning contractors, steel fixers and builders who install unstressed tendons, anchors and pocket formers in suspended slabs. It follows the work from checking the drawings and edge protection through laying, tying and capping strand ends to the pre-pour inspection, and leaves stressing and steel fixing to their own SWMS.

Written for elevated (suspended) slabs, where a fall of more than 2 m from an edge or penetration makes this high risk construction work and a SWMS is required by law (WHS Regulation ss 291 and 299). For a post-tensioned slab on the ground with no fall hazard of that height, the fall item does not apply and you can untick it.

New to SWMS? Read What Is A Safe Work Method Statement?

What Is Covered In Our Post-Tensioning Tendon Installation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Check the drawings, tendon schedule and delivery” to “Clean up and hand over the deck”. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls from slab edges and through penetrations
• Impalement on projecting strands and reinforcement
• Coils springing open when ties are cut
• Cuts from strand ends and tie wire
• Dropped bundles from crane or hoist lifts
• Manual handling of coils, bundles and anchors
• Nail gun and drill injuries when fixing anchors
• Falling objects striking people below
• Trips on tendons, chairs and tie wire
• Damaged sheathing and mislocated tendons
• Heat stress and sun on an exposed deck
• Sharp offcuts left on the deck

High Risk Construction Work

These high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are already ticked because they are part of this work. Tick any others that apply to your job:

• Involves a risk of a person falling more than 2m

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for construction work; site induction including slab edges, penetrations and exclusion zones
• Tendon installers trained in the post-tensioning supplier’s installation method and the layout drawings; a competent person (supervisor or leading hand) in charge of each gang
• Post-tensioning designer or project engineer to issue the tendon layout, profile heights, anchor positions and any changes in writing
• No high risk work licence class in Schedule 3 covers laying tendons; tendons are placed by trained workers working to the drawings
• Dogging licence, or a higher rigging class, for anyone who slings tendon bundles or directs a crane operator when the load is out of the operator’s view (Schedule 19, dogging work), and the licence for any crane or forklift used
• Training in the fall prevention equipment used and, where a harness system is used, the rescue plan (WHS Regulation ss 39 and 80)
• Trained first aider on site, as the work and site need (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Formwork Code of Practice 2016
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Demolition Work Code of Practice 2021 (section 5.1, pre- and post-tensioned concrete, for later demolition or penetrations)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 306C-306F (falls, edge protection, fall protection covers) and Schedule 3

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (13 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 11 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: hard hat; safety boots with a puncture-resistant sole; cut-resistant gloves; safety glasses
• Emergency arrangements for: fall from the slab edge or through a penetration and impalement on projecting steel
• Plus the parts every Work Safety QLD SWMS shares, from the s 291 checklist to the worker sign-on sheet (see the layout in our free SWMS template)

Adjust it for your site, plant and crew, and talk it through with your workers before work starts. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading this SWMS.

Checked against the Queensland laws and codes of practice listed above. Last reviewed November 2026.