Lift Shaft Working Platform Installation SWMS

Suits lift installers, builders and scaffolders who fit temporary working platforms in new lift shafts. It follows the work from surveying the shaft and protecting openings, through anchors, hoisting and assembly, to inspection, use and dismantling. Where the platform is scaffolding work (a fall of more than 4 m), the scaffolding licence and inspection duties in the SWMS apply. It does not cover installing the lift itself, which has its own Passenger Lift Installation SWMS.

The fall of more than 2 metres item is pre-ticked because open lift shaft edges are inherent to this work. Tick any other item that applies, such as energised electrical services or powered mobile plant moving near the shaft.

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

What Is Covered In Our Lift Shaft Working Platform Installation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the platform and survey the shaft” to “Dismantle the platform and make the shaft safe”. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls through open shaft openings
• Falls while fixing anchors over an open shaft
• Platform overload or collapse
• Dropped and swinging loads while hoisting
• Dropped tools onto people at the base
• Gaps between platform and shaft wall
• Unauthorised entry to the shaft
• Concrete dust from drilling anchors
• Pinch and crush points in platform assembly
• Platform used before inspection
• Falls during dismantling
• Water in the pit and poor lighting

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)
• High risk work licence for dogging (or a higher rigging class) for the person who slings loads or directs the crane operator when the load is out of view
• High risk work licence for the class of crane or hoist used (Sch 3), and for the matching scaffolding class where the platform is scaffolding work (a temporary structure supporting a platform from which a person or object could fall more than 4 m)
• Training in the harness fall arrest system and rescue
• Competency to install the platform system, recorded by the supplier or employer
• Site induction

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Scaffolding Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a mobile crane lifts the components)
• Safe Design of Structures Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021

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
• 9 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: safety helmet with chin strap; safety boots; safety glasses; gloves
• Emergency arrangements for: fall into the shaft or a suspended worker and person trapped or struck by a load
• 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.