Hook Lift Truck SWMS

Suits waste, recycling, construction and transport businesses that load, carry and unload bins and bodies with a hook lift truck. It covers the pre-start check, site planning, reversing, hooking up and loading the bin, securing the load, travel, power lines and unloading or tipping. Skip bin deliveries use a separate SWMS.

Operating a hook lift truck is not high risk construction work by itself, so no item is pre-ticked and a SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299); this document works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment that you tailor to your operation. If the work is part of construction work, tick the reg 291 items that apply, for example movement of powered mobile plant, a road in use, or energised electrical services.

Learn More: What Is A Safe Work Method Statement?
Have you ever been asked to provide a SWMS on a project in Queensland? Read our guide to what a Safe Work Method Statement is and when you need one.

What Is Covered In Our Hook Lift Truck SWMS?

The job steps run in the order the work is done, from pre-start checks to finishing up. The hazards and controls include:

• Bin falling or slipping from the hook
• Crush between hook, bin and truck
• Truck roll-over on soft or sloping ground
• Hydraulic hose or ram failure
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Reversing into pedestrians
• Load shift or spill in transit
• Falls while tarping the bin
• Load sliding out of a tipped bin
• Heavy vehicle loading and mass limits
• Driver fatigue
• Hydraulic oil injection injury

High Risk Construction Work

No high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this work is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick the items that apply to your job, such as a fall risk of more than 2 metres or work where powered mobile plant is moving.

Licences, Training and Competency

• Driver licence of the class that covers the truck’s gross vehicle mass and configuration
• Training and verification of competency on the hook lift body, the controls and the bins used, recorded by the PCBU
• No Schedule 3 high risk work licence class covers a hook lift truck (WHS Regulation Sch 3)
• Training in the heavy vehicle law duties that apply to the operator for a vehicle over 4.5 t GVM or ATM: loading, mass and fatigue (Heavy Vehicle National Law)
• Spotter training on the signals and the exclusion zone
• General construction induction training card (white card) when working on a construction site
• Site induction and any principal contractor’s traffic and plant rules

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 207, 213 to 215: plant not in use, maintenance, powered mobile plant general and specific controls
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 219: plant that lifts or suspends loads
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 56 and 57: noise exposure standard and managing hearing loss
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 78 and s 60: risk of falls and hazardous manual tasks
• Heavy Vehicle National Law (Queensland), applied by the Heavy Vehicle National Law Act 2012 (Qld): s 6 (heavy vehicle means a vehicle with a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5 t), s 26C (primary duty of each party in the chain of responsibility), s 96 (compliance with mass requirements), s 110 (national regulations may prescribe loading requirements), s 111 (compliance with the loading requirements) and s 228 (duty of driver to avoid driving while fatigued or unfit to drive)
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead power line exclusion zones in sections 10 to 13 and schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (13 pages), laid out on A4 landscape pages
• Business, client, job and document details typed once and filled in on every page, plus a space for your logo
• The high risk construction work checklist, worded as WHS Regulation s 291, and the construction project question (s 292)
• A worker and health and safety representative consultation record
• Qualifications, plant, PPE, hazardous chemicals, safety equipment, permits, references and emergency arrangements filled in for this work
• A 5 x 5 risk matrix, and job steps with initial and residual risk scores and the people responsible
• Implementing, monitoring and review requirements, an additional controls log, revision history and a worker sign-on sheet

Review and adjust it for your site, your plant and the way your crew does the job, and talk it through with your workers before work starts. If you have any trouble downloading this SWMS, you can contact us at any time. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading this SWMS.