Mobile Hoist and Sling Transfer SWMS

Suits aged care, disability and home care providers, hospitals, nursing homes and community care workers who transfer people with a floor-based mobile hoist and slings. It follows the transfer in order: planning from the care plan, equipment checks, sling fitting, lifting, moving, lowering, transfers from the floor, distress or a medical event, worker strain, and cleaning and storage. Showering and personal care need a separate SWMS.

Hoist transfers in a care setting are not high risk construction work, so no item is pre-ticked and a SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299). The document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment that you tailor to your service, your hoists and each person’s care plan.

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 Mobile Hoist and Sling Transfer SWMS?

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

• Person falling from the sling or hoist
• Wrong sling type or size
• Hoist tipping or running into obstacles
• Faulty hoist, sling or flat battery
• Worker back and shoulder injury
• Pushing a hoist on carpet and slopes
• Hands and limbs trapped in the sling or boom
• Transfers from the floor after a fall
• Person distress or a medical event during the lift
• Skin tears and pressure injury
• Infection from unclean slings
• Cleaning chemicals and battery charging

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

• Training and assessed competence in the mobile hoist and sling types used, including the maker’s instructions, the emergency lowering control and the brakes, before transferring anyone unsupervised
• Training in the manual task and people-handling procedures of the workplace, and in recognising the person’s needs from their care plan or transfer assessment
• Training for two-worker transfers, including who leads and the signals used
• Competent person to inspect, service and test hoists, slings and batteries (WHS Regulation s 213)
• Infection prevention training for cleaning slings and equipment
• Trained first aider available, with first aid provided as s 42 of the WHS Regulation requires
• Site or facility induction

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 60: managing risks of hazardous manual tasks
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 206, 213 and 219: using plant for its designed purpose, maintenance and inspection by a competent person, and plant that lifts persons (specifically designed plant, within its safe working limits)
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 36: hierarchy of control measures
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 42: first aid
• Manual Tasks Involving the Handling of People Advisory Standard 2001 (preserved approved code)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021

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.