Rural Post and Wire Fencing SWMS

For fencing contractors, farmers, graziers and land managers who build or replace rural post and wire fences. It follows the work from planning the fence line through moving materials, clearing and removing old fence, driving posts, setting strainer posts and straining wire to fixing, clean-up and emergency response. Residential and commercial fences and electric fences are not covered and need their own SWMS.

Building a fence is construction work: a fence is a structure (anything constructed, WHS Act s 4) and construction work includes building or repairing a structure (WHS Regulation s 289(1)). A SWMS is required by law for high risk construction work (s 299). The item for movement of powered mobile plant is pre-ticked because every job as scoped uses a tractor, utility, quad bike or post driver on the fence line; untick it only if the whole job is done by hand with no vehicle or plant in the work area. Tick energised electrical installations or services if overhead lines or underground cables are near the fence line, and tick any other item that applies. Testing, maintenance or repair work of a minor nature is not construction work (s 289(3)(d)), so routine repairs to an existing fence may not need a SWMS by law; otherwise this works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment.

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 Rural Post and Wire Fencing SWMS?

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

• Wire recoil and strainer failure under tension
• Hands and arms struck by post drivers and hammers
• Post rebound, splitting and flying chips
• Quad bike, utility and tractor roll-over
• Barbed wire cuts and eye injuries
• Striking underground services with posts and pickets
• Snake bites and insect stings
• Heat illness and fatigue in open paddocks
• Strains from carrying posts and wire reels
• Slips and falls on uneven ground
• Remote work with no easy way to call for help
• Fire from vehicles and sparks on dry grass

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:

• Is carried out in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) for anyone building a new rural fence as construction work (WHS Regulation s 317); testing, maintenance or repair work of a minor nature is not construction work (s 289(3)(d))
• No high risk work licence is required to drive a tractor, a utility vehicle, a quad bike or a post driver, or to use a fence strainer; Schedule 3 of the WHS Regulation has no class for them
• Quad bike operators at least 16 years old, or the age the maker recommends if different (WHS Regulation s 226A), and trained on the quad bike before riding it
• Operators trained and instructed in the specific tractor, post driver or auger used, including hitching, hydraulics and emergency stops
• Training in the safe use of fence strainers, wire reels and hand tools
• First aid training for workers, with access to first aid equipment suited to snake bite and remote work (WHS Regulation s 42)
• Property induction covering gates, livestock, fire danger, hazards and the landowner’s rules

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 226A to 226C (quad bikes)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): ss 205 to 216 (plant controls, guarding, powered mobile plant and roll-over protection on tractors)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): s 48 (remote or isolated work)
• Rural Plant Code of Practice 2024
• 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 Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021 (post holes and underground services)
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead and underground electric lines, exclusion zones in sections 10 to 13 and schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines (distances come from the 2026 Regulation)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risks of biological hazards at work (model code, not approved in Queensland; guidance only)
• Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice: Managing the risk of fatigue at work (model code, not approved in Queensland; guidance only)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (14 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.