Tractor-Mounted Slasher and Mulcher SWMS

Suits farmers, rural contractors, councils and landscapers who slash or mulch paddocks, fence lines and roadsides with tractor-mounted slashers and mulchers. It follows the work from the walk-through and pre-start checks through start-up, cutting, slopes, fire risk, power lines and roads to blockages, servicing and shut-down. Hitching the implement, tractor driving, forestry mulchers and ride-on mowers have their own SWMS.

Slashing and mulching paddocks and roadsides is not high risk construction work by itself. A SWMS is legally required under WHS Regulation s 299 only for high risk construction work, such as clearing that is part of preparing a site for building. If that applies, tick the items that fit your job, such as movement of powered mobile plant, work on or near energised overhead lines, or work beside a road in use. Otherwise it works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment.

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

What Is Covered In Our Tractor-Mounted Slasher and Mulcher SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job and walk the area for hidden hazards” to “Park, shut down and leave the site”. The hazards and controls include:

• Stones and wood thrown from the machine
• Contact with rotating blades and flails
• Hidden obstacles striking the implement
• Tractor roll-over on slopes and banks
• Entanglement in the PTO shaft
• Slasher dropping onto a person during servicing
• Grass fires started by sparks and hot parts
• Contact with overhead power lines
• Thrown debris reaching traffic beside a road
• Missing guards, skirts and roll-over protection
• Heat, dust, noise and fatigue
• Lone operator unable to call for help

High Risk Construction Work

None of the high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are pre-ticked, because this job is not high risk construction work by itself. Tick any that apply on your site.

Licences, Training and Competency

• Training and instruction in the tractor’s controls and safety features, and in the slasher or mulcher, its guards, the PTO and its stopping procedure, recorded by the PCBU
• Verification of competency for the tractor model and the slasher or mulcher before unsupervised work; no high risk work licence class applies to tractors or slashers (WHS Regulation Schedule 3)
• Close supervision of young or inexperienced workers until the PCBU confirms they are competent
• Competent person for servicing, inspection and repair of the implement, guards and PTO shaft (WHS Regulation s 213)
• Driver licence and registration as the road rules require before the tractor is driven on a road or road-related area
• Accredited traffic controllers (Queensland traffic controller accreditation) for anyone who stops or directs traffic
• Authorised person for the line, arranged through the person in control of the line, for any work that has to go inside an exclusion zone (outside this SWMS)
• An adequate number of workers trained in first aid, or access to them, as the first aid assessment shows (WHS Regulation s 42)
• General construction induction training card (white card) when the work is construction work, for example site preparation, and site or property induction

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• 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 (heat, UV and remote or isolated work)
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Children and Young Workers Code of Practice 2006
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (work beside a road)
• 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 (ss 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)
• AS 2294.1 Earth-moving machinery – Protective structures – Part 1: General (falling object protection, as named in the Rural Plant Code of Practice 2024)
• 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 (15 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: safety boots with non-slip soles; hearing protection when noise remains high after other controls; safety glasses or a face screen when working outside the cab or servicing
• Emergency arrangements for: roll-over (good practice), contact with a power line and fire
• 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.