Horse Float Loading and Towing SWMS

For horse businesses with workers, riding schools, studs, trainers, transport operators and event crews who load horses and tow floats. It follows the work from planning the trip through hitching, loading, towing, roadside stops, unloading and cleaning the float. The heavy vehicle rules apply only where the tow vehicle or the float has a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5 t.

Loading horses and towing a float is not high risk construction work, so a SWMS is legally required only where the work is part of high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299); otherwise this works as a written safe work procedure or task risk assessment that you tailor to your horses, float and tow vehicle. If the work is part of construction work, tick the reg 291 items that apply.

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

What Is Covered In Our Horse Float Loading and Towing SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the trip and check the horse, the tow vehicle and the float” to “Unhitch, clean the float and finish up”. The hazards and controls include:

• Kicks, bites and crushing when loading
• Falls from the ramp for people and horses
• Hands and feet crushed at the hitch and ramp
• Float rolling or drawbar dropping
• Trailer sway and loss of control
• Longer braking distance with a float
• Reversing and parking in crowded venues
• Roadside stops beside traffic
• Horse down or panicking in the float
• Hendra virus and other zoonoses
• Fatigue on long drives

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

• Horse handling experience or supervised training in leading, loading and unloading horses and in recognising a nervous, sick or injured horse, recorded by the PCBU
• Driver licence of the class for the tow vehicle; where the vehicle or the float is a heavy vehicle (a vehicle with a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5 t), the heavy vehicle requirements for the driver apply
• Training in hitching and unhitching, safety chains, the breakaway cable, the electrical and brake connections and the trailer brake controller (where fitted)
• Information for workers on Hendra virus and other zoonoses, hygiene and what to do with a sick horse
• First aid arrangements for the trip, with first aid provided as s 42 of the WHS Regulation requires and a way to call for help on remote roads (WHS Regulation s 48)

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 214 and 215: powered mobile plant, general control of risk and specific control measures (collisions with people and things when manoeuvring at a workplace)
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 42 and 48: first aid and remote or isolated work
• WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) ss 60, 78 and 79: hazardous manual tasks, and managing the risk of a fall (ramps)
• WHS Act 2011 (Qld) ss 36 and 38 and WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 699: notifying a serious injury or illness, including Hendra virus or Q fever contracted through contact with animals
• 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)
• The Heavy Vehicle National Law line above applies only where the tow vehicle or the float has a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5 t, which also makes the combination a heavy vehicle (HVNL s 6(1) and (2)); check the figures for your own float and tow vehicle
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): overhead power line exclusion zones in sections 10 to 13 and schedule 2
• Industry Code of Practice for Horse Riding Schools, Trail Riding Establishments and Horse Hiring Establishments 2002 (written for horse riding schools, trail riding and horse hiring establishments; its loading and unloading, horse behaviour, protective helmet and Hendra virus sections are used here as good practice for horse handling)
• 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 the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021 (remote or isolated work)
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Children and Young Workers Code of Practice 2006
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• 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 (16 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 a hard toe and a non-slip sole; not sandals or trainers
• Emergency arrangements for: person kicked, trampled or crushed against the float, horse down, trapped or panicking in the float on the road and trailer sway, tow failure or the float coming loose
• 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.