Lift Shaft and Riser Plasterboard Lining SWMS

Suits plasterers, drywall and shaft wall installers and builders who line lift shafts and service risers from shaft platforms. It follows the work from planning with the principal contractor and lift contractor, through platform and edge checks, hoisting and handling heavy sheets, cutting, fixing and jointing, to services, asbestos checks and handover. Installing the shaft platform, general plasterboard fixing and passenger lift installation have their own SWMS.

Lining a lift shaft involves a risk of falling more than 2 metres, so the falls item is pre-ticked (WHS Regulation s 291(a)) and a SWMS is required before the work starts (s 299). Tick any other items that apply to your job: disturbance of asbestos in an older building (s 291(d)), work in or near a confined space such as a pit (s 291(f)), work in or near a shaft or trench with an excavated depth greater than 1.5 metres, such as a lift pit or shaft excavated below ground (s 291(g)), work on or near energised electrical installations or services in a riser (s 291(k)), or work in an area that may have a contaminated atmosphere, such as silica dust from cutting or sanding (s 291(l)).

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

What Is Covered In Our Lift Shaft and Riser Plasterboard Lining SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the work and survey the shaft or riser with other trades” to “Clean up, reinstate protection and hand over”. The hazards and controls include:

• Falls from open shaft edges and landings
• Platform overload and altered edge protection
• Dropped sheets, tools and offcuts onto people below
• Dropped and swinging loads during hoisting
• Heavy, awkward plasterboard sheets
• Dust from cutting, jointing and sanding
• Crystalline silica in some products
• Asbestos in older shaft linings and lagging
• Live services and pipes in risers
• Rescue after a fall arrest
• Several trades working above and below each other
• Poor lighting and ventilation in the shaft

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:

• Involves a risk of a person falling more than 2m

Licences, Training and Competency

• General construction induction training card (white card) and site induction
• Verified competency in plasterboard and shaft wall lining systems, and in the power tools, sheet lifters and platform used
• High risk work licence for dogging (or a higher rigging class) for anyone who slings loads, or directs a plant operator when the load is out of the operator’s view (WHS Regulation Schedule 3 and Schedule 19)
• High risk work licence for the class of hoist or crane that lifts the sheets, held by its operator (Schedule 3 includes materials hoist and personnel and materials hoist classes)
• High risk work licence for the scaffolding class that matches the shaft platform where it is scaffolding work, held by whoever erects, alters or dismantles it (usually under the Lift Shaft Working Platform Installation SWMS)
• Training in the fall prevention and fall arrest equipment used, and in the rescue procedure (WHS Regulation s 80)
• Asbestos awareness (good practice) so workers recognise suspect linings and lagging, stop work and report it; a competent person identifies asbestos (WHS Regulation s 422)
• Respirator fit test and training for workers who wear respirators
• First aider on site or within reach (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Scaffolding Code of Practice 2021 (where the platform is a scaffold)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing respirable crystalline silica dust exposure in construction and manufacturing of construction elements Code of Practice 2022
• AS/NZS 1716:2012 (Respiratory protective devices) and AS/NZS 1715:2009 (Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment), as named in WHS Regulation s 529B
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace 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 (lighting and ventilation in enclosed shafts)
• Work Health and Safety Consultation, Co-operation and Co-ordination Code of Practice 2021
• Mobile Crane Code of Practice 2024 (where a mobile crane lifts sheet packs)
• Tower Crane Code of Practice 2017 (where a tower crane lifts sheet packs)
• 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): s 140 (electrical equipment for construction work must comply with AS/NZS 3012; test-date tags are limited; no test interval and no safety-switch rule)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (17 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 10 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: hard hat with chin strap; safety boots with non-slip soles; safety glasses with side shields (goggles for overhead work and sanding)
• Emergency arrangements for: fall into the shaft or a worker hanging in a harness, sheet stack collapse or a person trapped under or struck by sheets and suspected asbestos disturbed
• 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.