Line Breaking and Process Isolation SWMS

Suits maintenance teams, shutdown contractors and plant operators who open pipework and isolate plant in food, chemical, fuel, water and manufacturing sites. It follows the job in order: planning the isolation, shutting down, locking out, proving the isolation, setting up spill control, breaking the line, draining, blanking, remaking the joint and returning to service. Hot work and vessel entry need their own SWMS.

Breaking a process line in an operating plant is not high risk construction work by itself, so no item is pre-ticked and a SWMS is required by law only for high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 299). If the job is construction work, for example a tie-in on a new project, tick the reg 291 items that apply, such as work on or near chemical, fuel or refrigerant lines, work in an area that may have a flammable atmosphere, or work in or near a confined space. Otherwise the document works as a written safe work procedure and task risk assessment that you tailor to your plant.

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

What Is Covered In Our Line Breaking and Process Isolation SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job and prepare the isolation plan” to “Respond to an unplanned release, spill or fire”. The hazards and controls include:

• Residual pressure and product released when a line is opened
• Isolation that does not hold
• Plant started while people are working on the line
• Stored energy in lines, springs and accumulators
• Hot, corrosive or toxic product on skin and eyes
• Flammable vapour and ignition sources
• Spills reaching drains and the ground
• Wrong blank, gasket or tightening
• Blanks and tools left in the line
• Pressure testing and leak checks
• Restart before the permit is closed
• Unplanned release, fire or exposure
• Falls while reaching elevated pipework

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

• Workers trained and verified as competent in the site’s isolation, lock-out and line-breaking procedures and in the hazards of the product in the line
• Competent person to prepare the isolation plan, approve the isolation points and confirm the line is dead and depressurised before it is opened (maintenance, inspection and testing by a competent person: WHS Regulation s 213)
• Permit issuer and permit holder trained in the site’s permit system
• Licensed electrical worker for any electrical work on pump or motor supplies, switchboards or instruments (Electrical Safety Act 2002 s 55); other workers isolate only at the points the isolation plan names
• Trained users of the gas detector and of any respirator or breathing apparatus the product calls for
• General construction induction training card (white card) where the job is construction work, and induction to the plant and its emergency plan
• First aid equipment, facilities and trained first aiders suited to chemical splash, burn and fume injuries (WHS Regulation s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• WHS Regulation ss 205 to 213 (plant): ss 208(5) guarding replaced before restart, 210(1)(d) operator controls lockable in the off position, 213 maintenance by a competent person
• WHS Regulation Part 7.1 (hazardous chemicals), which applies to a pipeline conveying a hazardous chemical unless the pipeline is regulated under the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 (s 328): ss 343 (pipe work labels), 351, 354, 357 (spill containment for solids and liquids), 358 to 360 and 362
• WHS Regulation ss 51, 52, 53 and 355: hazardous atmospheres, ignition sources, lowest practicable quantity of flammable material, hazardous areas
• WHS Regulation ss 42, 43 and 44: first aid, emergency plan, personal protective equipment
• WHS Regulation ss 62 to 77 and Schedule 19: confined spaces (if a vessel or tank is entered); ss 78 and 79: managing the risk of a fall to elevated pipework
• WHS Act ss 35 to 39: notifiable incidents, including an uncontrolled escape, spillage or leakage of a substance, an uncontrolled escape of gas or of a pressurised substance, and an uncontrolled fire (s 37(a) to (d))
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021 (isolating energy sources)
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Labelling of Workplace Hazardous Chemicals Code of Practice 2021
• Confined Spaces Code of Practice 2021 (if a vessel or tank is entered)
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• 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) s 55 (licensed electrical work) and Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld) ss 197 and 198: equipment de-energised for electrical work is not to be inadvertently re-energised

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (14 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, chemical resistant where the product is corrosive; safety glasses with side shields, and a full face shield when a flange or fitting is loosened
• Emergency arrangements for: unexpected release of product, skin or eye contact and fire at the line
• 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.